Your Bucket List Workbook — The Bucket List Accountant
The Bucket List Accountant presents

Your Bucket List
Workbook

Stop waiting. Start living.
Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbour. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover.
— Mark Twain
Takes about 20–30 minutes
5 guided sections
Your personalised report at the end
↓  Enter your name below to begin
👋
A message from David Patterson
Why I built this workbook
Before you start, I'd love to explain why this workbook exists — and why the question "what do you actually want?" is one most accountants never ask.
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Before we begin

There are no right or wrong answers here. Nobody else is going to see this unless you choose to share it. The only rule is to be honest with yourself — even if some of what comes up surprises you.

1
Step One
The Brain Dump
Every idea. No filter. No editing.
How to do this

Pour yourself something nice. Set a timer for 10 minutes. Write down every single thing you want to do, see, experience, learn, or achieve before you die. Big things. Small things. Silly things. No censoring — everything goes in. Then tap the ★ star next to the ones that feel most important — those will automatically carry across into Step 2.

Your ideas — write as many as you like

★ Star the ones that matter most — they'll flow straight into Step 2 for you

You've starred 0 ideas 0 starred These will auto-fill Step 2
2
Step Two
Get Specific
Vague goals stay dreams. Specific goals become plans.
Your starred ideas are already here

The ideas you starred in Step 1 have been pulled across into the left column below. Now make each one more specific. "Travel overseas" becomes "Three weeks in Japan with the family in 2027." The more specific it is, the more real it becomes — and the more your brain starts working on how to make it happen. You can add more rows at the bottom if needed.

🎯
David Patterson
Why specificity is everything
There's a moment when a bucket list stops being a wish and starts being a plan. Here's what changes it.
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What I wrote in the brain dump
The specific version
3
Step Three
Categorise Your List
We've sorted your goals — move them around if needed.
Here's how this works

We've used AI to sort your specific goals into the six bucket categories below. It's pretty good, but not always right — if a goal is in the wrong bucket, just drag it across to the right one. Then tick the checkbox on any goals you want to tackle in the next 12 months — those will flow straight into Step 4.

Sorting your goals into categories...
This takes just a moment
📅 You've chosen 0 goals for your next 12 months These will auto-fill Step 4
4
Step Four
Your Next 12 Months
A bucket list without a timeline is just a wish list.
Your 12-month commitments are pre-filled

The goals you ticked in Step 3 are already here. Now add the detail that makes them real — when you'll do it, and roughly what it will cost. That cost column is the most important part. It connects your bucket list to your business in a way most people never do.

📅
David Patterson
The cost column that changes everything
Most people fill in a bucket list and never work out what it would actually cost. Here's why that number is the most important thing in this whole workbook.
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# Bucket List Item Category When Approx Cost

"The best time to start was yesterday. The second best time is today."

5
Step Five
Connect the Dots
What does your business need to do for your bucket list to happen?
This is the part most people skip

Your bucket list needs a business plan behind it, not just good intentions. These five questions help you work out whether your business is actually set up to fund the life you just mapped out. Answer honestly — this is where things get interesting.

🔗
David Patterson
Your business is the vehicle. Is it roadworthy?
This is the conversation I have with every client I work with. Most business owners have never sat down and asked whether their business is actually built to fund their life. Here's how to find out.
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1. What does your business need to earn for your bucket list to be fully funded?
2. How many hours a week would you need to free up to actually do these things?
3. What is the single biggest thing holding your business back right now?
4. What would your business look like if it truly worked for you — not the other way around?
5. What's the first conversation you need to have to make this real?
The Bucket List Accountant logo
The Bucket List Accountant presents

Your
Bucket List

A personalised plan for a life of no regrets
Prepared for
"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do than by the ones you did."
— Mark Twain
The Bucket List Accountant logo

Congratulations, .

You just did something most people never do.

DP
A personal note from
David Patterson
The Bucket List Accountant

You’ve just sat down, been honest with yourself, and written down what you actually want your life to look like. That takes courage. More than most people realise.

In 32 years as an accountant, I’ve sat across from hundreds of business owners. Smart, hardworking people who have built something genuinely good. And almost without exception, the ones who felt most fulfilled — the ones who looked back on their lives with the fewest regrets — were the ones who had written their goals down. Not just thought about them. Written them down.

There is something almost magical about putting your dreams on paper. It signals to your brain that these things are real — that they matter, that they’re worth pursuing. Research consistently shows that people who write their goals down are significantly more likely to achieve them. Not a little more likely. Dramatically more likely.

I lost my mother when she was still relatively young. That experience shaped everything about how I approach this work. Life is not a rehearsal. The bucket list you’ve just created isn’t a fantasy — it’s a plan. And now that it’s written down, it has a chance to become real.

Keep this document somewhere you’ll see it. Share it with the people who matter most to you. Revisit it every year. And please — start ticking things off sooner than you think you can.

Your business should be the vehicle that funds this life, not the cage that keeps you from it. That’s exactly what I help people work out.

David Patterson

A goal without a plan is just a wish.

— Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

The Power of Writing It Down

Most people carry their bucket list entirely in their head. A vague, shifting collection of “one days” and “somedays” that never quite crystallise into anything real. And that’s exactly why most of them stay there — in the head, in the future, always just out of reach.

Writing your goals down does something different. It forces clarity. You can’t write “travel more” and feel like you’ve got a plan — you have to commit to a destination, a timeframe, a cost. And in that specificity, the goal becomes real. It stops being a daydream and starts being a target.

42%
more likely to achieve goals when written down, according to research by Dr Gail Matthews at Dominican University
76%
of people who wrote goals, shared them, and sent weekly progress updates achieved their goals

But there’s something even more important than the statistics. Writing your bucket list down is an act of self-respect. It says: my life matters. My dreams matter. The things I want to experience before my time runs out are worth taking seriously.

You’ve done that today. Don’t let this document sit in a drawer. Print it. Pin it up. Talk about it with the people you love. And then — one by one — start making them happen.

The secret of getting ahead is getting started.

— Mark Twain
Three things to do with this document right now
1
Print it and put it somewhere you see it every day — your office, your fridge, your bathroom mirror.
2
Share it with your partner or a close friend. Accountability is everything.
3
Book a date in your calendar right now to review it in 90 days.

Everything on Your Mind

Every idea you poured out — big, small, silly, serious. This is where it all started.

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing at all.

— Helen Keller

Your Goals, Made Real

Vague ideas transformed into specific plans. This is where dreams start becoming achievable.

If you want to be happy, set a goal that commands your thoughts, liberates your energy, and inspires your hopes.

— Andrew Carnegie

Your Bucket List by Category

A balanced life touches all of these areas. See where your energy is focused — and where you might want to explore more.

Your Next 12 Months

You didn’t just dream. You committed. These are the goals you’ve decided to tackle in the next 12 months. Hold yourself to them.

My Commitment

I, _____________, commit to pursuing the goals above over the next 12 months. I understand that a life of no regrets is built one decision at a time — and today I chose to start.

Signature
Date

Someday is not a day of the week.

— Janet Dailey

Connecting the Dots

Your bucket list needs a business plan behind it — not just good intentions. Here’s what you discovered about the gap between where your business is now, and where it needs to be.

Your business should be the engine that funds your bucket list — not the cage that keeps you from it.

— David Patterson, The Bucket List Accountant
The Bucket List Accountant logo

Now Go Live It.

You’ve done something today that most people never do. You’ve looked your life squarely in the face and decided what you want from it. That’s not a small thing — that’s the first step towards a life of no regrets.

The world is full of people who meant to do things. Don’t be one of them. You have a list. You have a plan. Now you need a business that can fund it.

The biggest adventure you can take is to live the life of your dreams.

— Oprah Winfrey
Ready to make your business work for your bucket list?

Book a free 30-minute Bucket List Business Review with David Patterson. No jargon. No sales pitch. Just a clear-eyed look at whether your business is set up to fund the life you just mapped out.

bucketlistaccountant.com.au
(03) 5559 7131
“Build a business that funds your life — not one that consumes it.”

© The Bucket List Accountant · 132a Lava Street, Warrnambool VIC 3280 · (03) 5559 7131 · bucketlistaccountant.com.au