2 Ways to Tick Things Off Your Someday List

If you find yourself putting off those things you’ve always wanted to do to that imaginary day called ‘Someday’, read on to learn two ways you can start ticking those items off your Someday List. Unless we take action today, Someday never comes.

We all have a someday list. For our personal life, maybe it looks something like this:

Someday, I will learn how to play the piano.
Someday, I will learn a second language.
Someday, I will get fit and healthy.
Someday, I will learn how to salsa dance.

and for work/business life:

Someday, I will work on improving my own business.
Someday, I will learn how to use that software properly.
Someday, I will take that presentation skills course.
Someday, I will outsource some of these jobs.

But something always gets in the way of “Someday” and your Someday List becomes a ‘Things I Wish I Did’ list.

Yes, you’ve been wanting to learn a new language for 20 years now, but that doesn’t mean you can’t start.

"The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." ~ Chinese Proverb.

Here are two ways you can start ticking things off your Someday List.

1. Embrace The Magic of Habit

Make that someday item into a habit. Do it regularly and before you know it, it’s no longer something you’ll do someday, it becomes something you’ve done or are regularly doing.

Take learning a language as an example. With the free Duolingo app, you can learn so many different languages. All you need is your mobile phone and a few minutes of your time each day. Easy peasy, right?

Not quite, the missing ingredient is your trigger. You need to have something that will trigger you to open the app and do your lesson. This is where your existing habits can help you to form new habits.

What do you do every day, without fail? For a lot of us, that would be to turn on your computer. If you have a lot of software, it can sometime take some time for everything to load up. That would be an ideal time to open your phone and do a 5-minute language lesson.

It can work with most anything.

Someday, I will work on improving my own business.
Trigger: Sitting down at your desk, before you start work for the day*.
Action: Do some action to move your business forward. Set up a new lead magnet, research a new product idea etc.
* This works like “Pay yourself first” when budgetting – instead of paying all your bills first and then seeing what’s left for savings, you transfer a set amount for savings before you allocate the rest of your income to bills and living expenses. When it comes to your work day, you know that you will always get your regular work done, but if you leave working on your business to fit in with your other work, it will never happen.

Someday, I will learn how to use that software properly.
Trigger: Sitting down on the train for the hour-long commute to your office.
Action: Open your laptop and read through tutorials on how to use the new software you’ve been meaning to master.

Someday, I will learn how to play the piano.
Trigger: You’ve set the pasta on to boil
Action: Go to the old keyboard that your children have abandoned, fire up JoyTunes on your iPad and do a piano lesson while you wait for the pasta to cook.

Someday, I will get fit and healthy.
Trigger: You’ve finished brushing your teeth before bed
Action: Lay out your trainers and workout clothes where you will see them, then set your alarm.

Trigger: When the alarm goes off.
Action: Say in your head, “five-four-three-two-one” (borrowed from Mel Robbins‘ 5-Second Rule) and get out of bed, put your clothes/shoes on and go for a walk.

Trigger: You’re making lunches for the kids
Action: Make your own healthy salad for lunch and leave it in the fridge. When lunchtime rolls around and you are hungry, you won’t go for an unhealthy option, because your salad is already made.

There are so many possibilities!

Here’s a Helpful HocusPocus I shared previously, that sums this idea up nicely.

Unless we take action today, 'Someday' never comes. Here are two ways you can start ticking things off your Someday List. Click To Tweet

 

2. Take the Next Action

The second way to make progress on your Someday List is to take one small step towards getting started. To borrow a concept from David Allen’s Getting Things Done®, identify your next action.

Someday, I will learn how to salsa dance.
Next Action: Google salsa dance lessons in your area.
Then, once you’ve done that, identify another next action you will take. It could be to call the dance studio. And so on, until you eventually find yourself in the arms of a handsome stranger moving to the rhythms of the latest Latin beats (or in the arms of your husband in the community hall, bumping into your neighbour, but who am I to quash your dreams?)

Someday, I will take that presentation skills course.
Next Action: Find out about the Toastmasters meeting in your area.

Someday, I will outsource some of these jobs.
Next Action: Contact that Virtual Assistant. What was the name – magic something? Oh that’s right, Magic VA Solutions! You see what I did there? 🙂

You get the picture. Now your next action is to pull out your Someday List and start ‘habiting’ and ‘next-actioning’ your way through it!

It’s Your Turn

Some of these examples I’ve used are actually on my Someday List. I’d love to hear about some of the things on your list. Please share them in the comments.

2 Ways to Tick Things Off Your Someday List

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