How Often You Should Revisit Your List of 100 Dreams
A couple years ago, I sat down and wrote a List of 100 Dreams. Everything I might want to do or try or be, no editing, no checking whether it was realistic. It's a well-known exercise for a reason. Writing it was genuinely eye-opening. It surfaced things I wanted that I hadn't let myself say out loud yet or didn’t even realize were in the back of my mind.
And then I filed it away and didn't open it again for almost two years.
I finally pulled mine back up recently, mostly because I'd just signed up for a baking class, and I had a feeling "go to baking school" was still sitting on that list somewhere. It was. But that's not what stood out to me. What stood out was everything else on the page. Items I'd actually already done, in small steps, without ever consciously "working" the list. A few dreams I'd outgrown completely. And a few new ones that belonged there now that didn’t even exist in my mind a couple years ago.
Those steps happened because I kept choosing them, not because I'd written them down two years ago. But I only got to see the pattern because I went back and looked. I realized that writing your List of 100 Dreams is only half the exercise. Revisiting it is the other half, and it's the half most people skip.
What Counts as "Revisiting" Your List of 100 Dreams?
The whole idea of a List of 100 Dreams comes from Laura Vanderkam, whose book 168 Hours is the reason I started tracking my time and my wants this deliberately in the first place.
Writing it was just the easy half. Here's what the other half, revisiting it, actually looks like: rereading it on purpose, on some kind of regular rhythm, and doing three things while you're there:
Noticing what you've already made progress on (even accidentally)
Removing what no longer fits who you are now
Adding what's shown up since you last looked.
Your list isn't meant to be a one-time writing exercise. It's an ongoing conversation with yourself about what you actually want, updated as you change.
If you've never made a list like this, my original post on the List of 100 Dreams walks through how to write your first one. This post picks up after that, for anyone whose list is sitting in a drawer or a Notes app collecting dust.
Why I Hadn't Opened Mine in Years
Honestly, I treated the list like a one-time assignment. Write it, get a little direction, feel inspired for a week, move on. Once it was written, I considered the exercise done. That's an easy trap to fall into, because writing the list feels like the whole point. It's emotional, it's revealing, and it gives you a nice hit of clarity in the moment.
But a list you write once and never open again is basically a journal entry. It tells you something true about who you were on the day you wrote it. It doesn't do anything for you after that unless you keep coming back to it.
What I Found When I Finally Reopened Mine
I revisited the list to focus on my baking school dream. I expected to track down that item amongst 99 other “someday” dreams that were likely still just wishes in the back of my mind.
Instead, I found a surprising amount of quiet progress against my two-year-old list. Items I'd genuinely already done, in ordinary small steps, spread out over two years I hadn't been tracking against this list at all. Nothing about those steps had felt like "working my dream list" at the time. They just felt like normal choices. But there they were, quietly done anyway.
I also found a handful of items that didn't belong anymore. Things I'd wanted two years ago that I now felt nothing about. That surprised me too, but it shouldn't have. Wanting different things over time isn't a failure of the original list. It's evidence the list is still doing its job, reflecting who you actually are instead of who you used to be.
How Often Should You Revisit Your List of 100 Dreams?
There's no single correct cadence, but a few natural checkpoints work well:
Once or twice a year, on a set date. A birthday, New Year's, the start of a new season. Anything you'll actually remember to do without relying on motivation to strike.
Whenever you take a real step toward something on it. This is what triggered mine. Signing up for the baking class made me want to go check the list, and that impulse is worth following every time. Action toward a dream is exactly the moment to go see what else is on the page.
Whenever you feel stuck or restless. If you can't tell whether you're actually moving forward in life or just staying busy, your old list is one of the fastest ways to find out. It's a record of what you said you wanted before you got distracted by everything else.
What matters more than the exact schedule is that there is one. An open standing note in your calendar, a recurring reminder, anything that gets you back to the page instead of leaving it to chance.
How to Revisit Your List of 100 Dreams, Step by Step
Read the whole thing without editing first. Just read it start to finish before you touch anything. Let yourself notice your reaction to each line.
Mark what's done, even partially. Don't just look for fully completed items. Look for progress. A dream trip you took a smaller version of, a skill you started learning, a conversation you finally had. Small steps count.
Cross off what no longer fits, without guilt. If a line makes you feel nothing, or actively makes you cringe a little, it's allowed to go. That's not failure, that's information about who you are now.
Add what's missing. New interests, new versions of old dreams, things that have shown up in your life since the last time you looked. The list is allowed to grow past 100, or stay at 100 with new lines replacing old ones. There's no rule.
Look for a pattern. Sometimes the items still sitting untouched have something in common. Mine, this time, were all things I'd been treating as "someday, once I have the whole plan figured out.” Once I saw that pattern, it was easier to catch myself doing the same thing somewhere else that was stalling progress.
What to Do With a Dream That's Still Just Sitting There
Some items survive every revisit. They're not crossed off, but they're not moving either. Baking school was one of mine, for almost a decade, before I did anything with it.
The thing that finally moved it wasn't a better plan. It was a smaller one. Instead of researching culinary programs and mapping out what a future as a baker might look like, I signed up for exactly one baking class. Worst case, I find out I don't actually like it, and I get to stop wondering. Best case, it's fun, and I take another one.
If something on your list has been sitting untouched for years, it's worth asking whether it's actually stalled, or whether it's just been waiting for a version small enough to start.
Common Mistakes When Revisiting Your List of 100 Dreams
Treating it as a scoreboard. The point isn't to judge yourself against 100 lines. It's to notice direction, not tally a perfect completion rate.
Feeling guilty about crossing off old dreams. An old dream that no longer interests you isn't a broken promise to your past self. It's proof you've grown into someone with different wants, which is the entire point of staying intentional about your life in the first place.
Waiting for a big, tidy plan before acting on anything. This is the trap that kept baking on my list for years. The smallest possible version of a dream almost always teaches you more, faster, than the fully mapped-out version you keep meaning to get around to.
Never scheduling the revisit at all. If revisiting isn't attached to a date, a trigger, or a habit, it tends to just never happen.
FAQ
How often should I revisit my List of 100 Dreams or bucket list? At minimum once or twice a year on a set date. It's also worth revisiting anytime you take a real step toward something on it, or anytime you feel stuck and aren't sure if you're actually moving toward what you want.
Is it normal to lose interest in things on my dream list? Yes. Wanting different things over time is normal and expected, not a sign you did the exercise wrong. Crossing off a dream you've outgrown is part of keeping the list honest, not a failure.
What if I revisit my list and feel like I haven't made progress on anything? Look for small, indirect progress before assuming there's none. Progress on a dream rarely announces itself as "working on my list." It usually just looks like an ordinary decision at the time, and it's only visible in hindsight, when you go back and look.
Does my list have to stay at exactly 100 items? No. Cross off what no longer fits and add what's new. Some people keep it at 100 as new dreams replace old ones. Others let it grow. Either is fine, the number is a prompt to get you writing beyond just the obvious, not a rule to protect forever.
What's the difference between a bucket list and a List of 100 Dreams? A traditional bucket list tends to be big, once-in-a-lifetime items. A List of 100 Dreams includes those, but also small, ordinary wants, a book you want to read, a skill you want to try, a habit you want to build. Mixing scales is part of what makes it useful. Big dreams can feel distant, but the small ones on the same list are usually where the real, immediate movement happens.
If you haven't written your own List of 100 Dreams yet, start here. And if you've got a someday/maybe pile going too, here's how to actually turn those into action.
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About Me
Hi, I'm Kara. I'm a recovering workaholic who stopped trying to squeeze more out of my days and started designing them around my actual life. I help high-achieving women stop overworking so they can start living.
