I have always loved the show ‘How I Met Your Mother’ and Barney’s Challenge Accepted. Of course, for one, the show is hilarious. The stories are often relatable and have a certain depth to them. Most of all, however, one can never read enough into the little quirks that the main characters personify including Barney Stinson; an existence that is arguably entirely a collection of quirks. He is a larger than life character and one of his many mottoes (and also one of my favourite) being Challenge accepted.
Barney’s Callenge Accepted
There is something to be admired in the way Barney goes out of his way to make any old boring day at the pub just a little more special. He wants to walk out with an accomplishment under his belt, day in day out. It always involves a Challenge Accepted. There is no other way to do that than seizing the opportunities. It’s always a good laugh when the other characters are having a private conversation and he interjects with Challenge Accepted. It is when he has found something meaningful within a mediocre chit-chat. Barney Stinson is indeed the Player King of New York City. It is probably because of his everlasting journey towards improving his skills. He enjoys setting his own challenges and making it part of his day to day life.
So you probably have a bucket list, maybe it’s not written out in a neat format with colourful fonts stuck to your wall. You probably have fuzzy, not fully formed ideas on what would be on it based on passing thoughts. For some reason, bungee jumping is almost always on there. Have you ever wondered why so many people have bungee jumping on their bucket list? Because it pushes your bravery, your daring and your risk taking to an extreme. It forces you to be all those things in a matter of seconds. Once you are done, you can say you are all these things.
How to make it count
Matter of fact is that self-improvement usually doesn’t come in the form of bungee jumps. In fact, they are anything but. Bungee jumps last as long as the jump lasts – a few seconds. Self-improvement can last you a lifetime and a bucket list is simply a list of actions that represent characteristics you want to acquire. So I have ‘learn to play chess’ on my bucket list. It’s not because I watched Harry Potter and decided I would really like to understand what the hell Ron is doing on that giant chess board (although that would be a plus). What I am trying is to become more strategic and deep thinking and essentially apply it on how I live my life. Understand what calculated risks are, identify and take them.
You will find that most of these steps are along the same lines of simply increasing your awareness, horizons and intellect. Not in the sense of gulping down a set of Encyclopaedia books and recite Einstein. It to internalise lessons and develop new outlooks that you have chosen yourself. To become someone who is worldlier and aware. The beauty is that you will never reach a limit to how much you can learn or experience. It is your job to get on that path of self-improvement; it’s not where you end up but what you pick up on the way.
Every single word of this post resonated with me. Thanks for sharing your thoughts!
Keep that quill on the screen 😉
Cheers!
Damn that’s awesome! Thank you for reading and dropping the comment – appreciate it! Yeo the quill is permanently glued to the screen ^^
Good point. Learning another language is on my bucket list (I do know how to play chess, although I haven’t done it in several years)
Noice! What language are you most tempted to learn?
That’s so cool, one day! I’ll get there one day, but I am full of excuses (I work full-time – give me a break).
Learning a new language is cool. It gives a workout to your brain and you know another language 😁
I tried learning French. I think I’ll start learning Italian. There are few “Italian” people in my life, so it would somewhat useful.
French sounds awesome, I was terrible at it. I speak German, Tamil and English so I am not too interested in another (yet).
I’m currently bouncing between all the Romance languages. It’s so hard to decide :'(
And I believe in you lol 😀
Ou interesting. Lol appreciate it!
I go after things that I am “not comfortable” with in order to challenge myself. To push myself. That makes me stronger (at least emotionally), more self confident, and I would able to say “I did it”. I think of it as a dare, saying to myself “Challenge accepted”.
Literally the best way to self-improve. Nice one.
That’s given me a whole new perspective on ‘Bucket List’, thank you.
So awesome – one of the best comments one can get. Cheers mate, also for letting me know.
Great post and challenge accepted! Except not bungee jumping. The rest of it? Yes!
Thank you!! Haha feel free to leave that of the list ^^
Great post! Thank you so much for sharing, and I too am a huge fan of HIMYM! If you haven’t done so already definitely take a look at “The Magic of Thinking Big” by David Schwartz. My husband was at the PRSM convention in Indianapolis last month where Lou Holtz of football coaching and commentating fame was the keynote speaker. My husband asked him for his favorite book recommendation and suggested this masterpiece which we are both now hooked on! I think that it is something that will resonate with you. Enjoy and keep up the great work!
Thank you! I’ll definitely check the book out – I appreciate the suggestion.