My Impossible List

I've been following Joel Runyon's Blog of Impossible Things for a while now (thank you Joel for the inspiration), and I've decided that the time has come to make my own impossible list. There are no rules for these lists. They're just meant to be stuff you want to do with your life, impossible or otherwise.

I do make annual goals, but I'm always aiming at making those SMART goals - the two key limitations here being the A for "attainable" and the R for "realistic".  Today's list is neither attainable in the traditional sense for me (certainly not easily - without significant risk of failure, discomfort, and change) or realistic (I definitely don't have the time to do anything on this list...).  I don't know if I'm going to achieve my impossible list, since I'm really not the kind of person who can bulldoze towards goals - my family's wellbeing is still a priority for me and I'm not (yet) prepared to sacrifice my day job or too much relative security (though who knows what kind of courage I'll find in the future). What I do know is that if I don't aim for the stuff on this list, it definitely won't happen.  So in the words of my mother, I'm "putting it out there".  This list is not definitive and it's not in any order. This is just a starting point. I'll keep changing this, expanding and hopefully, crossing off those things that I have achieved.

Do please feel free to respond with your own Impossible List.  Maybe we can help each other or at least egg one another on - providing some sort of accountability.  Why not?  Here's to achieving the impossible.

Philanthropy

• get deeply involved on an ongoing basis at a high level with a literacy related charity 
• donate a significant portion of profits from at least one of my books to a literacy related charity and then get others to participate so that the total amount given is greater than $50k.
  

Writing related

• write 5 more novels
• write 2 nonfiction books that involve intense, physical research (like travel, digging into something, climbing something, etc)
• write 3 full length poetry books
• participate in 1 significant multimedia/audio-visual poetry based project

 Career/professional related

• Obtain a PhD in creative writing
• Do science and linguistic courses to increase general knowledge
• bump up book earnings to self-sufficient levels (enough not to need day job unless I'm enjoying it)
• speak at a TED conference

Fun

• play guitar on stage with my son or a good friends
• take 20+ singing lessons (to help me be less embarrassing when I burst into song...)
• act in a film or on stage (fine if it's a small role) 
• do something for Comic Relief

Health

• go raw for at least 3 months (and continue to 'eat clean' 85% of the time)
• swim 2 kms at least once a week in summer
• do at least 30 mins of yoga 3 x a week, pilates and cardio 3 x a week, every week (plus 1 hour intense exercise in winter when I can't swim)
• develop an ongoing 'inner calm' so that I don't become anxious or lose my temper more than 1 x a month (working up to never losing it...)

That should keep me busy and out of (or in) trouble for a while.  Your turn now. If you've got a blog or website, think of this as a meme.  Let's support each other.