“Someday/Maybe” and “Reference" are the same?

[brinksbridge7]

What David Allen considers to be Someday/Maybe (as found in this video and Making it All Work):
- “books you might want to read”, “urls you might want to surf"
- "keep track of cds you might want to rent or buy"
- "restaurants you might want to try"

What the gtd Paper Organizers Setup Guide considers to be Reference:
- “might like to read"
- “music to download”, “might like to buy"
- “vacation ideas”, "travel"

And there are more examples like those. Do they seem like they are similar?

 

[Gardener]

Example:

Someday I might want to grow a cutting garden. Let's say that I do a bunch of research--I buy some books, I make seed lists, and so on. And I decide, that was fun, but I'm not growing the cutting garden this year, or probably next year.

The cutting garden--the idea that, Hey! I might make a cutting garden someday!--is a Someday/Maybe.

I put away the research that I did. I put the books on the shelf, I file the seed lists, and so on. That stuff is Reference.

 

[TesTeq]

What David Allen considers to be Someday/Maybe (as found in this video and Making it All Work):
- “books you might want to read”, “urls you might want to surf"
- "keep track of cds you might want to rent or buy"
- "restaurants you might want to try"

What the gtd Paper Organizers Setup Guide considers to be Reference:
- “might like to read"
- “music to download”, “might like to buy"
- “vacation ideas”, "travel"

And there are more examples like those. Do they seem like they are similar?

@brinksbridge7 You review Someday/Maybe regularly. You don't review Reference regularly. That's the difference. So put things that you want review regularly on your Someday/Maybe list and the rest in your Reference folders.

 

[mcogilvie]

@brinksbridge7 You review Someday/Maybe regularly. You don't review Reference regularly. That's the difference. So put things that you want review regularly on your Someday/Maybe list and the rest in your Reference folders.

Here’s an example: Suppose I read something about a restaurant I might try in a city I visit occasionally. I’m not going to want to see going to this restaurant as a someday/maybe during periods where I’m not visiting the city it’s in. It’s reference. On the other hand, if the restaurant is a Michelin three-star and my dream is to eat there, it’s probably a someday/maybe. Of course, it’s all lists, and the key is to have a persistent clarity of intentionality.

 

[rbngp]

I feel the line is SO thin so many times, and the key issue is reviewing your lists as much as needed (and not more than that).

One way to put it (it's still challenging for me, but I share what I heard and read from some certified GTD trainers) is to reflect if you've made any decision about it:

• you make your decision: Reference (for example, I decide I want to read a book/watch a movie and add them to the wishlist/watchlist; I don't need/want to review on a consistent basis but I go there whenever I may consider what my next read/movie will be).
• you postpone the decision: Someday/Maybe (there is a book/movie I'm not sure I want to engage with, but I may reconsider it some time in the future).

But, as I said, still challenging for me.

For example, books I come across in Amazon or movies in Netflix/HBO/Disney+. I mark them add them to watchlist as I would like to be reminded I thought of them... But as any of those lists grow... Yes, I wanted to read/watch them, but may find no time/other priorities to do so for very long periods of time.

Hope it helps.

 

[mcogilvie]

I feel the line is SO thin so many times, and the key issue is reviewing your lists as much as needed (and not more than that).

One way to put it (it's still challenging for me, but I share what I heard and read from some certified GTD trainers) is to reflect if you've made any decision about it:

• you make your decision: Reference (for example, I decide I want to read a book/watch a movie and add them to the wishlist/watchlist; I don't need/want to review on a consistent basis but I go there whenever I may consider what my next read/movie will be).
• you postpone the decision: Someday/Maybe (there is a book/movie I'm not sure I want to engage with, but I may reconsider it some time in the future).

But, as I said, still challenging for me.

For example, books I come across in Amazon or movies in Netflix/HBO/Disney+. I mark them add them to watchlist as I would like to be reminded I thought of them... But as any of those lists grow... Yes, I wanted to read/watch them, but may find no time/other priorities to do so for very long periods of time.

Hope it helps.

Interesting. I don’t distinguish between books I want to read and books I might want to read, because one case is someday and the other is maybe: who knows what my future self will want? I’ve also given up on making lists of streaming video to watch because the processing volume is much larger than my capacity to watch (about one hour per weekday, plus a movie on the weekend). I do use watchlists, but not systematically. I don’t think either of us is right and the other wrong, just different approaches to a modern problem.

 

[rbngp]

Interesting. I don’t distinguish between books I want to read and books I might want to read, because one case is someday and the other is maybe: who knows what my future self will want? I’ve also given up on making lists of streaming video to watch because the processing volume is much larger than my capacity to watch (about one hour per weekday, plus a movie on the weekend). I do use watchlists, but not systematically. I don’t think either of us is right and the other wrong, just different approaches to a modern problem.

Fully agree. That's why I said it's tricky/challenging for me, but I think it's interesting the decision made/decision not-made framewok in case it's useful for anybody.

As you say, who knows what my future self will want?

 

[TesTeq]

I’ve also given up on making lists of streaming video to watch because the processing volume is much larger than my capacity to watch (about one hour per weekday, plus a movie on the weekend).

@mcogilvie Buy Sony TV and use the built-in software for watching Netflix. You'll quickly reduce the bandwidth to ZERO. The software is awful (at least in my TV set).

 

[mcogilvie]

@mcogilvie Buy Sony TV and use the built-in software for watching Netflix. You'll quickly reduce the bandwidth to ZERO. The software is awful (at least in my TV set).

I’m so sorry. We use an Apple TV, but I’ve come to realize that most of the iPad apps are really much better. It’s all kind of a mixed bag when it comes to streaming video. The good news is that the only thing depending on streaming video is world peace and the world economy, so no worries If we stop watching.

 

[Tammie]

What David Allen considers to be Someday/Maybe (as found in this video and Making it All Work):
- “books you might want to read”, “urls you might want to surf"
- "keep track of cds you might want to rent or buy"
- "restaurants you might want to try"

What the gtd Paper Organizers Setup Guide considers to be Reference:
- “might like to read"
- “music to download”, “might like to buy"
- “vacation ideas”, "travel"

And there are more examples like those. Do they seem like they are similar?

I'm just revaluating my setup in Todoist and about to add lists of books I want to read, movies I want to buy, music I want to download, gift ideas. I think the setup guides all have the same text for reference, at least the Todoist one does (I also have the Paper Organizers guide).

I'm going to add a Project called Reference then sub-projects of books, movies, music, gift ideas and add the lists to each sub-project.

For example, I collect Stephen King books, so after Christmas I'll update the printed list my Mum uses to buy some of the books I'm missing then I'll add the remaining wants to my new book list in Reference: Books, then I can tick-off any I might get throughout the year.

(Just as a random side-note, Rage is the number one want on this list, it's ridiculously expensive so if any of you have a copy on your shelves it's worth a fortune!)