Top 40 Countdown

I am one of those guys who loves the “100 things to do before you die” or “50 must-see-places lists.” Lists are great. From reading lists to best/worst-dressed lists, there can never be enough. And I live in a city that thrives on the “Top 100 Thinkers” or “Biggest Despots” type of lists that prove that even foreign policy geeks love to rank and order everything and everybody.

I suppose the lists somehow organize everything. Or they simplify a chaotic world or life. Isn’t it comforting to have TIME Magazine help me figure out who the top people in the world are? Even Casey Kasem’s Top 40 countdown at the end of the year seems to help order the universe…or at least give me a jump-start. Even if I disagree on the order, I have a starting point from a very big set of possibilities. So whether world leaders or pop singles, the list helps me mark and measure the milestones in my life.

And yet, on my birthday this year, I don’t seem to have a really good list. This year is a preparatory milestone at 39. 2012 brings me the big one on the birthday block…the one that puts me solidly into the next phase of my life. Next year is 40. So today, as I teeter on the edge of this chapter and embrace the 39-ness of it all, I am looking for a good list. I have decided to spend my 39th year looking for that perfect list that will somehow help me transition into becoming a 40-something and elegantly (or not so elegantly) mark the milestone by making a list of some kind.

What I thought was going to be a fun exercise has quickly become a daunting one. There are lots to choose from in the “you’re going to turn 40 so get busy” category. In doing a little research for this project, I was overwhelmed by the choices. A lot of people (and corporations) have put a lot of time into this, and I am finding that things go from super-serious to really ridiculous. It appears as if men of my age get very meditative over 40 and others try to eek out the last bit of “wild” before 40. Obviously I fall in neither camp. So instead of putting this project in the hands of anonymous google-search results, I’ve decided to throw out the concept to my friends to see if they have come up with any really great “lists for 40.” I’ve got a year to get this right, but I need to get started now.

I have a dear friend, John, who once told me that men at a certain age have to decide whether to focus energy and time on their mind, their soul or their body.* Hmmm, at least that’s a good set of categories. Now I need the list.

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*(or something along those lines – apologies for messing-up what I am sure was an eloquent quote).

PS – I am grateful for a friend who forwarded the “How to dress like a 40-year-old” hints from Esquire Magazine to get me ready for the next year. So even if I have no big-picture direction or 30K-foot-perspective on the list for the next part of my life, at least I know what to do with my closet!