When we think about our goals, the thought is sometimes as far as we get. When we take the time to conceptualize and write down our goals, we gain a greater sense of importance, motivation and confidence to achieve them.

Taking the time to sit down, reflect, and physically write out a list is an impactful experience in and of itself. Writing a bucket list encourages us to reflect on ourselves and our interests, pushes us to explore new boundaries and offers us something to look forward to in the inevitable monotony of life. A tangible bucket list can provide a sense of direction in a world with many paths to discover.

Bucket lists are a great place to lay out your desires. Maybe you’ve always wanted to learn a type of dance, travel to a certain country or try out a new food. They encourage self-reflection and can even contribute to your sense of personality.

Writing this down and storing it into a set list will allow you to reflect on past goals, work on completing current ones and brainstorm ideas for future goals. Forbes has even stated that “people who very vividly describe or picture their goals are anywhere from 1.2 to 1.4 times more likely to successfully accomplish their goals than people who don’t.”

That list can be a place to store your dreams of achieving your goals, giving you a sense of accomplishment and motivation and going beyond the bounds of just simply thinking about a goal or saying to your friends you want to do something. A study has found that “individuals who commit their goals to paper are 33-42% more likely to achieve them compared to those who merely conceptualize their goals.”

Bucket lists can even help you transcend your natural boundaries by coming up with goals that get you out of your comfort zone, essential for personal growth. For instance, a goal could be to learn a new language and practice using it on a trip to a new country. Simply having these possibilities written down gives you a push of confidence to eventually be able to cross it off.

Scientifically, writing goals down forces you to remember the information more vividly. Brett Green in an article from New Tech Northwest says that, “By searing the details of that goal into your brain, you are telling it how important that goal is to you.”

Furthermore, we can use bucket lists as a means to plan a set break from our typical monotonous routine. Using bucket lists to create anticipatory events gives us something to look forward to and offers us motivation to work hard. The act of planning a trip, setting goals and creating a bucket list has been scientifically proven to increase dopamine levels.

An article by the American Heart Association even stated that, “We are creatures of habit, and we tend to go through our days on auto-pilot,” Think of a list as “a northern star that we can steer by.” Bucket lists keep you on track and offer many avenues for the direction of your life’s next steps.

Having the list itself and eventually completing it can significantly contribute to our sense of happiness and dopamine levels, therefore acting as a great way to remain healthy in all aspects. An Atlassian article concluded that “checking items off of a checklist releases small amounts of dopamine that then fuel us to keep checking off more items.”

Bucket lists are reliable means to keep on track with what you want to do in life. They’re a great way to make sure you absorb all of what life has to offer, no matter how simple or difficult the goal is. As we get older, we may realize that we regretted not doing things and having a list helps to reduce that sense of regret by planning ahead. We’re forgetful, so having a bucket list is a tangible and realistic way to make sure you check your dreams off the list. Take some time to sit down and write a goal for yourself, the feeling of checking it off is worth the effort!

Julia Bragg can be reached at [email protected]