I don't agree with your generalization. I'm sure folks have different perceptions of what a "life list" is and how detailed it needs to be. Nothing on my bucket list is planned. Each entry is a short sentence. Heck, some are just a phrase, like " Canoe Boundary Waters". I probably spend an hour a year revising it, if that. I am also not sitting still letting the world go by even though there are 11 items on my list. I really feel for folks that do not have a dream or passion they think is worth pursuing.

Two weeks ago my wife and I returned from a 2-month 2,000 mile self contained bike tour. Our planning started when we firmed up the dates and purchased airline tickets a few months before we started. We know we are going on a long bike tour every year; we just don't always know where. Our whole planning effort comprised identification of the cities we would like to visit, the logical sequence of travel, and an estimation of the time it would take. We started in Denmark, and ended in The Netherlands via Germany, Poland , Czech Republic, Germany again, Belgium and finally to Amsterdam. The only specific planning included: what airport we were going to arrive at and which one we would use to get home, the lodging for the first 2 days in Copenhagen and which city we were going to head for first. In this case it was Berlin. The rest of the time we did our planning on the fly, usually a day or two at a time.

We did not sit idly around missing "life/ or missed boats" while we were finalizing our plan. As a matter of fact, we were on another bike tour with our two daughters when we made some key contacts and decisions.

You can live in the moment, but also keep an eye on the future; they are not mutually exclusive