Life Lists Putting Dreams On Paper Can Make Them Come True

Dee Dickey’s purse contains a list of 25 reminders.

Not the usual “pick up milk, bread and eggs,” this to-do list includes scuba lessons, heli-skiing and a sailboat voyage to Hawaii.

It’s Dickey’s “life list,” goals she hopes … no, plans to accomplish in her lifetime.

She started the list seven years ago, after escaping a devastating house fire. “I suddenly realized that life was passing me by,” she recalls, “and that I was putting things off that were important to me.”

So Dickey began recording significant goals on a 3-by-5 index card. Each time she accomplished one goal, she’d check it off and add another.

Since then, Dickey, a professional fund-raiser and mother, has kayaked through Hell’s Canyon, warbled through singing lessons, made peace with a nemesis and ridden every roller coaster at Southern California’s Magic Mountain, “including the Viper!”

“I set my goals not from the standpoint of thrill-seeking,” she explains, “but rather to challenge myself, to stretch and grow. I feel life is a banquet and I don’t want to starve to death.”

Dickey was among two dozen Spokesman-Review readers who shared their diverse life lists with us.

Forty-one-year-old law enforcement administrator Don Kirby, for instance, expects to own a Corvette, a Harley-Davidson and a Mercedes by his 50th birthday.

High on Hayden resident Jane Jacques’ list is to play a bit part in an episode of television’s “Northern Exposure.”

College student Monte Forbes wants to earn a medical degree and a bartender’s license, while Bonita Lawhead of Tekoa looks forward to running all the way up Doomsday Hill.

Whatever the goal, says human resource consultant Jennifer Leake, the important thing is to write it down and then consciously work to achieve it.

“Riding in a hot-air balloon was on my dad’s list,” says Leake, “and he died at age 57 without having done it.

“It would have been so easy; you can ride in a balloon any day of the week,” she says. “But most people never take that first step toward realizing their dreams.”

Leake, who offers career advice and sales training through Profiles/ Leake & Associates, is sponsoring a goal-setting workshop for women on Jan. 25. The cost is $30 and includes dinner.

“A list of goals is just the beginning,” Leake points out.

“Achieving those goals is the celebration. So I encourage people to keep a list of accomplishments, too.

“What all this really boils down to,” Leake says, “is asking yourself what you really, really want to do, and why is it important to you.”

If obstacles arise, she says, don’t abandon a dream. Instead, modify it to fit your new circumstances.

That’s what Glenna Ainley of Othello, Wash., did.

“I made a life-goal list when I was in college 12 years ago,” she writes. “It included daring feats and exotic adventures, physical and mental challenges, and worldly travels and pleasures.

“Then I fell in love and got married.” Babies arrived, and soon Ainley’s dreams were smothered by the responsibilities of marriage and motherhood.

“I grieved over my list,” she says. “What happened? When did my priorities change? How did it happen so fast? Was the youthful spirit in which I wrote that list gone for good?”

Definitely not. But for now, Ainley is committed to being “the best wife and mother I can be.”

So she came up with a second list, one that doesn’t involve risky adventures.

That list includes taking her family to Disneyland, building her dream home, honeymooning with her husband at least once a year, and “making holidays a big deal.”

After her children are grown, Ainley plans to travel to Europe, write a book and sail the Panama Canal.

Coming up with two lists “did a lot for my peace of mind,” she writes. “It made me remember that there are priorities in my life and that it’s OK to put some dreams on the back burner for a while.

“Writing them down and setting a time to get started on them helps me feel more in control of my life.”

MEMO: 2 sidebars ran with this story under the headlines: 1. Lists help give priority to goals 2. Readers share their life goals