Get Everything Done

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 What’s more some of the projects may just have been temporary enthusiams which quickly became outdated.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?