Today the word “Bucket list” comes to me, through a recent experience best told by a video.
Before you watch the 21-second long video clip, please let me set the scene.
I’ll tell that story, then reflect a little on bucket lists, presence and Ikigai a little (as recurring themes around leadership on this site.).
I’m a big movie fan (hence “Movies with Meaning” posts every Wednesday on this site, and one of my favourite movies is “2001 – A Space Odyssey”
That movie was released in 1968, and for the 50th anniversary, in the amazing Royal Festival Hall, it was accompanied live by the Philharmonia orchestra and voices.
Somehow I managed to get two tickets that were front and centre in the auditorium.
I invited a friend who loved the soundtrack, particularly the score. It turned out she had never watched the movie, and her review afterwards was “Epic”. She also sneaked shooting a short video of the opening of the movie, of the orchestra playing the stunning short piece that is Strauss’ “Thus Spake Zarathustra”.
Turn it on, turn it up loud, feel the #goosebumps!
A number of years ago, the term “Bucket List” was popularised, including by a movie of that name. Basically, it is about having a whole bunch of experiences before you die.
To me, in the moment of being in that experience of the movie, orchestra, choir, concert hall etc., I felt for a moment that I could die then and be happy.
Was it a bucket list moment though? I thought about it, then realised that I hadn’t thought of the event that way, even though it was truly a once in a lifetime memory.
Instead, I reflected on what it means to focus on “what I want to do before I die”, as, worthy though that may be, it can have the effect of taking us away from experiencing what is happening in the present moment.
At that movie screening, I was totally present, my senses absolutely stimulated, a huge smile from ear to ear and goosebumps from head to foot.
When we are present to the moment, there can be magic in unexpected places.
I’ve written often about Ikigai, one definition of which is knowing your reason for being.
is it too zen to consider “being present is reason enough for being” as my own Ikigai? I am sensing that this is a distillation that gets close to mine.
I truly love being present to moments and being present to and for others. It is also in being truly and deeply present that the magic happens, where we see things for as they are.
Take that into business and leadership, when we step out of the busy-ness of our work lives and focus on being truly present, it is amazing how often magic happens. We see the wood for the trees, we see and support our team through them simply being seen through our presence and listening.
Be Present, find your own Ikigai. Choose those over a Bucket List, and you won’t feel the need to think of a bucket list of things you’ll do in the future before you die. Believe me, your present will be more than enough.