How to Make a Someday List You’ll Return To
Some wishes keep tapping you on the shoulder, even after you’ve told yourself you’ll think about them later. A someday list gives those wishes a place to land, before they get buried under grocery lists, appointments, family needs, and all the other noise of daily life. By using a productivity approach inspired by getting things done, you can build a someday maybe list that effectively reduces your cognitive load.
You can easily capture ideas and store future possibilities without constantly draining your mental energy on daily chores. Instead of worrying about immediate execution, a second someday maybe list acts as a gentle record of what still calls to you, what makes you curious, and what you want more of in this next chapter.
Start with permission. The details can come later.
Key Takeaways
- A someday list or someday maybe list is a place for desires, not another demanding to-do list.
- Write freely before deciding whether any idea is practical.
- Include small pleasures alongside bigger adventures and meaningful goals.
- Pick one item to move forward with a tiny, clear next step instead of leaving everything on a next actions list.
- Return to your someday maybe list often, especially during a weekly review when you want to organize ideas and beat a flat or overly busy routine.
How to Make a Someday List That Feels Yours
A good someday list doesn’t begin with what looks impressive online. It begins with an honest question: What have I been putting off wanting?
I like to set a timer for 10 minutes and write without stopping. No editing. No explaining why something makes sense. No mental calculator telling me what it will cost, who might disprove, or whether I am “too old” to begin. This quick brainstorm helps you capture ideas the moment they surface.
Write the things that pop up first, even if they seem random:
- Spend a month near the ocean.
- Learn conversational Italian.
- Take a pottery class.
- Have more dinners with women I love.
- Visit my childhood home.
- Get stronger and walk a new trail.
- Write down my family stories.
- Rest without feeling guilty.
Some wishes are bold. Others are small and tender. Both belong on your someday maybe list.
I don’t call this a bucket list because that phrase can feel a little heavy. Borrowing a page from the gtd framework for getting things done, creating a dedicated someday maybe list gives your mind a safe place to store items without crowding your master to do list or active task manager. You can add “learn to bake real bread” right beside “take the train across Canada.” You can include a new career idea, a better bedtime, a solo weekend away, or a conversation you’ve been avoiding.
When you organize ideas this way, you can easily separate daily execution from future goals and long term goals. Research on delayed leisure goals has found that people often push meaningful experiences into a vague future, assuming there will be plenty of time later. The Bucket List Effect is a helpful reminder that waiting forever can become its own habit.
Your someday maybe list is not a contract, and it certainly does not demand immediate action. It is simply a reliable place to capture ideas and keep your someday maybe list flexible as your life evolves.
The item that makes you feel a tiny “yes” in your chest deserves a spot on your someday maybe list, even before you know what to do with it.
Look Back Before You Plan Ahead
Sometimes the clearest clues are not ahead of you. They are behind you.
Think about what you loved before life got so full. Maybe you sang in a choir, took photographs, read novels in one sitting, rode horses, painted, travelled, gardened, or dreamed of opening a small shop. Maybe you were the person who always invited people over, made things with your hands, or had a suitcase half-packed in your imagination.
Those earlier dreams are not childish. They may be pointing toward a part of you that needs attention now, helping you capture ideas as you build a someday maybe list.
Ask yourself a few honest questions:
- What did I talk about doing when I was younger?
- What do I feel a pang of envy about when someone else does it?
- What sounds fun even if I never become good at it?
- Where do I feel most like myself?
- What do I want to remember about this season of my life?
I also pay attention to the wishes that arrive after a hard week. If I keep thinking about quiet, perhaps I need more rest. If I keep imagining a trip with friends, perhaps I need connection. If I keep saving pictures of gardens, maybe I need dirt under my fingernails again.
That is useful information, not nonsense, and it helps you organize ideas for your someday maybe list.
At this age, many of us are used to noticing everyone else’s needs first. Caring for aging parents, helping adult children, managing a home, working, grieving, or figuring out retirement can make personal desire feel like a luxury. Evaluating these past passions preserves mental energy and improves decision making around personal growth, ensuring your someday maybe list reflects what truly matters.
I don’t believe it is. Taking your own hopes seriously is part of what self-care really means in midlife. It doesn’t have to involve a spa day or a giant life change. By aligning past passions with future goals, you elevate personal productivity beyond mere work efficiency, ensuring your everyday life honors the things you have waited patiently to do.
Give Every Dream a Home on the Page
A messy list is better than a beautiful list you never open again. Still, a little structure can help you see what your wishes are trying to tell you, especially when you run a helpful clarify process as part of your broader productivity system.
I divide my list into a few simple areas. You don’t need every category, and you can rename them any way you like.
| Area of Life | Ideas That Might Belong There |
|---|---|
| Places | A road trip, a museum weekend, seeing the Northern Lights |
| Learning | A language class, memoir writing, playing piano |
| Relationships | A reunion, a regular lunch date, hosting Sunday dinner |
| Health and Energy | Gentle strength training, better sleep, swimming |
| Creativity | Painting, sewing, photography, singing |
| Contribution | Mentoring, volunteering, sharing family history |
| Everyday Joy | Fresh flowers, a porch swing, reading before bed |
The goal isn’t to fill every box. The goal is to notice where you feel hungry for more life.
Separating active actionable items from a soft not this week list or a traditional someday maybe list improves both your time management and personal project management. When you build out your someday maybe list, you create a safe place for thoughts that do not need immediate urgency. A list with only expensive travel can leave you waiting for the perfect budget. A list with only serious goals can start to feel like homework. Mix in things you can do this afternoon, things that may take two years, and things that might never happen but still make you smile.
There is room for play with purpose. Maybe you want to take a watercolor class and volunteer at an animal shelter. Maybe you want to dance at a concert, organize your financial paperwork, and buy yourself the good sheets. Life is allowed to be practical and a little bit magical.
Turn One Someday Into a Real Next Step
Here is where many lists lose their sparkle. We write something exciting, close the notebook, and wait for motivation to arrive in a parade with balloons.
It rarely does.
Pick one item from your someday maybe list and make it smaller. Not less important, just easier to begin. If “visit Italy” is on your list, the first step might be opening a separate savings account, renewing your passport, or watching one Italian travel documentary this week.
If “write my story” is on your list, don’t start by promising a memoir. Start by writing one page about the kitchen you grew up in. If you want to make new friends, send one text that says, “Want to meet for coffee next week?”
I use a simple clarify process when I want to move a dream off the page and onto my next actions list:
- What is the smallest step I can take in the next seven days?
- What would make this easier, money, time, information, or support?
- When will I look at this again?
Put the next step on your calendar as concrete action items, bridging the gap between your someday maybe list and daily reality. A dream doesn’t need constant pressure, but it does need a return date.
When you are getting things done, you can review these actionable items during a weekly review to ensure your someday maybe list actually moves forward.
For health-related goals, choose a reason that feels good now. University of Michigan research found that midlife women were more likely to stick with exercise goals tied to feeling better and reducing stress than goals focused only on weight loss. “Feel more awake on my morning walk” is a kinder place to begin than punishing yourself into a new routine.
Keep Your List Visible, Flexible, and Alive
My someday maybe list works best when I don’t treat it like a report card. I keep it in a notebook I enjoy opening, but a note on your phone, a task manager, or a simple document works too. You can easily integrate this into a productivity system, placing your someday maybe list right alongside a cleared email inbox or inside your preferred gtd framework setup.
Once a month, or even during your regular weekly review, give yourself 15 quiet minutes with it. Circle anything that still feels exciting. Cross out what no longer fits. Add new wishes. Life changes, and you are allowed to change with it.
A list you revise is not a list you failed. It is proof that you’re paying attention, which in turn supports better decision making over time.
You might notice that one old dream no longer matters. Let it go. You may also notice during a weekly review that a small idea keeps showing up month after month. That one deserves a closer look, perhaps to be scheduled during your next weekly review or queued up for action in your weekly review routine.
A Life With More Than “One Day”
A someday list is a reminder that your life isn’t on pause while you wait for the right season, the right amount of money, or permission from someone else. Maintaining a regular someday maybe list acts as a quiet anchor for your personal productivity, ensuring that daily tasks do not crowd out what truly matters. True success in getting things done involves honoring both immediate responsibilities and inspiring long term goals. Some dreams will take planning, while a separate someday maybe list helps you capture future goals without feeling overwhelmed. Others are waiting for one free Saturday, one phone call, or one brave little yes.
Keep the list close. Let it be imperfect, hopeful, and completely your own.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s the Difference Between a Someday List and a To-Do List?
A master to do list is usually about obligations, deadlines, and active action items that belong on a next actions list within a getting things done framework. By contrast, a someday list or a someday maybe list holds desires, experiences, and possibilities. It can include practical goals, but it should also include what brings you joy, curiosity, meaning, or a sense of freedom.
How Many Things Should Be on a Someday List?
There is no right number. You can easily capture random ideas from your email inbox during a weekly review and drop them into your someday maybe list. Start with whatever comes out in 10 minutes. Ten ideas are enough. So are 50. You can keep adding over time, but don’t worry about making the list long. One honest wish is more useful than 100 borrowed ideas.
What if a Dream on My List Feels Too Expensive or Unrealistic?
Write it down anyway as part of your someday maybe list, and then use a quick clarify process to separate the dream from the first step without disrupting your daily time management routine. You may not be able to take that trip this year, but you can learn about the place, set aside a small amount each month, or visit a local spot that gives you a similar feeling. A smaller beginning keeps the wish from disappearing.
