Why Bother to Stop Saying “Someday”?

Did you know that someday is not an official day of the week? There are only seven days in any given week; Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. Yet, some people add an eighth day and call it, someday.  Sometimes we begin our sentence by saying, “Someday, I’m going to …” While at other times we tag it on at the end, “I’m going to ____________, someday.” 

Whether we begin with someday or end with someday, it does not exist. It is a figment of our imagination, an illusion, a way to avoid doing what we know we need to do. To say someday, is just another way for us to procrastinate. 

    Do it Now

What keeps us from doing now what we keep saying we will do someday? Each of us have our own unique reasons to put off doing today what we can always do tomorrow. But if we identify those specific reasons, then we can erase someday off our imaginary calendars.

For instance, I avoid making cold calls, that is I hate calling strangers. 

Recently, I changed dentists. I put off choosing a new one because I dislike talking with anyone over the phone who does not know me. My tongue gets tied in a knot, I forget what I want to say, and I wonder if I am talking too much. In short, I get anxious. It is a strange, quirky idiosyncrasy, but it is one that trips me up from making those important phone calls. 

Since talking with strangers over the phone is part of being an adult, I’ve had to learn to accommodate my little impairment. First, I set an appointment with myself to make the call. Since I want to get it over with as soon as possible, I set the appointment as early in the day as possible.  Also, I write out a little script to help me stay on track and to remember what it is I want to say or ask. So far, these two small adaptations actually help me to make those phone calls that I hate to make. A minor victory, but a victory nonetheless.

Another dilly dally area in my life is taking on professional duties. Continuing education credits and volunteering for leadership roles are the worst for me. Don’t get me wrong, I like learning and I like leading, but I don’t like hopping through the required hoops to accomplish these goals. For starters, I have to make choices and commitments. 

Choosing continuing education classes requires me to think through which ones will hold my interest and actually pertain to real life. When deciding on a leadership role, I talk myself out of them when I muck around in comparing myself to someone else. There is always someone smarter, more confident and better at leading a committee than me. Who am I to think I can be on a leadership committee? Yet, if I want to keep my job as a teacher, which I do, then I have to comply with the requirements. 

To do what I have to do without delaying my inevitable professional duties, I will ask for the advice from one or two other professionals. I am not in this alone. Others, like me, have had to make continuing education choices and take on leadership roles too. Having conversations about the choices they’ve made, and the experiences they’ve had, helps me to go ahead and make mine. 

Why bother to stop saying, “someday”? We can poke along, dawdle and vacillate about doing what we need to do, someday. But, if someday does not really exist, then neither do those goals we hope to accomplish, someday.