Discussing the danger of putting things of and telling yourself you will do them “someday” encouraged me to go out and look for ways to combat the someday syndrome.
A movie that illustrates the nasty, undermining side of the someday syndrome is the opening scenes of UP. It is really heartbreaking when, Ellie, Mr. Fredrickson’s wife dies of before she can ever live her dream because practical needs always intervened. (As an aside- If you need a little motivation to go chase your goals I recommend this film.)
While tying helium balloons to the top of your house probably isn’t the best way to chase a dream, it sends a bold message.
To me, putting things off for someday means not having a plan to accomplish that goal.
The someday syndrome is different than regular procrastination. Everyday procrastination is putting something off that you need to do but don’t want to do.
What is the logic behind procrastinating something that you want to do?
Maybe we’re busy telling everyone how busy we are.
Maybe we’ve picked things out as our someday goals that are completely impossible.
So here are some ideas I found to avoid the someday syndrome.
Idea Lady says Find people who support your vision.
Set a date for someday. What if someday was winter break? How much progress could you make toward your goal by then.
The timemanagementninga recommends actually writing down your someday list and reviewing it.
This keeps the someday list from being a graveyard for goals.
HackLife Says we should cut back on or cut out websites where we accidentally end up wasting hours our lives.
I feel like I am preaching as I write this. Mostly because I felt very convicted during this talk.
I was halfway through finishing my small pilot’s certification when I got distracted and “someday” I want to go back.
I lived five minutes from a kayaking course in Colorado and never went to get certified.
So as someone with a touch of someday syndrome I wish you the best of luck in combating yours.
Someday syndrome is pretty tough to stop. Of course, so is procrastinating things we don’t want to do as well. We all develop so many goals and we’ve been doing so since childhood. I think it’s important to be aware of which ones are realistic and which ones might be impossible. We have an obligation to do all the work that is required of us, but we also have an obligation to ourselves to chase our dreams and not lose sight of them in the daily hustle and bustle of life, as Up demonstrates. Great movie, by the way. Still makes me laugh how many people cry in its opening five minutes though
I am definitely a “someday syndrome” type of person, but somehow I seem to generally do what I say I will ¨someday¨do.
I sometimes wonder if that’s part of the reason I plan to move to Spain. One of the phrases Spain is notorious for is mañána, or tomorrow. Essentially,if something needs to be done, they say oh, I´ll do it mañana.
Side note: I read a really fun Spanish short story on this phenomenon a while back, unfortunately, I can´t remember the title, author, or quite honestly whether I read it in Spanish or English, or in Denmark or the USA. If I remember I´ll post it…
Oh wait! I found it!
It´s called Vuelve Uds. Mañana, Or Return Tomorrow, Sir. by Mariano José Larra
In Spanish:
http://www.ensayistas.org/antologia/XIXE/larra/larra12.htm
I can´t find it in English :/