As you might have noticed, the MNBucketList has been a bit quiet lately. I wanted to briefly share why.

I started the Minnesota Bucket List as a way to see and experience life through the lens of a novice. To do things I’d never have considered, to seek the unknowns, and document the journey as a way to keep myself accountable and passionate; to say look how far I’ve come and inevitably, to humbly note how much there is left to do.

What you might not know is that while the #mnbucketlist has been a very public mechanism for these considerations, I also have a very personal list of my own. In the last few weeks, I have come to the culmination of a goal, the second from the top on my own bucket list, all in regards to my education. As I walked across the stage, with one degree concluding and making my way towards the last leg of my education beginning, I remembered all of the lessons that pursuing this particular goal, this momentous milestone, has taught me.

With that, I want to impart another list – because if it wasn’t obvious enough, I have a thing for making lists – with what I’ve learned:

• There is a very big difference between having an idea and implementing it.
• People are assets but some can be encumbrances. It can be difficult to figure out which of these someone is for you. Pivotal, good people will find you if you keep trying.
• No information or place or personal relationship you’ve been through is useless.
• Find your creative confidence by being intellectually adventurous. Set out to become damn good at something.
• Be kind and serve others things of value. Legacy will always be greater than currency
• You will fail and you will take it personally. I have learned that there is nothing more motivating that failure and that self-doubt can propel you, painfully, into places you would never have gone.
• The reward of collaboration – with the right people/partnerships – is immeasurable.
• Travel in this land of marvels and soak it all in. Slow down, and speed up. At the same time.
• Build yourself as a brand and build equity in it. Seek to be more of yourself and better than you were.
• We each have a capacity to influence those around us. Treat everyone as though they are visible and appreciated and acknowledge that we need to help each other. The world can be a dark and stormy place, but it doesn’t have to be.
• Exercise compassion, reflection and poise with everything you connect with. No matter what is reciprocated.
• Self-delusion is important. You cannot create without believing you are the first to do it. You cannot change the world with the knowledge that your actions are insignificant. Believe you are more that the world tells you that you are.