The Someday/Maybe List
Thursday, September 24, 2020 at 21:43 I’ve forgotten who originally came up with the name “Someday/Maybe List”, but it’s a common expression in time management circles. The idea is that you keep a list of all the things you would like (or ought) to do in the future, but don’t have the time or inclination for at the moment.
Its purpose is to prevent your current list from growing too much by moving all the things you know you’re not going to get round to at present into a list for the future.
I applaud the idea of preventing your list from growing too much, but in my opinion there are several problems with the Someday/Maybe List concept. One is that the list tends to grow and grow and grow, and another is that the vast majority of the tasks and projects on it never get started. What’s more some of the projects may just have been temporary enthusiams which quickly became outdated.
Here’s how to make a someday/maybe list that really works:
- Draw up a list of everything that you want to do sometime in the future but haven’t got time for at the moment.
- Revisit the list several times over the next couple of days and add any further tasks or projects which have occurred to you in the meantime.
- Choose one thing off the list that you are going to start TODAY.
- Tear up the list and throw it away.
Lo and behold, you have got one of your future projects under way. What’s more you don’t need the list, because all you have to do when you want to start another someday/maybe project is go through the process again.
“But what happens if I forget about one of my projects?”
Well, if you forgot about it it couldn’t have been that important to you, could it?
Reader Comments (12)
The difference between the traditional list and the list I'm suggesting is that the traditional list is a list of things which at some stage you have thought you'd like to do sometime. So essentially it's a historical document. - a relic of what you felt at various times in the past. Even if you activate something in your weekly review, the motivation lies in the past. You don't have to just activate the task, you have to activate the motivation as well.
The method I'm recommending on the other hand produces a list which is up-to-date. It's what you are feeling today that you'd like to do. The motivation is there. Stuff you no longer want to do or which you've forgotten you were ever interested in doesn't clog the list. You chose one of these live issues, and start today with fresh motivation.
What's more, going through this process regularly expands your thinking. It's not just that the list is fresher than the last one - it's better. Your mind has had time to advance from where it was before.
The process of re-writing the answers to a question without reference to your previous answers is a very powerful one, and this is just one example of it.
For me, there is a benefit to remembering what I have thought to list before and having a permanent reference to it until I decide to remove it. And there is no significant cost to have a lot of them undone - it’s a “someday/maybe” list. Nothing bad will happen if I don’t do them. They are to review occasionally and otherwise stay out of my way in my day-to-day time management.
That said, I do see unique benefits to your approach that you’ve highlighted, too.
Maybe it's not either/or but both/and.
You keep your permanent reference list which you review occasionally as you have described.
But you also use my approach and gain the unique benefits which you see.
<< Maybe it's not either/or but both/and. >>
That's essentially how Serial No-List works -- but I used it for everything, not just someday/maybe.
Start every day with a blank page -- only write down what is top of mind -- work on that till you nothing stands out -- then you automatically cycle back through the older stuff -- most recent first (freshest stuff first).
It's a pretty good system and I still fall back to it whenever things get overwhelming.
<< That's essentially how Serial No-List works >>
I think the differences are greater than the resemblances. A backlog is not the same as a Someday/Maybe list. And a Someday/Maybe list is not fed by an Active List.
That's not intended to be a criticism of Serial No-List.
Putting something on the list was not giving up on something. It's putting it in a safe place for a bit. I didn't hear Dad telling me to try harder. Instead, I heard him say, "You said you were going to focus on other things for a bit. How are those things going?"
Six months felt right for the first time. Surely I'd have the rest of my life in order by then!
Six months later, I reviewed it, found I'd only forgotten about things that no longer interested me, and said that even the things I still wanted to do could / should sit a while longer. I repeated that only a few times, and added a bit each time, but those reviews never sparked reactivating something.
Instead, I reactivated things when something else reignited my excitement. I restarted shorthand when I wanted to take notes in meditation group. I picked up tatting again when I taught a class. I did them with joy and enthusiasm rather than guilt for not doing it sooner.
He's also right that reviewing that list prevents me from thinking of things I want to do now. Even if I think of new things, it feels wrong to do them before things earlier in line. But...I remind myself that the list is to hold things, not to prevent me from changing my mind.
I don't even know where the written list is anymore, but I am very glad I used I. It was much-needed training wheels to get things off my list and trust myself to reactivate them when appropriate. It let me experience not having them clog my active list, and discover I really liked it.
Remember how hard I fought highlighting in AF1? Now those highlights are the Someday / Maybe list. I consolidate and weed them everything few weeks. A few things each year go on the calendar to reconsider, but there has to be a reason for waiting. (Pumpkin pie is best made with fresh pumpkins.) The rest get left behind, and I move on.
Lately I've been doing some mixture of DIT and Serial No List, not very systematic. It's been working fairly well, but I do have some piles of things beginning to accumulate, both real and virtual - a sure sign that something needs fixing.
All I need is just one list I scan using the FVP.
When I used GTD, I was frustrated because that list grew endlessly.
Passing from GTD to FVP was a liberation and I'm as productive as ever.
I am reading multiple times Get Everything Done.
Thank you so much Mark for your great work!
Ago
Very pleased to hear how well you are getting on with FVP.