10 Things You’ll Want On Your Career Bucket List to Build Your Dream Career

The idea of a bucket list is simple: think about what you most want to do, see, experience and achieve before you die and write it down. Then get to work doing those things.

While you may already have some kind of “life” bucket list in your head, few people have a career bucket list too. And yet it’s a really effective way to evaluate what’s most important to you in your career and where you want to focus your energy and attention. Mapping out what you want to achieve in your career helps to keep you motivated and moving in the right direction, even when things get tough.

To help you write your own career bucket list, here are 10 ideas to get you started and why they’re great additions to your list.

1. Learn a New Skill

Not just any skill, but one that will help you get better at your job and progress in your career, or one that will set you up to build your dream career in the longer term. These might be immediate goals or stretch goals for the future.

When you’re writing your career bucket list, run through the skills that will be most valuable to you. These might be soft skills like improving your communication and teamwork or hard skills that are specific to your current role, as well as skills that will help you achieve your long-term career aspirations.

2. Become a Mentor

While it’s easy to get caught up in your own career goals, you might also like to add mentoring and leadership goals to your career bucket list. Becoming a mentor can be a hugely rewarding job and an achievement in its own right. to make a positive impact on someone else's career?

When you’re writing your career bucket list, be specific about the type of mentor you want to be, who you’d like to mentor, or how you’ll find mentorship opportunities in your current job. For instance, you may have wellness and mental health experiences to share with others, or you may want to mentor someone from an underrepresented group in your field.

3. Work in Another Country

If you’ve always dreamed of working abroad, make sure you add this goal to your career bucket list. There are more opportunities than ever before to work in another country. Look out for opportunities to work for an international company, take on a remote role that allows you to travel, or find ways to transfer to a different location in your current organization. It might be easier than you think.

4. Grow Your Network

You’ve probably heard that networking is an important factor in career success. But the reality of actually putting time and effort into networking is a different thing altogether, especially if self-promotion is not really your thing. Writing networking goals on your bucket list can force you to step out of your comfort zone and make connections with people who can help you advance in your career. 

Whether it’s attending industry conferences, signing up for networking events or becoming a member of a local or online networking group, think about the types of networking that appeals to you and add it to your career bucket list. For example, maybe an industry convention doesn’t sound like fun but a social event with a young professionals networking group does. Choose the bucket list goal that’s right for you.

5. Successfully Negotiate a Pay Rise

Negotiating a pay rise can be a daunting and challenging task, especially in the early stages of your career. But if you don’t ask for a pay rise, you’re unlikely to get one. By adding this goal to your career bucket list, you can help yourself prepare for the negotiation with your manager or senior leadership team by learning how to ask for a raise and when is the best time to go for it. 

Your personality - and that of your boss -  can play a big role in the success of your negotiation. So why not make it a goal to learn the best approaches and ask for what you deserve?

6. Master Public Speaking

For many people, public speaking is a top career goal. In many ways, getting more confident standing up in front of an audience is the ultimate self-improvement goal – it  can help you become more persuasive, improve your communication and leadership skills, and open up new opportunities for career growth.

It’s up to you if you want to be more specific about the type of public speaking you’d like to do. Here are some ideas to add to your bucket list:

• Speak at a conference
• Be a podcast guest
• Lead a presentation
• Host a workshop or masterclass
• Deliver team training
• Run a live webinar

Public speaking comes in many forms so think about your top goals for public speaking in your career and what you’d most like to achieve.

7. Win a Promotion

When you’re early on in your career, winning a promotion can seem like a distant dream. By adding this item to your bucket list, you can focus your energy and attention on exactly how you’ll achieve it. Writing down your goal can help you think more clearly about the strategies you’ll use to get a promotion, including what actions you need to take at work, who you need to talk to, and what you need to do to prepare your case.

8. Start a Passion Project

As well as thinking about what you’ll achieve in your day job, you can also add your passion projects to your career bucket list. Whether you have the idea for your own business already in mind or you have the goal of starting something one day, it’s a really worthwhile addition to your bucket list. It could even give you the push you need to make your dream a reality.

Passion projects might include side gigs, sharing your knowledge through a blog or channel, creating a product, or anything else that aligns with your interests and values.  No one ever said you have to do the same thing forever, so why not challenge yourself to start something new and exciting? 

9. Try Volunteering

Volunteering is a valuable milestone to add to your bucket list, helping you to get outside of your normal work routine and give back to your community or industry in some way. You might choose to volunteer within your organization or volunteer in a completely different field. It doesn’t have to be related to your job at all if you don’t want it to be.10. Retire Early

While the focus of a career bucket list is your work, you can also think about your retirement goals too. Maybe you want to retire by the time you’re 50 or hit a certain income goal before retirement. Or perhaps your goal is to step back from the corporate world and navigate the world on your own terms. Whatever it may be, make sure to add it to your career bucket list so you can start planning and taking steps towards making it a reality.

What’s On Your Career Bucket List?

Like any bucket list, your career bucket list is personal to you. To help you write your own, think about your top goals for your career and what you’d like to achieve before you retire. If you're stuck, taking a career aptitude test or a workplace personality test can help you hone in on your strengths, values and interests to guide you towards setting meaningful goals.

Remember that you can rewrite your career bucket list as many times as you like. It’s likely you’ll add new goals to your list as you develop in your career and new opportunities open up. The key is to keep challenging yourself, setting your sights high and working towards a fulfilling career that aligns with who you are.