Coastline CEO Allister Young urges us to treat our to-do list like a river, not a bucket, as we navigate the turbulent uncertainties of life
If the New Year has taught us anything so far, it’s that storms arrive whether we’re ready for them or not. Storm Goretti battered Cornwall last week. Flooding, fallen trees, homes without electricity and water – it was definitely a reminder that some things are simply outside our control.
And yet, as is usually the case in Cornwall: people adapted, helped each other, checked in on neighbours, and kept going. There’s something very community spirited about Cornwall, which is one of the reasons I love living here.
The world beyond Cornwall feels stormy too. Uncertainty seems to be becoming the norm: in politics, in the economy, in world news, and it is constantly there in the news cycle as a result.
In times of uncertainty like this it’s natural to then feel uncertain about what we should do. We can spend a lot of time second guessing ourselves, thinking about what the rest of the world needs from us, and what we can do to make things better.
That’s why a line from a New Year article in The Guardian stuck with me last week. The author quotes the theologian Howard Thurman: “Don’t ask yourself what the world needs. Ask yourself what makes you come alive, and go do that. Because what the world needs is people who have come alive.”
There’s something powerful about that. It’s a bit like what they tell you on planes: put your own oxygen mask on, before you think about helping others. I think it takes the pressure off trying to figure out all the complexities of the world, and allows us to think about taking the next step.
It reminded me of something I wrote in a weekly update a couple of years ago, some advice I borrowed from an episode of the Art of Manliness podcast: “Treat your to do list like a river, not a bucket.”
A bucket has to be emptied. But a river never stops flowing, and crucially, you’re not expected to finish it.
The Guardian piece I mentioned above says something similar in a slightly more blunt way: you’re likely to reach the end of your life with a long to do list of unfinished tasks. The point isn’t to finish everything; it’s to keep moving, to choose the things that matter, and to find energy in work that feels purposeful.
And that point is directly relevant to us at Coastline.
The vision that we’ve set ourselves of ‘ending the housing crisis in Cornwall’ is huge. It’s not something that will be neatly completed, ticked off, and filed away. It’s a river, not a bucket. But that doesn’t mean we stop trying. It means the opposite: we take the next step, then the next one after that.
Every new home built. Every customer supported. Every repair completed. Every colleague who brings their best self to work. Every improvement in how we listen and respond. All of it helps make Cornwall a fairer, better, more hopeful place, especially when the world is stormy.
So as we start 2026 I hope each of you can find something in your work that makes you come alive, even a small thing. Something that feels meaningful, or energising, or simply worth doing. And when the world feels noisy or overwhelming, remember: you don’t have to empty the bucket. Just keep dipping into the river.