I know the exact length of my left foot (26.5cm). I know my Vitamin D levels down to the decimal point. I track my dental expenses, my body fat percentage, and I have optimized the layout of my apartment so that my daily movement path is as efficient as a factory line.
I am a Product Manager. Optimization is my religion. I spent years at big tech companies optimizing conversion funnels, shaving off milliseconds, and removing friction.
Naturally, I applied this to my life.
But recently, I found myself sitting in my perfectly organized room, staring at a perfectly organized calendar, feeling absolutely hollow. I had "won" at productivity. My to-do list was cleared every day. But I wasn't moving forward. I was just spinning faster.
The Trap: The Feeling of Being Stuck
We often feel burnt out not because we aren't doing enough, but because we are doing the wrong things.
For a long time, my life was a series of Jira tickets. "Meditate for 10 minutes" was a task, not a practice. "Call Mom" was a calendar invite, not a connection. I was clearing my to-do list every single day, yet I felt a profound sense of emptiness.
I realized I was stuck in "Survival Mode." I was efficient, yes. But I wasn't living.
A to-do list is great for keeping you alive today. It reminds you to buy milk and pay rent. But it doesn't tell you why you should bother getting up tomorrow morning.
The Wake-Up Call
When I was younger, I watched the movie The Bucket List. I remember thinking it was a charming idea, but something for "later." Something for when I was old.
Then, "later" arrived much sooner than I expected.
A close friend of mine—someone my age, healthy, ambitious—suddenly faced a life-changing accident. One day they were planning their 5-year career roadmap, and the next, they were fighting just to see another month.
"Time is not infinite."
It hit me like a physical blow. We act as if we have an unlimited supply of tomorrows. We optimize our schedules as if the goal is to squeeze more work into the day, rather than more life.
That was the moment I stopped caring about my "productivity system" and started caring about my Bucket List.
Visualizing the End Game
I needed a tool to bridge the gap between "surviving today" and "dreaming of tomorrow." I couldn't find one that felt right, so I built BucketPal.
The core feature isn't the to-do list. It's the Life Progress visualization. I input my birthday and my estimated lifespan, and it shows me a simple progress bar of my life.
When I see that bar—say, 35% loaded—it doesn't make me panic. It makes me focus. It makes me delete the "busy work" from my list and keep only the things that would make the 80-year-old version of me smile.
BucketPal helps me visualize my "Bucket List" not as a distant dream, but as a project with a deadline. It forces me to be honest: Am I spending my 30s building a resume, or building memories?
Your to-do list gets you through the day. Your Bucket List gets you to the future.
The Goal: Be a Cool Old Man
My new goal isn't to be a VP of Product or a wealthy founder. It's to be a "cool old man." The kind who has stories, scars, and a lightness in his step because he didn't carry the weight of unnecessary obligations.
Productivity won't save you. Perspective will.
If you need a reality check—or just a place to keep your dreams safe—try BucketPal. It might just help you organize your life's room, so you can finally sit down and enjoy living in it.