10 Things To Do Before I Die

Although I am now finishing up my seventh decade of a most exciting and fulfilled life, I am planning for the future, as I do every January. I take this exciting trip of the mind, soul, and body, in spite of two malignancies and a pair of knee prostheses, and in the spirit of George Be
ard Shaw that noted:

"When I die, I want to be all used up."

My list looks like this, complete with some sort of rationale for each:

1) Summit Aconcagua: I reached 21,600 ft. in 1996 and 21,700 ft. in 2002. Unfortunately, as the highest peak outside of Asia, the peak is at 22,800 ft. (6,962 meters). My wife, Elaine, notes that if I get an additional 100 ft. every 6 years, I will summit at the age of 135!

2) Summit Cotopaxi: I have never been to Ecuador, which is reason enough to go, but at 19,347 ft. (5,897 meters) the summit might be attainable in spite of my maturity (age) and low testosterone (effects of therapy for prostate cancer).

3) Swim with the snow monkeys in Japan: This probably illegal, dangerous, and foolish, but every time I see their photos, as a Scorpio (life being focused on water, fire, and sex…not necessarily in that order) I am lured, at least re: the water part.

4) Take the Trans-Siberian Railway trip: Since I have been to Russia, climbed Mt. Elbrus, in the Caucasus Mountains, at 18,510 ft. (5,642 meters) the highest mountain in Europe, and have spent a month in China, it is time to link the two.

5) Write a NY Times #1 Bestseller: I have written five books, including Optimize Your Life!,that is an international best-seller (the Chinese publisher’s edition was on the Book-of-the-Month Club). For motivation, I have pasted the book title and my name over the #1 slot on of a copy the NY Times best-seller list and “visualize” it every day when I brush my teeth.

6) Keynote fee of $10,000: One of my great mentors, the late Dottie Walters, said that I was a $10,000 keynoter. I’m working at it, Dottie!

7) Closer relationship with Elaine: After my near-death and rescue on Mt. Washington in NH I realized that the Elaine would have been the real victim, if I had died or become permanently disabled.

8) Enjoy my/our new sexuality: That which age fails to do to undermine one’s sexuality, anti-hormone, radical surgery, chemotherapy, and exte
al beam radiation may. However, as a result of decades of love and trips to India and Nepal, we have learned (and mastered to some degree) Tantric sex…

9) Tune up my body/mind/soul: As I now struggle to complete my book What Better Place to Die, based on my Mt. Washington Misadventure I am keep in a promise I made should I be rescued and not just my body recovered.

10) Finish the other five promises on Mt. Washington: to be insensitive to criticism, to get rid of non-productive real estate, to make amends with some key people, and to better network with key people from my past.

That’s my list. What is on your list…and why?

You may not be able to run away with the circus at this stage in your life, but you can sneak off for a window of time, time well chose and spent, time that will expand your horizons, time that create powerful memories.

Enjoy the journey! Do it now!