I'm surprised I didn't see any search results for 'bucket lists' on the forums.

I'm probably just as Type-A and productivity driven as anyone else in the RTM community, but busyness is rarely a measure of success in life.

For a while I've been using the backburner list that's discussed in the book 'making ideas happen' where I store all my great ideas that I don't have time for. Usually these are larger involved products that require further breaking down.

I find I have another category of life that isn't in my day to day tasks that must get done, and isn't a backburner project either.

There are things that I've always wanted to do (and often forget about) that really don't take long - that are un-urgent but i'd deem important in the end of it all.

ie. reading a certain short story with my daughter, or getting together with a certain set of old friends. It doesn't need to get done, but when I've got a block of time, and I don't feel like being in the zone and productive, I'd love to have a list of stuff that actually brings joy to my life.

There's a lot of posts in the forums requesting sort by duration - which I think would be nice, but I've simplified what I need into 30 minute blocks and 3 hour blocks (for me this is often while i'm feeding the baby, or when a meeting gets cancelled respectively).

I'm trying keep a simple habit of making a note of duration with the = smart ad, ie.

"watch particular TED video =20 min #backburner"

or

"research and plan skydiving trip for our anniversary =2 hr #backburner"

My backburner list includes more serious projects, but it's generally stuff without a due date.

And then the magic happens with the smart lists.

I have bucket list 1 for fun things i've wanted to do under 30 minutes

timeEstimate:"< 31min" list:backburner

and one for under 3 hours

timeEstimate:"< 181min" list:backburner

I couldn't find a less than or equal to operator, and by convention i'd usually type 30 minuts or 3hr -> remember the milk translates that 181 minutes into 3 hours and 1 minutes for you.

And voila - lists for all the un-urgent stuff you always wanted to do before you 'kick the bucket'!