Page 14 - Volume 13 Number 9

B u c k e t L i s t s , P a r t ✓I Be a Box Checker!
by Matthew McDaniel
Editor’s Note: The following is the first of an upcoming series of articles which may resonate with King Air corporate and charter pilots when it comes to making the most of travel downtime. But it can also apply to the owner/pilot whether it’s making a stop on the way to a planned destination or adding a future destination to visit. If you have layover pursuits or places you’ve enjoyed visiting that you feel are “must- sees,” please feel free to drop the author an email with any ideas you might have for future installments of this series (contact information follows the article).
List Makers and Box Checkers
History is full of famous list makers; list making is an enviable trait of all manner of successful people. It is said that those who make lists consistently accomplish more in a given time than those who move from task to task more randomly. Not only do lists give their makers a set of tasks to be accomplished, they often provide a prioritization of those tasks. Even more importantly, the simple act of checking or crossing a task off a list (to denote its completion) has been clinically proven to provide an endorphin rush to your brain’s happy places. Many famous aviators were well-known list makers for their entire lives. Charles Lindbergh’s list making was so pervasive that lists even as mundane as those for groceries eventually made their way into his historical archives.
Perhaps no one knows the merit of lists made and checked with precision better than pilots! But I’m not talking about checklists as aviators know them. I’m talking about something more akin to a bucket list – a list of tasks, places or adventures to be accomplished before “kicking the bucket.” For the pilot, like me, who often has layovers (be they daytime or multiday) at a variety of places, there is an incredible opportunity to become a checker of many boxes. Boxes that represent places/things not just seen, but experienced. Start by making a list, then be amazed at the personal satisfaction gained by checking the boxes of said list – one layover or planned stop at a time.
There isn’t one formula for your lists; it’s definitely a personal matter. What interests you or concerns you? What do you like to talk about at home, after your trips? What have you always wanted to see or do and then realize you can see or do it 100 different ways, depending on where you are? These are questions you can ask yourself and use to craft your list. Also, don’t limit yourself. You can have multiple lists running concurrently, checking off items from one list on one layover, another list with tomorrow’s or items from several lists in a single layover. For the owner/pilot, there may be something on your list on the way to your planned destination or located not far away from your stop.
The only limit to your lists is your own imagination and inquisitiveness. During my many years of aviation
12 • KING AIR MAGAZINE
SEPTEMBER 2019