Good morning friends from the happiest place on Earth! While Jeff and I are enjoying our family vacation with our ecstatic 4 children, I wanted to share part II of writing your life list. Thank you so far for all of the emails and comments about the life list. After this 4 part series, I will offer a 5th part that will answer many of the questions that have come up.

The most important step is to start and remember that there truly are no rules. All I’m providing is the framework that I used, however, remember… there are no rules.

I remember my friend Jill reading my life list and looking at me with this grin on her face. I asked her what was so funny and she said, “My favorite part is how some of your items seem so simple and little and then some of your items seem impossible and grand.” I told Jeff about that and since then, I refer to my items as the littles and the bigs and the goods and the greats.

I think that having the goods and the greats on my life list are essential to the way I live my life.  Let me explain how that works for me and then at the end, you will start writing your goods and your greats.

Good - morally excellent; virtuous; righteous; satisfactory in quality, quantity, or degree; of high quality; excellent; well behaved.

Essentially when looking at my life list, I have mostly ” goods” or “littles”. Simply put, they are my goals. They still hold tremendous worth. They still require me to work hard to achieve them, but no one ever questions me or my ability to succeed. My goals still require planning and execution, and other resources such as money and/or childcare.

But goals are completely attainable and often 100% up to you to achieve.

For example, one of my goals is to start taking piano lessons. I had to do some research, sign up for lessons, budget $130/month for lessons, arrange the lessons for when my kids are in school, and start looking for a used piano. But no one rolled their eyes when they heard this goal. No one said, “Jenny, you are such a dreamer. Get your head out of the clouds.”

However, I could talk myself out of this goal easily. I don’t have the money. I’m too old to learn now. Where am I going to put a piano in our small house?

I have my first lesson scheduled for February 7th. This goal is 100% up to me as to whether I will learn this skill. No one doubts that I can achieve this but looking back at the definition of good, remember this is still of high quality and excellent. It still requires planning and hard work.

Great - unusually or comparitively large in size of dimensions; large in number; numerous; unusual or considerable in degree, powerful, intense, etc.; wonderful; first rate; very good

Essentially my greats or my bigs are my dreams. Dreams are sort of scary. My dreams can leave me energized and breathless in one moment and then quickly make me feel naked and vulnerable in the same minute.

The scary things about dreams is that they aren’t always planned out and the details aren’t always available. That is hard for a planner and for a type A person such as myself. Why? Because dreams require something other than just your hard work.

Dreams require elbow grease plus a bit of magic.

Dreams still require intention plus God smiling upon you.

Dreams also bring out the skeptics and/or the “realists”.  These dreams bring on the statements: “Jenny, that’s ridiculous. That’s impossible. You are setting yourself up for disappointment.” Now that voice can come from others or from within yourself. This is where you have to ask yourself if you and your dreams are worth the fight. Are we deserving of great things? Simply put, YES!

For example, I have shared part of my dream on my life list which is to dance with Ellen on her show. But due to fear I haven’t shared the second part. I want to host a regular segment of her show of highlighting the crazy, life affirming items off my life list. I want to travel and meet all the wonderful people that this world has to offer.

But this dream isn’t just about me. It is also up to Ellen and her employees. It is up to God smiling down upon me or perhaps a bit of magic. But it’s my dream and I’m worth it, so I’m applying to dance on her show when I get back from Disney and I’m also going to include a video telling her about my dream. Scary? Hell yes. Terrified. Yet I’m also energized and I feel alive, just like I did after I danced in Washington D.C.  I have been asked “Why Ellen?”  Quite simply, because she has the most positive, life affirming, and fun show on TV.  She genuinely enjoys making others happy and seeing their dreams come true.  What is not to like about that.  I don’t know about you, but I actually feel like a better person after watching her show.

There is something so liberating when you throw caution and fear to the wind, and set out to accomplish your dreams. Will it happen? I surely hope so. But the part that is up to me is writing that letter and sending in that video. The rest is out of my hands. But don’t miss this part… I’m still responsible for my part. Ellen doesn’t have a crystal ball. She doesn’t know that there is a Jenny Meyerson dying to work with her or dance with her. It is up to me to do my part.  IT IS UP TO YOU TO DO YOUR PART!!

So right now, I want you to write for 10 minutes without laying down your pencil.  I want you to write down your goods and your greats. If you just let yourself go, you just might write down dreams you didn’t even know you have. While you are writing, think back to your list you made week #1 where you wrote down things that excited you and inspired you.

If you feel led, please share a goal and a dream in the comments. Let’s encourage one another.

If you missed Week #1, go here to read part I.

Blessings sweet friends – Jenny