Reading Time 4 mins

It was February 2012. I’d graduated college 2 months before and was earning enough at my new job that I could move to a nicer, bigger place. I was almost finished packing but felt overwhelmed by going through my closet. I had several bins and boxes full of papers. There were a lot of clothes that didn’t fit me anymore. I didn’t want to bring clutter to my new home and didn’t want to move heavy bins just to take up space on the moving truck.

My best friend, Kandi, called me to ask how my packing was going. I expressed my feelings of overwhelm, and blessed Kandi replied, “You don’t have to do it by yourself. I’ll come to help you”. I felt better already just knowing help was on the way.

Kandi arrived and her soothing, calm, practical personality motivated me to go for it. We had several hours to work.

The paperwork is what overwhelmed me the most. Much to my surprise, Kandi said that she’d start sorting through it herself while I went through my clothes. “You go through your clothes because you can finish that pretty quickly. You need three bags. Have a trash bag of clothes to throw away. Put the clothes that don’t fit or that you don’t want anymore into this bag to donate. Then put the clothes you want to keep in the third bag, and that’s the only bag of clothes you’ll take with you.” Yes ma’am.

Kandi began sorting the paperwork into stacks of what she thought could be thrown away and what might be important.

After I finished going through my clothes, I was able to sit down on the carpet and confirm that the paperwork in the “throw away” stack was indeed could be disposed of. Thankfully, she was right. I was even able to get rid of a lot in the “to keep” pile. As I verified the stacks, Kandi continued removing things from the boxes and making stacks.

“You need to look at this, Krystina”. I could tell Kandi had found something interesting by her tone. It was a simple lined notebook. It was full of things I’d written as a teenager. Unfinished short stories, poems, songs.

“Keep going.”

I turned a few more pages, then found what Kandi had spotted— The Magic List.

When I was 15, I wrote a list of all the goals I wanted to achieve by age 30. This was mostly for the fun of daydreaming because several goals just seemed impossible or quite unlikely to really happen.

The list was long and included goals such as:

*Become fluent in Spanish

*Learn Portuguese

*Live independently and financially support myself

*Start my own business

*Be a translator and interpreter

*Get a science degree

*Get paid to travel

*Work in Brazil for 2 months

*Buy a house by myself (not with a partner)

At age 15, these goals seemed like pure fantasy. After all, I didn’t know anyone personally who’d done those things.

I was left speechless. Kandi said, “Well, you can cross off everything except buying a house and working in Brazil. Since you work offshore, I guess that could count as traveling for work.”

“No, that doesn’t count. I meant I wanted to work in other countries, with the locals. I want to experience different cultures and see how they really live.”

“Well, that’s still pretty good. You accomplished most of it. You’ve come a long way.”

I replied, “Well, I’m not thirty yet.”

Fast forward two years later—I bought a house. Alone.

Fast forward some years. Three months before my thirtieth birthday, my boss told me he needed me to work in Brazil for a week. The next week, he said it would be for two weeks. The plan kept changing, and the project was so big, management decided I needed to work in Brazil for two months.

Whoa. I always assumed that the first time I was sent to work overseas, I’d be sent to a Spanish-speaking country, since I’m fluent in Spanish and my Portuguese was pretty basic. But I immediately remembered The List—working in Brazil for two months was my first “get paid to travel” gig.

Therefore, I’d achieved everything on my fantasy list a month before turning thirty.

What amazes me is that I accomplished the impossible, plus more! I’d had many adventures and misadventures that were not on the list. So much happened within 15 years. I’d completely forgotten about that list—I wrote it down and never looked at it again until that day.

Do not be deceived—not one of these goals was accomplished easily. My path was not a straight line at all—it meandered and had loops and felt like a roller coaster ride. But I still made it to THAT finish line.

Now, I’m writing a new list. While I’ve accomplished way more than I ever thought possible, I haven’t “arrived” yet. This time, instead of only writing goals, I’m thinking deeply about what I want every aspect of my life to look like within the next 3 years. I’m being more intentional this time, more detailed, and dreaming bigger. I even have an accompanying vision board and daily practices.

I learned I’m capable of way more than I ever could have imagined. So are YOU. I challenge you to write your own magic list of impossible goals. Set a timeline. You may be surprised when things happen long before your deadline.