40 over 40 - A decade list

A list of 40 goals to grow, experience, age well, give and prepare in one's 40s.

40 things I would like to do once I get over 40.1 I will check out most of these things before I publish my next list for the following decade.

Grow

  1. Get a new degree in a new field. ๐ŸŽ“
  2. Make and ship a game with 100+ users ๐ŸŽฎ
  3. Learn and try 10 different software technologies I have not used before. ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿ’ป
  4. Learns Spanish to the intermediate level ๐Ÿ‡ช๐Ÿ‡ธ
  5. Learn to play guitar ๐ŸŽธ
  6. Read 120 books ๐Ÿ“š
  7. Write 120 posts โœ๏ธ
  8. Be part of a business from 0$ to 1B$ ๐Ÿ’ต
  9. Scale myself: take control of my calendar, prune nonsense, do the things that matter, and savor the time. ๐Ÿ“†

Experience

  1. Go on an Alaska Cruise ๐Ÿ›ณ
  2. Travel to favorite places again as a family: Japan ๐Ÿ‡ฏ๐Ÿ‡ต, Montreal l๐Ÿ‡จ๐Ÿ‡ฆ, New Orlearns๐ŸŠ, New York ๐Ÿฅฏโ€ฆ
  3. Travel to new places as a family: Disneyland ๐Ÿง™โ€โ™‚๏ธ, London ๐Ÿ‡ฌ๐Ÿ‡ง, Greece ๐Ÿ›, Roadtrip across the US โ€ฆ
  4. Travel to 5 continents. ๐Ÿ—บ
  5. Teach Tรผrkรงe to kids. ๐Ÿ‡น๐Ÿ‡ท
  6. Spend time in person with my parents and sister at least once a year. ๐Ÿ‘จโ€๐Ÿ‘ฉโ€๐Ÿ‘งโ€๐Ÿ‘ฆ
  7. Spend regular time with a few close friends, with 2-4 meetings/month. ๐Ÿ™‹
  8. Get a new hobby that does not involve looking at screens, and be good at it. ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐ŸŽจ
  9. Plant a food garden. ๐ŸŒป
  10. Attend a large global sports event (Olympics or World Cup). ๐ŸŸ

Age Well

  1. Start biking ๐Ÿšดโ€โ™‚๏ธ
  2. Walk regularly. Develop a habit of 2 long walks/week. ๐Ÿšถโ€โ™‚๏ธ
  3. Take care of my muscle and bones, regular weight exercises 3 / week.๐Ÿ‹๏ธ
  4. Learn to play tennis ๐ŸŽพ
  5. Eat vegetarian for 5 days or more every week. ๐Ÿฅฆ.
  6. Take care of my skin: have a skin routine. ๐Ÿงด
  7. Meditate or reflect regularly at least once a week. ๐Ÿง˜
  8. Take care of my eyes. Regular days, and hours in a day without screen time. ๐Ÿ‘“

Give

  1. Participate in local school board activities. ๐ŸšŒ
  2. Actively engage on a new open source project or a foundation. ๐Ÿงฐ
  3. Make myself available as a mentor for new folks in my field. ๐Ÿ’ฌ
  4. Teach a class. Online or local community college. ๐Ÿง‘โ€๐Ÿซ
  5. Participate in a charitable cause๐ŸŽ—
  6. Be an advisor for startups / Join the board of a startup ๐Ÿ—ฃ

Prepare

  1. Invest in real estate ๐Ÿ˜
  2. Become an angel investor ๐Ÿ’ธ
  3. Make a retirement plan ๐Ÿ–
  4. Make a will Complete estate planning ๐Ÿ“ƒ
  5. Start a business. Something that gives me joy. ๐Ÿ“ˆ
  6. Diversify my career: Be an expert at something else ๐Ÿคนโ€โ™‚๏ธ
  7. Create a personal brand, reaching 10,000 people. ๐ŸŒŸ

Later additions

  1. Learn 10 card magic tricks that will entertain kids. ๐Ÿƒ
  2. Reach to financial independence by 45. ๐Ÿ“ˆ

And as a bonus, one piece of advice for myself. When I entered my 30s, I made a resolution to care less about what others think about me, and for my 40s, I will make decisions faster.


  1. 40 under 40 - Principles is a related post about finding the right principles for preparing for this decade of life. ↩︎

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