The Someday/Maybe List

There is way too much drama surrounding the someday/maybe list these days. Think I’m kidding? Check this out.

I’ve actually encountered resistance to the someday/maybe list quite a bit in the last few years, and it’s not coming from me. Rather, people (I’m talking to you!) seem to consider the someday/maybe to be another one of their @action lists: in need of serious attention.

Hey, Mr. WrongGuy, you’re wrong! Leave that list alone!

The someday/maybe list is your permanent, ongoing, leave-your-number-on-the-nightstand, get out of jail free card. It’s a holding pen for all the things that just might carve out a piece of your life…maybe, someday.

The DA talks about the someday/maybe list fairly extensively, and rightfully so. You’ve probably heard his garage metaphor. If not, let me paraphrase.

If you want to clean your garage but keep putting it off, every time you walk by that garage it yells at you: “Hey, you’re supposed to be cleaning me!”

This is a problem, because your garage owns a piece of your melon. You’re not committed to cleaning your garage, but it’d be awfully nice to find a 4mm socket when you need one. Of course, that could be months from now…so the garage can hang tight for a while.

That is, of course, so long as you tell your brain that the garage effort can wait! Your head understands that you might want to clean out that garage, and is tracking that potential action item. That’s not good. Putting a “cleaned the garage” item on your someday/maybe list tells your brain: “Relax. It’s on a list, and if I find myself with extra time (and have already stuck needles in my eyes), I’ll clean the garage.”

You review the someday/maybe list during your weekly review, conclude that cleaning the garage is not mission-critical this week, and pass it right up. It’s still in your system, and it’s right where it belongs: at the bottom, with its priority.

Folks, don’t get obsessed with clearing that someday/maybe list. It exists as a way for you to capture those things that have even the slightest bit of interest for you. In fact, that’s a key point: only when something has lost appeal should it drop off your someday/maybe list (unless, of course, you just did it).

This list is your freebie. Let it collect dust. Drop in and say hello once a week, then mosey on past it. You’ve got better things to do than worry about things at the bottom of your priority list.