Okay, now that we’re well in to 2017 I thought I’d share my wrap-up from our 16 in 16 adventure last year. You may remember what we did, but if not you can catch-up here.

Overall, I give the experience two huge thumbs up! Okay, I’ll start this wrap-up on an honest foot and tell you we didn’t get to everything. We did a lot of it and we did most of the things that required more planning, so it felt like we got even further than we did. That being said, I would totally do it over again. In fact, we were planning to and then the move kind of derailed that. To me, the biggest benefit of having the list is that you really focus on stuff you want to do. It’s so easy to know there are places you want to go and things you want to try, but then when the weekend rolls around you kind of forget about it and before you know it time has gone by and you haven’t made any progress on your list. I think this is especially true when you’re in a new city and practically everything is something you want to try out. So, the list helps keep you focused. When you’re planning stuff for your free time you automatically pull something that you know you want to do. Then, at the end of the year you have a whole bunch of things you’ve checked off and you feel super accomplished. The other thing I liked about it was that we did it with friends and we all had an equal say in what made the cut. So, this meant that we were all pushed to try some things we wouldn’t normally and some of those turned out to the best.

If you have a group of friends you’re tight with, I totally recommend it. Because it’s fun and challenging you guys will all be even closer at the end of it. You can add rules, or make multiple lists, any variation really. But, no matter how you do it, I guarantee you won’t regret it. If you do decide to go for, I’ve included a few of the things I learned.

1. Really commit to the list – when it time comes to actually do something it’s so easy to just brush off, especially if it takes planning, or is out of your comfort zone, or you think you don’t really want to do it anymore. But, our friends we did it with are super committed people. Once they decide to do something they always do it. Knowing that, we were prepared to do everything (even when later we didn’t necessarily want to) and it made the experience so much better. You kind of inspire yourself when you make a plan and stick to it and you’ll feel awesome at the end.

2. Mix the types of activities you choose – our list was loaded up with things that required advance planning, reservations, or tickets. And while some of those ended up being my favorite things (Portland and Big Sur, I’m talking about you…) I think it was also a reason we didn’t finish. One of my other favorites was when we found the hidden slides near Delores Park. The fact that we decided that morning to give a try made it even sweeter. Not much work, but a lot of reward! I think it’s a good idea to commit a chunk of your list to things that can be done almost any time, it’s good to have those in your back pocket.

3. Have fun with it – don’t take it too seriously and go along with it even when it not your first choice. If you go in with a good attitude you’ll always end up having fun. And you’ll probably learn about something you like that you never would have otherwise. Take a few chances!