Why You Need a Someday Maybe List
I was working with a coaching client recently who was struggling with the size of their to-do list. They were overwhelmed and couldn’t see a way to get to the bottom of it.
One way I help people reframe this worry is by seeing their task list as a storage space. Within that storage, you have a variety of lists. One is "Today" (for the tasks you will focus on that day), and another is a "Someday Maybe" list. You might also have a "Project Queue".
I store project ideas without a timeline on my Someday Maybe list. These are things I might want to do eventually, but might not. I need somewhere to put these ideas so they don’t take up valuable space in my brain.
The Someday Maybe list differs from a Project Queue. Your Project Queue is for projects with a timeline (so you can put them in priority order). The Someday Maybe list, on the other hand, is for early-stage ideas that are not fully formed, so not yet time-sensitive.
This idea comes from David Allen’s Getting Things Done, and for me, it sits alongside a focused Today List. The Today List helps you zoom in on what’s important now. The Someday Maybe list enables you to zoom out so your attention isn’t cluttered with open loops that don’t need closing yet.
Too many open loops feel noisy. When you move them out of your head and into the right kind of list, things feel calmer and more manageable.
You don’t have to do everything. You just need to store it safely so it’s there when you need it.
