The Invisible List: A Guide to Conquering Deferred Dreams

Transform hobbies to habits in this guide to pursuing the things you never thought you had time for, right now.

“With a blend of memoir, motivation, and actionable strategy, Ravi Gupta shares how a high-achieving life left him burned-out, unfulfilled, and disconnected—and how he reignited his spirit by dedicating himself to learning a single skill each year.”—Charles Duhigg, New York Times bestselling author of Supercommunicators and The Power of Habit

We all have an “invisible list” of things that we say we’ll do when we finally have the time: learn guitar, take up tennis, write a book, plant a butterfly garden. But life—jobs, families, the obligations of being a person—always gets in the way. The Invisible List is a blueprint for making those goals real. And the first step? Giving yourself permission.

From educator and civic entrepreneur Ravi Gupta comes a bold, inspiring approach to resurrecting your passions, no matter how limited your time or money. After realizing that he had stopped doing anything for the sheer love of it, Gupta shifted course and decided to dedicate a full year to becoming competent in one of his long-deferred hobbies. No quitting allowed. It soon became a yearly pursuit that has included taking on screenwriting, surfing, and powerlifting—and has led him to find new friends and a new focus and to discover that he is never too old to learn new things. Drawing on his successes as well as setbacks, Gupta shares how to create and fulfill your own invisible list, introducing concepts like

• THE LAUNCHPAD: a building-block skill that gets you in shape for more challenging years
• THE ANYWHERE, ANYTIME: an easy-to-access, affordable, and practical pursuit
• THE MENTAL MARATHON: a mind-sharpening hobby that grows your memory
• THE BIG ONE: something that takes a lot of time and resources—not impossible but requires planning
• THE GIVEBACK: an undertaking that builds community, empathy, and relationships

Part memoir, part guidebook, part manifesto, The Invisible List illustrates how to create a life worth living.

Ravi Gupta is a serial entrepreneur across education, politics, media, and health. He is the co-founder of Arena, RePublic Schools, and Squadra Health. He currently leads The Branch, a nonprofit media company. A former school principal and Obama staffer, Gupta has appeared in Time, The New Republic, Wired, and more. His podcasts reach over 300,000 weekly listeners, and he is a Forbes 30 Under 30 alum, a Truman Scholar, and a Yale Law School graduate. He was born and raised in New York City.