★★★★★
Over 7 million views, as seen in the optimist podcast
Three hundred things to do before you die.
Where It Lives
Somewhere you walk past every day. The rest is up to you.
Bedroom
The private version. Nobody sees it but you, and you see it first thing every morning.
Living Room
The public version. Everyone who comes over reads it, and most of them start telling you what they’d write.
Office
Behind your desk, in every video call. The list you look at between the things you have to do.
Kitchen
Where the house gathers. Fill it in as a family and the columns end up in four different handwritings.
The video that started it all
A coach challenged me to write 300 things to do before I die. It changed how I think about my life, so I printed the list on a giant poster and made a podcast episode about it. The episode went viral, and the comments all said the same thing: send me your list. I could. But the value was in writing it. So here’s a blank one.
- Jake Hurwitz
Years in the making. By design.
The left side is the day it arrives. The right side is five years of writing things down, going and doing them, and crossing them off. Drag to see the difference.
Three hundred lines.
Some will take an afternoon. Some will take a decade. Write them in pen. Cross them off in pen. Fill it slowly and read it often. The point is to build a life worth re-reading.
Frequently asked questions
What is The 300 List?
A 24 by 36 inch poster with 300 numbered lines. You write the things you want to do before you die, hang it on the wall, and cross them off as you do them.
Can I just get your list?
No. The whole point is writing your own. The list on my wall came from weeks of arguing with myself about what matters, and that’s the part that changed anything. The video is still up if you want to see mine.
Is it really 300? That seems like a lot.
It is a lot. The first 50 come fast. The next 100 make you think. The last 150 are where you find out what you actually want. Nobody fills it in one sitting, and it’s fine if it takes a year.
What pen should I use?
White poster: any fine-point pen. A 0.5 mm gel or a fine Sharpie works best. Black poster: a silver or white paint pen, 0.7 to 1 mm. Regular pens disappear on it. Not included.
Can I erase?
No. It’s pen on paper on purpose. If you change your mind about an item, cross it out and write the new one in the margin. That’s part of the record.
What’s the difference between the hanger and a frame?
The hanger is two magnetic oak or white rails that grip the top and bottom of the poster. No glass, so you can still write on it. A frame puts it behind glazing, which is for a finished list. Any standard 24 by 36 frame fits.
How long until it arrives?
Each one is printed when you order. Production takes a few business days, then shipping is typically 5-7 business days in the US.
What if it arrives damaged?
Send a photo within 14 days and we reprint and reship it for free, no questions asked.
Is it a good gift?
It’s the best gift for someone who has everything, because it’s the one thing they have to make themselves.
Gifts
The gift that takes fifty years to finish.
It arrives rolled in a tube, blank. No note from us telling them what to want. They write the list, they hang it, they cross things off, and every time they walk past it they think of who gave it to them. Add the oak or white hanger and it’s on the wall the night they open it.