What Gives You the Right to Play Small? With Trav Bell, The Bucket List Guy   artwork
Thrive. Connect. Contribute.

What Gives You the Right to Play Small? With Trav Bell, The Bucket List Guy

  • S1E28
  • 24:03
  • September 7th 2020

For extended show notes, see https://thriveconnectcontribute.com/trav-bell


How Trav Bell became The Bucket List Guy.  

In my wallet, is a neatly folded piece of paper. It comes from a daily calendar on November 30, 1995. The paper says, “Make a list of 25 things you want to experience before you die. Carry it in your wallet and refer to it often.”  

On the back of the paper is my first bucket list. Today, I keep a bucket list on Google Docs. Every time I cross something off the list, I add something else.  

When it comes to bucket lists, Trav Bell has me beat, hands down.  

Trav Bell is The Bucket List Guy. He speaks to audiences around the world, including his incredible TEDx Melbourne talk.  

But he wasn’t born with a bucket list. It developed over time.  

“I've never worked for anyone in my life,” Trav explains. “I've always been an entrepreneur.  

“That's probably because my dad was a fitter and turner, a mechanic. He worked for the same people from the age of 16 to the age of retirement. He liked it, but he wasn't really engaged the whole time. It brought him a fair bit of unhappiness.  

“That's probably why I went to entrepreneurialism, and why I chose my own path.”  

Trav was always good at sports. He grew up as a surfer, swimmer, lifesaver (or lifeguard). When he went to university, he studied physical education. In his third year of college, he started training others as a personal trainer.  

“This is when personal training wasn’t a thing. There were only a handful of personal trainers running around Australia. I was in Melbourne, so I started this personal training thing.”  

Trav eventually grew his personal training business from a single customer to a franchise business that served tens of thousands of clients. “I did that business for 20 years,” Trav remembers. “But there were some things that happened in my life that spiraled out of control, that got on top of me. I went through a bout of depression. I had a breakdown before my breakthrough moment.  

After twenty years of work to build a thriving business, the business began to take its toll. Trav decided to sell his business and to pursue a different path.  

“I found myself in personal development course, getting coaches, reading up on positive psychology, neurolinguistic programming, all this good stuff. If you put a course in front of me at that point, I would have done it and invested heavily.” 

Eventually three coincidences came together to put Trav on the path to being The Bucket List Guy.  

Learn More about Trav Bell:  

Trav Bell, The Bucket List Guy: https://www.thebucketlistguy.com  

Become a Bucket List Coach: https://www.bucketlistcoach.com  

The Bucket List Guy on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thebucketlistguy  

The Bucket List Guy on Twitter: https://twitter.com/travbell  

The Bucket List Guy on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bucketlistguy.travbell  

The Bucket List Guy on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/TheBucketListGuy2011  

Trav Bell on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/travbell  

BookHappier: Learn the Secrets to Daily Joy and Lasting Fulfillmenthttps://amzn.to/2R28LL5  

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