Creating the 40 before 40

DATE: 2026-04-08
AGE: 31 and a bit

If you could take no photos and tell nobody, would you still do it? If even your bucket list is about trying to impress other people you’ve got real problems.

The idea for a 40 before 40 was inspired by Rhys Wynne’s 50 before 50.

Life passes and the trail we leave isn’t always intentionally drawn. Very often it sketches the nudges and influences of minor happenings and other people’s priorities. I’ve done some cool things, but even those were as much by chance or happenstance as careful thought about the kind of life I want.

I have a son now. I want to teach him that life is ours to mould and our responsibility to grasp.

Of course, life is as much, if not more, about the small moments as the big. An epic every day is neither realistic nor ideal. And it’s not about ticking things off to say I did (see quote above). This list is about tracing the arc of the next few years, defined by experimentation, flavour, continual comfort-zone stretching. I want to capture and celebrate my eclectic interests and inborn curiosity for so many things.

Some of these are vague and non-prescriptive. That’s intentional. It doesn’t matter how long the silence retreat is or which country we drive across or what “teach something” means. I’ll know it by taste and feel.

And yes, there are more than 40.

The List

Last update: 2026-04-08
1 / 42 complete

24. ✅ Run London marathon: realised a lifelong dream (2025 @ 30)

26. Go wild swimming

36. Do a motorbike trip

38. Give a speech/talk to an audience of strangers

41. Do an art class — drawing/painting

43. Have a family that I always put first, with a loving kind spirited & true bond

Immediate Reaction to this List

Notice how I didn’t think of a single work one (except money)? The majority of my waking hours go there.