I love when I get a good dose of unexpected motivation in the morning, and I’m hoping to pass along some of that motivation right now. On the way back from dropping my daughter off at school, I was listening to the radio. (In order to tell you this, I must first admit that I like country music. In many places that’s ok, a lot of people like country music, but if you live in New Jersey, you’re one of the few!)
Anyway, the song “‘Til You Can’t” by Cody Johnson came on. I had heard it once before, but this time I really listened to the lyrics. It made me think about my business and others that want to start and grow their business as well.
The lyrics talk about how you can put something off until “someday”…but it might never happen. Part of the chorus goes:
“If you got a chance, take it, take it while you got a chance. If you got a dream, chase it, ’cause a dream won’t chase you back.”
It really resonated with me. There are so many things that I want to do with my business (and life!), and a lot of it I say “someday” to. When I have these ideas, I say to myself “when I have more time” I’ll do it, or “when I have more energy” I’ll work on it. Or even “when I know exactly what to do with it” I’ll do it. But who knows what the future will bring. Things could change by then. You never know what will happen. If you want to do something, now is the time. Don’t wait.
If you keep thinking that you’ll do something “someday”, I’m pretty sure that the day will never happen. If you want to accomplish some of these things that sound awesome in your head one day, there are ways to make sure that someday comes. Even if you don’t plan on doing it for quite a while, you can still plan for it. Here are some things you can do to make sure that “someday” actually happens.
List Everything You want to do Someday
The first way to make sure you do the things you always figured you’d do “someday” is to make a list of them! If they’re only in your head, you’ll forget some of them. They aren’t “real” until you write them down and give them some thought. At this stage, be very open to writing down almost anything that comes to your mind.
What do you want to do “someday”? You can either choose to do this only for things within your business, or anything in your life that you want to do. Don’t censor yourself. If you think it’s something you may want to do someday, then it goes on the list.
Now, this shouldn’t be a one time thing. Any time you get a new idea, or something that you want to do “someday”, make sure you add it to the list. It’s helpful for a few reasons. Even though you can’t do it today, it may be something you want to do in the future. It’s not taking up space in your head once you write it down, and you don’t have to worry about forgetting the idea. So please, keep adding to the “someday” list any time you come up with something new that you might want to do “someday.” Let’s face it, just because it’s on your list doesn’t mean that it will happen. At this point, it’s an idea that you had that sounded good at the time.
Go Through the List
Once you’ve written everything down, it’s time to go over the list. Now, you’re not looking to cross things off, because this is a list about “someday”. Who knows what will happen in the future. So you don’t want to get rid of any of the ideas you had because you don’t plan on following through with any of them right now.
Right now your goal is to look through the items on your list, and see what will help you get to where you want to be. Do any of those items fit in with your goals? Will any of them help you get there sooner? Will any of these items make you happy? Those are the items you want to move to another list that won’t be called “someday”. These are things you may want to start doing something about now. They are more realistic and something you should consider putting in your plan.
Figure Out Why It’s There
At this point, you have a few things on your list that you think are realistic. They’ll help you get to where you want to be in your business or life, and will make you happy. Before you decide you should do the item on your list, figure out why it’s there in the first place.
Why wasn’t it already put on your to-do list? Why was it something that you’d do someday? Is it because you don’t have the time? Is it because you don’t have the knowledge? The money? You aren’t sure yet whether it’s something you want to do? There can be so many reasons why you decided that you’d do the in the future instead of right now.
So think about why you haven’t done it yet. If it’s because you don’t have the knowledge, is there something you can start doing now so that you can start to learn what you need to know? If it’s you don’t have the time, can you set aside the time? If you don’t have the money, can you start to save for it? If the reason it’s on your list for “someday” is a good reason, maybe it should stay there for now. But if there is no good reason for it being delegated to “someday”, you should consider starting to work on the item now.
Set a Task
So what comes next? Once you see a few things in your “someday” list that you want take some action on, set a small task, and put it in your to-do list. It doesn’t have to be big, it only has to be something that gets you started. Big projects get accomplished one small task at a time. So decide something that you think will help you now, and don’t wait until “someday.” Make “someday” today. Start working on it, even if it’s the smallest task you can think of. Then once that is accomplished, do the next small thing you can think of. Eventually, you’ll have accomplished the task, and “someday” will have arrived.
You can keep doing this as time goes on, and get more things done that you only thought you would do “someday.”
How This Works for Me
Here’s a great example. Starting a podcast has been one of the things I’ve said for the past two years that I’d start “someday.” Not only do I enjoy talking, but I feel that I’m more “myself” when I talk instead of write. I think people would get to know me better if they heard me on a podcast.
But have I done anything about it yet? No. It’s something that I’ve said that I’d do “someday”, and that day hasn’t arrived. I’ve got news for you if you have something like this on your list. That day is never going to arrive unless you make it! So what have I done to make sure that “someday” actually arrives when it comes to my podcast?
First, I had to figure out why it was on my “someday” list and not my to-do list. That one was easy. It was overwhelming to me. I thought that to have a podcast, I had to have a ton of ideas so that I could do one episode each week. I thought I had to have an amazing title, and some sort of way to make all of the podcasts come together. In other words, it was my mindset that was stopping me.
After thinking about it, is it something that would help my business now? Absolutely. Having a podcast would let more people know about me that wouldn’t have found me otherwise. A lot of people like to listen to podcasts, but don’t read many articles. So I could grow my business by having a podcast. By having people listen to my podcast, they’d see what topics I know about, seeing me as an “expert” in those topics. So I shouldn’t let my mindset stop me. I can always change the title or come up with more ideas. I need to start something. That’s the important part.
So the next step would be for me to put a small task on my to-do list. Then, once I finish that, I could put another small task on my schedule. Before I know it, I’ll have my podcast up and running. So while writing this, I have added “come up with a podcast title” and “come up with 4 ideas for episodes” to my to-do list. They’re both small tasks, and shouldn’t take very long.
If you don’t want to have things on your “someday” list forever, following this plan can help you. This is a great starting point to see what (if anything) should be moved to your to-do list and schedule. Before you know it, you’ll have accomplished something that you thought you’d do “someday.” Won’t that be an awesome accomplishment?
Enjoy,
