525,600 Minutes - How Do You Measure A Year?

Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
Five hundred twenty-five thousand moments so dear
Five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, measure a year?

In daylights, in sunsets
In midnights, in cups of coffee
In inches, in miles, in laughter, in strife
In five hundred twenty-five thousand six hundred minutes
How do you measure, a year in the life?

I was watching a Broadway recording of the musical Rent this morning, and this song gave me some food for thought. I went to a twenty-first brithday party of a dear friend on the weekend - and age was a hot topic of conversation. Many of my friends seem to dread their birthdays - birthdays are a sign of time passing, of ageing, of another year gone and not enough to show for it.

So listening to this song in Rent this morning, I stopped to reflect - exactly how do you measure a year? Do you measure it by how much money you earned? How many hours you worked? How many parties you attended? How many drinks you had? How many friends you made or kept? How many days you simply survived?

Anyone who knows me, knows I am a goal-oriented person. Many do not know to what extent. I have different lists of goals. I have a list of things to do each day. I have a list of goals to achieve each year. I have lists of goals to finish before 30 and 40 years of age respectively. My favourite list though is my bucket list - the list of things I want to do before I die.

The list of goals to achieve each year - between one birthday and the next - that is how I measure a year. I'll share some examples off of my inaugural 'yearly list' - which I made at the age of 24. I think the inspiration to have an annual to-do list was inspired by a fear that when I turned 25 - a quarter of a century - I wanted to not look back on my life so far with regrets.

Highlights of my 'Before I am 25' list:

• Skydiving (with Katie and Mel)
• Whitewater rafting (in Phang-Nga, Thailand)
• Swim over 300 laps for Splash for Cash (did 310 for good measure!)
• Go poledancing (Poledancing for Polio)
• Swim naked (Hello Phuket Beach)
• Play a drinking game (Thanks Sanjeev and the Taiwanese)
• Design a professional logo for my business (thanks Katie)
• Get my first set of business cards for Project Inspiration
• Kiss in the rain (Thanks Danny Boy)
• Travel to a different country (Singapore, Thailand & USA)
• Run a truly great Rotaract event (Mac Uni Splash for Cash)

Now when I hit 25, and looked back on the year that had been... I was proud. I'd done some fun, crazy, proactive and charitable things! I'd risen to the challenge and knocked everything of the list. The following year I upped the ante and made the list even more challenging. And then this year, I have blown all expectations out of the water, knocking 27 things off my bucket list well before my 27th birthday!

Next year I intend to make the goals even harder, with lots of random antics as usual, but adding some hefty career goals and life goals into the mix too. All I know is that when I get to a birthday, I'm not concerned about 'how old I am getting'... I'm excited to stop and reflect on a great year gone by, to set some goals for the year ahead, and then to have a great time celebrating another year of Krissie with some fabulous people I call my friends. I measure a year by the successes and amusing failures that have marked it along the way. And by my thinking, there is no better way to do it.

So tell me now... how do you measure a year???