Travis Bell calls himself the Bucket List Guy and he

definitely deserves the title.

“LIFE  IS WAY TOO SHORT.”

#8 Climb The Sydney Harbour Bridge

WARNING! This article maybe a little bit different to what you’re expecting. It may cause you to think differently about your life & in particular, your Bucket List. It may even lead you to become even more crazy & go down rabbit-holes you may of never gone down before. Actually, what am I saying, that’s exactly what you want, yes? So, GAME ON then... As The Bucket List Guy...The Worlds #1 Bucket List Expert, my job (if you could call it that) is to help people create & then live their Bucket Lists. I also help people reverse engineer their lives to live (what I call) a Bucket List Lifestyle. More about that later. Here’s a very short history to explain how I arrived here. For the past 20 years, I’ve been involved in the personal fitness training industry. I started with 1 client over 20 years ago & grew this business into the first franchised personal fitness training studio operation in Australia. We grew it

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STORY AND PHOTOS BY TRAVIS BELL

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to 21 studios around Australia. It did over one million personal training sessions & motivated 10‘s of 1000‘s of clients. I reckon I’ve figured out how to get results with people by now. After a while, this business did my head in. Too many legal fights lead me to really dislike going to work...which I created! Over the 20 years, I’d always gone to personal development seminars. I’ve hugged it-out & high-fived with the best of them. It’s only now that I know why...I was in training to one day be the seminar dealer, not the seminar junkie! Ok, bad joke. :-) After depression set-in, my marriage nearly breaking down & me becoming one of those ‘glass-half-empty’ energy suckers you meet, I decided that enough became enough. Instantly, I told all my franchisees to change to their own brand & I put on a seminar under my new & enlightened persona of ‘motivational speaker’. A persona that came to me after reading the book, ‘Happier’ by Tal Ben-Shahar. As a pretty successful professional speaker & life coach now, I look back & realize that I was awful. But, you have to start somewhere, right?

#37 Surf ´Cloudbreak´ In Fiji

About three quarters of the way through this talk, I mentioned my Bucket List & the fact that I’d had one since I was 18. To my amaze-ment, no one else in the room had one written down like me. Was I the only freak? Many had a ‘kind-of’ Bucket List in their heads & they also ‘sometimes’ did some of those things on there. Most were waiting until ‘someday’ for that ‘perfect timing’ to show up. We all know that that day never comes. Knowing this, I asked the group, “What would you put on your Bucket List if you had one?” Then the room went nuts. Everyone started dreaming & claiming & sharing all the things that they’d

“  What  would

you put on your Bucket List if

you had one?  ”

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#19 Get a Tree Tattoo On Calf

love to do before they ‘kicked-the-bucket.’ Because, that’s all a Bucket List is...a list of all the cool shit you want to do before you die. It was only until after the seminar, after the standing ovation (ok, I made that bit up) when Jo, one of the seminar participants called me The Bucket List Guy. Bang! Ahha. That night, I went home & registered the domain & here I am....the rest is history. For me, a Bucket List is way more than just a list of fun shit to do. It’s a complete life philosophy. A positive one at that! As a qualified Life Coach, I’ve intertwined a lot

“On  the  other side of your Bucket List is a you that you don’t  even  know  yet.”

of Positive Psychology, Neurolinguistic Programming (NLP), Motivation Theory & The Science of Happiness into (what I call) The Bucket List Philosophy. It makes it sound really deep, doesn’t it? Well, it can be. I’ve even been referred to as a Bucket Listologist... if you will. I’m less concerned with the Bucket List itself & more interested in the person people become in the process of achieving their list. I’m also fascinated with the person who's on the other side of the list too. For the last three years, I’ve said:

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#10 Meet Sir Richard Branson

#14 Donate Blood

People come up against all kinds of obstacles and cha-llenges on path to achieving the goals that they set for themselves. They cite many reasons for why they can’t achieve the things that they set-out to achieve in life. We have all formulated a story of why we can or why we cannot. Inherently, some people don’t even write goals down in the first place due to their perceived fear-of-failure or even fear-of-success. These reasons alone can cripple a person’s potential. A Bucket List is all about us discovering our own poten-tial. That’s why I think

everyone should take time out of their lives to create one. Like a little kid, when we see our potential (as grown-ups), it puts a smile on our face. That smile is happiness. Tal Ben-Shahar said: “Happiness is the ultimate currency.” The Dali Lama said: “Happiness is the meaning of life.” As humans, we are hard-wired & addicted to seeing our potential. Helping people discover this is what makes my job, sorry, mission in life so cool. A Bucket List is a series of personally meaningful end-steps. That, when ticked, give a person a real sense of fulfillment. But

also, once ticked, most people’s next response is...”what can I do next.” Welcome to what it’s like to live life as a ‘Bucket Lister.’ A Bucket List is a tangible WHY. It’s why we get up in the morning & go to work. Unfortunately, most ‘think’ they work for the time & cash that a career, job or business supposedly spits out at the end. For most, this is the end goal. Earning money & stockpiling leave is not the end goal at all. It’s what you do with your time & money what really counts. Enter, a Bucket List.

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#27 Walk Through Sun Gate At Machu Picchu

On My 40th Birthday

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A Bucket List creates a lot of toward motivation. This is a sub-section of the Motivation Theory I mentioned earlier. You’ve heard it before. We can be away-from or ‘get away from pain’ motivated or we can be ‘pleasure-seeking’ toward-motivated missiles. It’s common place that one exists before the other. We need some pain in our lives for us to move forward. I mean, that’s what the whole Bucket List movie was all about. It took a cancer diagnosis for Jack & Morgan to write their list. Hopefully, you don’t wait until you get a c-bomb diagnosis like they did to action your Bucket List. Look, I could go on & on about the psychological theory for why a Bucket List is important. But, I have a sneaking suspicion that you know it is already. A Bucket List is personal. It’s a reflection of your character and the things that really light you up. Imagine ticking everything off on yours before your time is up. Surely, after ticking all the things off your list you could then tick the biggest Bucket List item off your it...LIFE...TICK! My Bucket List definitely reflects my character. Some say I’m crazy. My wife thinks I’m crazy. They say that my list is crazy too. But for me, THIS IS LIVING. It’s a true reflection of my values. Hey...my list is not everyones cup of tea.

#13 Buy a Beach House

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“  I  haven´t known

anything different

other than go to the extremes with my

Bucket List.  ”

But as long as no one else gets hurt & it make me happy, hey? See, I’m pretty much a ‘jock’ by trade. I get bored very quick. I hate the thought of being stale. Comfort zones are not part of my vocabulary and growing-up is pointless. Talk about growing-up. I grew-up as a competitive surfer & surf life saver in Australia. I love the ocean! I’ve surfed some pretty big waves in my time, been chased out of the water by sharks a few times & nearly drowned a few hundred more times. I guess I haven’t known anything different other than to go to the

extremes with my Bucket List. Here’s  a  sample  of  some  things  I’ve  ticked-off my Bucket List so far: •  Trekked  to  Advance  Base  Camp,  Mt  Everest  (6500m) with my Dad •  Trained  &  completed  an  Ironman  Triathlon   •  Have  stood  on  the  edge  of  a  live  volcano  explode in Vanuatu •  Skydived

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•  Met  Sir  Richard  Branson •  Have  spoken  to  a  room  of  more  than 1000 people •  Surfed  the  infamous  ‘Cloud  Break’  in  Fiji •  Done  a  surfing boat trip to the Mentawii Islands off Sumatra •  Backpacked  around  Europe  for  1 month as a grown-up •  I  have  committed  living  my  life  with a mohawk •  Ran  a  marathon •  Went  to  the  Eurovision  Song  Contest final in Germany

#11 Be a Life Drawing

Nude Model

WARNING! WARNING! WARNING! DO NOT perform this last Bucket List item in your local community right next door to where you get coffee every morning! Yes, this is what you might call...a ‘rookie bucket lister mistake!’ Here’s  a  sample  of  some  things  I’m  yet  to  tick-off my Bucket List: •  Tow-in surf the Amazon Poracora Tidal Wave •  Qualify  &  compete  in  the  New  York  Marathon •  Perform  s  stand-up comedy gig •  Write  &  publish  a  book •  Summit  Mt  Everest •  Present  a  Bucket  List  event  to  a  stadium  of  people

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•  Experience  Zero  Gravity •  Stage  dive at one of my own speaking gigs •  Hold  a  world  record  in  something •  Speak  on  a  TED  stage   •  Do  the  Tokyo  drift  experience •  Master  a  break-dancing  ‘windmill’ •  Mountain  Bike  down  ‘Death  Road’  in  Bolivia

... & the list goes on...& this is only the beginning. See, I’ve dedicated my life to constantly crossing-off and adding things to my Bucket List. Life, as I know it, is not boring what so ever. A Bucket List could be considered selfish or being self serving. But it’s not. In fact, I feel that it’s far from that. The other reason for it’s existence is to how can you help others through your list. This is where it becomes really holistic & seriously meaningful. With all the above in mind, some of the proudest moments haven’t been all adrenalin filled. One of the proudest days I’ve had the pleasure of having as ‘The Bucket List Guy’ was when I first raised money at one of my Bucket List events.

#18 Live Life with a Mohawk

#5 Travel through Tibet 56

With the help of my faithful seminar audience, we handed out a big novelty cheque to a local Cancer charity which goes towards much needed Cancer care for kids. To raise & donate money on the back of something that I’d created was extremely cool. It felt so good in fact, that i did it again, again & again. Now it’s part of my events. It’s here to stay & the donations are getting bigger & bigger each time. My biggest Bucket List item is to create a community of a million Bucket Listers & raise over one million dollars for charity. These will both happen. I have never doubted myself (as you shouldn’t) so why start now. In summary and as The Bucket List Guy, I have had a hand in changing the lives of hundreds of thousands of people across the globe via speaking, coaching, keynoting or blogging. I’m stoked to say that many have ‘woken-up’, created a Bucket List by their own design & have started to live their Bucket List lifestyle congruent to who they are. But the funny thing is that I feel I have only just begun. Life is way too short not to live your Bucket List. So discover what makes you happy & don’t think it, ink it and reverse engineer your life to allow it to show-up.

Once it’s down on paper you’ll soon discover the path to make it happen and if you ask me...the bigger the list, the better.

“  So  get  out  there  and  really   start  to  live  yours.  “

thebucketlistguy.com

thebucketlistxperience.com

#41 Backpack around Europe as a Grown-Up

Over the past 20 years, Travis Bell (Trav) has been involved in the personal fitness training industry. Starting with 1 client, Trav built a personal training business that did over 1 million personal training sessions with a team who motivated 10’s of 1000’s of clients across Australia. But rather than just help people achieve their health goals, Trav was also personally called upon by clients to help them achieve goals in the other areas of their lives. Trav’s superpower is his unique ability to get people from where they are now to where they want to be. This is the foundation for why Trav is now regarded as one of Australia’s foremost personal development experts & life strategists. As a professional speaker, his Private Events are always popular because they simply transform lives. His Corporate

Keynote presentations are equally engaging because of the impactful content, massive take-home value & Trav’s memorable presentation style.

TRAVIS BELL

Trav is one of Australia’s  most  

in-demand Moti-vation Speakers & a sought-after

Life & Business Coaches.

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