I was first introduced to the epic life quest by Brent Ozar, which led me to Steve Kamb. Both of these people seemed to be living pretty awesome lives, so I figured I’d give it a go. The quest is pretty simple, each level equates to 5 regular goals or one really big goal ticked off the list. There’s a lot of travel stuff on there, because I like to travel, and quite a bit of hobby stuff as well.

Current level: 9

Completed levels

Level 2

• See the Great Barrier Reef in Australia (really big goal) – completed when I was 16 on a family holiday. We scuba dived a couple of times, it was amazing, I’d love to go back

Level 3

• See Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe (really big goal) – completed in 2008 on my Southern Africa adventure.

Level 4

• See Ha Long Bay in Vietnam – completed 2015
• Run a half marathon – completed the Robin Hood half marathon in 2019
• Squat 100kg – completed year unknown
• Deadlift 100kg – completed year unknown
• Give blood once – completed 2019

Level 5

• Hike to the Everest Base Camp (really big goal) – completed as much as I ever will in 2019

Level 6

• Give a SQL Server user group talk – completed 2019
• Blog every week for 3 months – completed 2020
• Have a space in my house for everything – completed 2020
• Have all of my savings funds up to date – completed 2020
• Get the Azure Fundamentals certification from Microsoft – completed 2020

Level 7

• Moved home to look after my mum (really big goal) – not a planned thing, but something I wanted to call out as something big I achieved. Completed 2021

Level 8

• Give a talk at New Stars of Data – completed 2021
• Deadlift 150kg – completed 2022
• Give a talk at DataMinutes – completed 2021
• Chin up – completed 2021
• Become a member of CP game team

Outstanding quest goals:

Fitness

• Run a 15k obstacle course
• Run a marathon
• Bench press 100kg
• Squat 150kg
• Weigh under 95kg for 3 months (weigh-ins every day)
• Weigh under 90kg for 3 months (weigh-ins every day)
• Pull up

Career

• Give a data relay talk
• Give a SQLBits talk
• Give a talk at another conference (1 goal per distinct conference)
• Be invited to give a talk somewhere
• Give 5 SQL user group talks (3 so far)
• Give a SQL Saturday talk
• Blog every week for 6 months
• Have a paid article on SQL Server Central
• Have my blog syndicated on SQL Server Central
• Earn the Azure Data Engineer certification
• Finish the game app ‘Streets of London’

Hobbies

• Finish a novel
• Make money from writing
• Publish a novel (really big goal)
• Have a painted Underworlds warband
• Have a painted Blood Bowl team
• Have a painted Necromunda gang
• Have a painted 40k combat patrol

Other

• Own my own house (really big goal)
• Have a ‘garden party’ garden
• Own an electric car
• Give blood 5 times (1 so far)
• Fit my house with solar panels
• Eat at a 2* Michelin restaurant
• Eat at a 3* Michelin restaurant
• Private savings goals
• Go to London as a tourist for the weekend (stay in the Treehouse hotel, ride on the London Eye)

Travel – things to see/places to visit

• US – Golden Gate bridge
• US – Grand Canyon (really big goal)
• US – Death Valley
• US – Joshua Tree national park
• Egypt – Great Pyramid
• Egypt – Catacombs of Kom El Shoqafa, Alexandria
• Egypt – The Sphinx
• Jordan – Petra
• Jordan – The Dead Sea
• Turkey – Hagia Sophia
• Turkey – Cappadocia
• Russia – St Basil’s Cathedral, Red Square
• Russia – Lake Baikal
• Estonia – Endla Nature Reserve
• Italy – The Colosseum
• Italy – The Leaning Tower of Pisa
• Italy – Vatican City
• France – Etretat Aral Cliff
• France – The Eiffel Tower
• Germany – Rahotzbruche Bridge, Rhodderidron Park
• UK – Stonehenge
• UK – Isle of Skye
• New Zealand – Champagne Pool
• South Africa – Table Mountain
• Namibia – The Sand Dunes
• Japan – Mt Fiji
• Korea – Jeju Island
• Philippines – Puerto Princesa Underground River
• Indonesia – Komodo Island
• China – Great Wall of China
• China – Terracotta Army
• China – Zhangjiajie National Forest Park
• China – Huangguoshu Waterfall National Park
• Singapore – Tree Groves at the Gardens by the Bay
• India – Taj Mahal
• India – The Golden Temple, Amritsar
• Brazil – The Amazon Rainforest
• Brazil – Christ the Redeemer statue
• Brazil – Rio de Janero harbour (really big goal)
• Brazil/Argentina – Iguaza Falls
• Peru – Machu Pichu
• Mexico – Chichen Itza
• Mexico – Paricutin Volcano (really big goal)
• Aurora Borealis (really big goal)
• Western Pacific Ocean – Palau
• Pacific Ocean – Galapagos Islands
• Belize Barrier Reef
• Deep Sea Vents
• Indian Ocean – Northern Red Sea