2DO Before I Die

A real guy needs to know how to do real stuff...

Attention Men! According to the good people at Popular Mechanics magazine, there are precisely 100 skills that every living male should have tucked snugly under their toolbelts. The magazine has just published the list online of "life’s essential skills, broken down in 10 categories for the competent man"...

So, if you've ever wanted to know how to handle a blow-out, build a shelter in the wilderness, reverse hypothermia or even perform a manly heimlich manoeuvre, then check out the list of 'how-to's' today.

Granted, there's no room in there for 'the perfect date' or 'how to bake a souffle', but this is Popular Mechanics magazine we're talking about, and this is for manly men. If you're not a real guy who needs to know how to do real stuff, then look away now.

"Unthinkable Futures" - Brian Eno and Kevin Kelly Predict the Future

Producer/Musician Brian Eno and Kevin Kelly, co-founder of Wired magazine, made a series of predictions about the future back in 1993. Kelly recently refound these lists and has shared them on his site.

It was an exercise, said Kelly, played to 'loosen up our expectations of what might happen in the near future. We were both struck at how improbable current events would be to anyone in the past, and how incapable we are at expecting the improbable in the future. "

Some of their predictions are way off the mark, but not all...a few are strangely familiar. Check out their picks at Kelly's website here.

As Kelly says: 'Much that is happening today would have been dismissed as unbelievably bad science fiction only 15 years ago. The US with secret prisons torturing Muslims? Street sweepers in India with their own cell phones? Obesity a contagious disease? A trusted encyclopedia written by anyone? Yeah, right, give me a break...'    (Image from ffffound.com)

A 'Gap' Year - taking time off to bike, teach, get engaged and make cheese

Following the death of a friend, Mark Major made a list of all the things he'd ever wanted to do, but a busy job meant he would never get round to them. The solution? He took a year off and went for it....

Extract: "I sat down and wrote a list of more than 30 things I wanted to do - visit an ashram, research my family tree, learn to type, backpack round Thailand, become more creative, find a meteorite, live on a commune ...It was a sobering experience. Do I really want to do that? Will it be disappointing? Am I too scared? And could I afford it?"

Click here for Mark's story -- hear how he got on, and what he got out of it...And if you'd like to post your own list of things to do here on the site or read what others would like to try, please click here.

Thumbnail sketches of big ideas...

An interesting list we found posted on the Mighty Girl blog the other day. She posted her 100 goals in 4 installments, and wrote a few words to go with it. Click here to check it out.

Meanwhile, if your Wednesday afternoon/Thursday morning's a little sluggish and you're looking for inspiration, our 2DO List pages have spent the last few years diligently collecting hundreds of peoples' deepest and every so often, dankest, desires from around the globe. There's around 10,000 goals for those hoping to write a really ambitious list, and with ideas ranging from 'Play Madison Square Garden ' to 'Design a hat' there's literally something for everyone. Click here to see what all the fuss is about... -- Chris

50 Nerdy Things to Do Before You Die...

"Part wish list, part to-do list, part flight of fancy...but apparently 100 percent nerd..." Thanks to the people at The Park Bench for posting this list. (and a great robot from here.

NPR Today on 2DO's

Picking up on Sunday's NY Times article on 'life-lists', NPR is also now doing a piece on their 'Talk of the Nation' show today. In fact, NPR asked us to appear on their show, but put it down to unlucky timing on this occasion, but when we got the call, I was on a flight to California, and Chris was with his wife and kids hours ahead in England. So no joy, but if you'd like to tune in, you can check out the show at NPR. And if you happen to call in, put in a good word for the red book....we'd be grateful.

Cheers,
Mike

2DO Lists are all the rage (apparently)

A couple of recent articles we noticed on the subject of life lists...

Alex Williams in Sunday's New York Times writes of the increasing popularity of getting your hope and dreams down on paper. 'Once the province of bird-watchers, mountain climbers and sufferers of obsessive-compulsive disorder, the life list has become widely popular with the harried masses, equal parts motivational self-help and escapist fantasy.' Click here to read the rest of the article...

Meanwhile, A post on the new FiLife blog goes for a more fiscal focus, with writer Ron Lieber listing his most significant personal finance goals so that the world at large can share his joy in 'buying a fireproof safe' or his despair whilst shopping for 'a new life insurance policy'. Click here to read Ron's list in full...

What I Did in 2006!

Hi everybody,

With the holidays on the horizon, we'd like to take a second to thank all of you who have been regularly posting your blogs and comments on the 2DO Before I Die website these past 12 months. Thanks too for the hundreds of lists of 'things to do' that you've been sending in -- as ever, lots of great ideas in there.

In fact, all those ideas got us wondering. How many of them have already been checked off? Did Andy get around to making that documentary? Did Beth make it to California to visit her sister? Before the year draws to a close, we thought it would be interesting to hear what things people had achieved in 2006 that proved memorable in some way. What one thing were you most proud, excited, maybe even relieved to have done these past 12 months?

So, on that note, we've started a new list on the blog and would love to have each of you contribute. To add your own choice, all you have to do is click on the 'comments' link at the bottom of the entry....Go on, it's EASY....

Cheers - Mike and Chris

Darkest desires from around the World...

If your Monday morning's a little sluggish and you're looking for inspiration, you might like to check out a few of the lists we've had posted on the blog in the past few hours. Goals range from 'living in Mexico' and 'getting a tattoo of a phoenix' to 'buying a solar powered house' and 'snogging a Chinese woman after she's just eaten a slice of Marmite on toast.' Something for everyone then...

Click here to check out more lists and post a few ideas of your own.

Spread the word...

Just got this nice note in from a visitor to the site:

Dear 2DO Before I Die,

I am a first year student at univeristy in Wales. I just thought I should tell you how very grateful I am to your website. Not only did I post my list on it and get it up there (Mark from Blackburn) but also it gave me some good ideas for my list, which now totals 78 goals. I wrote this in mid October, and told my housemate about it - he wrote one, he then told his friend at another house and she got all the girls in that house (about 4 of them) to write one, and then last night i saw another housemate's 2DO list, which he had just written.
Saying it is sweeping Uni is a little of an exaggeration, but it has shot round my, and my neighbours house. Whilst I would love to take the credit for it, i would have to say that it was partly you guys who inspired me to do it - I'd had an idea about a list for a few years now, but it was your website who actually made me write one, and then I simply told others about the website and the list.
So thank you.

- Mark Wilson, 20, Blackburn

If you'd like to share your own 2DO List, click here...