Review the someday/maybe list to decide what activates
Look at your someday/maybe list and decide if anything is ready to become an active project.
Why it works
Someday/maybe is the system’s release valve: it holds ideas and projects that are real but not yet ready to be committed to. Without a regular review, the list becomes a graveyard — items added but never reconsidered. With a regular review, it functions as an incubation system: ideas mature until context, resources, and readiness align, at which point they get promoted to active. This gives the system a legitimate "not yet" category rather than forcing premature commitment or indefinite suppression.
How to do it
- Open your someday/maybe list (or equivalent: backlog, later list, parking lot).
- For each item, ask: "Is now the right time for this?" If yes, create a project and a next action.
- Remove items that are clearly no longer relevant or interesting.
- If you’re unsure, leave it — certainty will come or won’t.
Evidence
Incubation research in creativity (Sio & Ormerod, 2009) supports the idea that setting aside problems and returning to them after a delay can surface solutions; the someday/maybe review operationalizes a scheduled return to deferred commitments rather than abandoning them. (mechanistic)
The incubation evidence is primarily about creative problem-solving, not commitment readiness. The someday/maybe review is a GTD convention whose specific value is practitioner-established.
Common mistake
Treating the someday/maybe review as a guilt exercise ("why haven’t I started this?") rather than a neutral decision: activate now, keep incubating, or delete.
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More practices for The GTD Weekly Review
- Clear every inbox to zero at the start of the review
Empty every capture point — email, physical inbox, notes app, voicemail — before reviewing anything.
- Review every active project for a current next action
For every project you have open, confirm there is one and only one clearly defined next action.
- Look at the higher altitudes — goals, areas of focus, and purpose
Once per week, check that your active projects still align with your goals, roles, and values.
- Schedule the weekly review as a non-negotiable recurring appointment
Put the weekly review on the calendar as a fixed, protected block — and treat it as an external meeting.
- Do a mind sweep to surface anything the system hasn’t captured
Before ending the review, spend 5 minutes writing down anything still bothering or nagging in your mind.
- Calibrate review depth to your current context
Match the depth of the weekly review to what the week actually calls for — short when the system is current, deeper when life has been chaotic.
Related concepts
- Getting Things Done (GTD), Made Practical
The five steps, the next-action habit, and the science of offloading your mind
- Warren Buffett’s Two-List Strategy
Why your "almost top" goals are more dangerous than distractions
- Deep Work, Made Practical
Focus blocks, attention residue, and the shutdown ritual — with the evidence