What do you think?
Rate this book
Someday Is Today: 22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel Your Creative Life
REALIZE YOUR CREATIVE DREAMS — STARTING TODAY
Are you good at dreaming about what you’re going to accomplish “someday” but not good at finding the time and getting started? How will you actually make that decision and do it? The answer is this book, which offers proven, practical, and simple ways to turn random minutes throughout your days into pockets of productivity, and dreams into accomplishments.
In addition to presenting his own winning strategies for getting from dreaming to doing, Matthew Dicks offers insights from a wide range of creative people — writers, editors, performers, artists, and even magicians — on how to augment inspiration with motivation. His actionable steps will help you:
silence negative messages from family, friends, and teachers
eliminate time-sucking activities (and people)
be willing to make terrible things
find supporters here, there, and everywhere
cultivate optimism in the face of negativity and obstacles
Each strategy is accompanied by amusing and inspiring personal and professional anecdotes and a clear plan of action. Someday Is Today will give you every tool to get started and finish that _________ [fill in the blank].
Are you good at dreaming about what you’re going to accomplish “someday” but not good at finding the time and getting started? How will you actually make that decision and do it? The answer is this book, which offers proven, practical, and simple ways to turn random minutes throughout your days into pockets of productivity, and dreams into accomplishments.
In addition to presenting his own winning strategies for getting from dreaming to doing, Matthew Dicks offers insights from a wide range of creative people — writers, editors, performers, artists, and even magicians — on how to augment inspiration with motivation. His actionable steps will help you:
silence negative messages from family, friends, and teachers
eliminate time-sucking activities (and people)
be willing to make terrible things
find supporters here, there, and everywhere
cultivate optimism in the face of negativity and obstacles
Each strategy is accompanied by amusing and inspiring personal and professional anecdotes and a clear plan of action. Someday Is Today will give you every tool to get started and finish that _________ [fill in the blank].
344 pages, Paperback
Published June 7, 2022
About the author
Matthew Dicks
9 books1,099 followersMatthew Dicks is the internationally bestselling author of the novels Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend, Something Missing, Unexpectedly, Milo, The Perfect Comeback of Caroline Jacobs, and the upcoming novels The Other Mother and Cardboard Knight, as well as the nonfiction Storyworthy: Engage, Teach, Persuade, and Change Your Life Through the Art of Storytelling. His novels have been translated into more than 25 languages worldwide.
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend was the 2014 Dolly Gray Award winner and was nominated for a 2017 Nutmeg Award in Connecticut. Matthew was also awarded first prize in 2016 and second prize in 2017 in the Magazine/Humorous Column category by the CT Society of Professional Journalists.
He is also the author of the rock opera The Clowns and the musicals Caught in the Middle, Sticks & Stones, and Summertime. He has written comic books for Double Take comics. He is a columnist for Seasons magazine and has published work in Reader's Digest, The Hartford Courant, Parents magazine, The Huffington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor. He was awarded first prize for opinion writing in 2015 by the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists.
When not hunched over a computer screen, Matthew fills his days as an elementary school teacher, a storyteller, a speaking coach, a blogger, a wedding DJ, a minister, a life coach, and a Lord of Sealand. He has been teaching for 20 years and is a former West Hartford Teacher of the Year and a finalist for Connecticut Teacher of the Year.
Matthew is a 35-time Moth StorySLAM champion and 5-time GrandSLAM champion whose stories have been featured on their nationally syndicated Moth Radio Hour and their weekly podcast. He has also told stories for This American Life, TED, The Colin McEnroe Show, The Story Collider, The Liar Show, Literary Death Match, The Mouth, and many others. He has performed in such venues as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Wilbur Theater, The Academy of Music in North Hampton, CT, The Bynam Theater of Pittsburgh, The Bell House in NYC, The Lebanon Opera House, Boston University, and Infinity Hall in Hartford, CT.
He is a regular guest on several Slate podcasts, including The Gist, where he teaches storytelling.
Matthew is also the co-founder and creative director of Speak Up, a Hartford-based storytelling organization that produces shows throughout New England. He teaches storytelling and public speaking to individuals, corporations, and school districts around the world. He has most recently taught at Yale University, The University of Connecticut Law School, Purdue University, The Connecticut Historical Society, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Miss Porter's School, The Berkshire School, and Graded School in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Matthew is the creator and co-host of Boy vs. Girl, a podcast about gender and gender stereotypes.
Matthew is married to friend and fellow teacher, Elysha, and they have two children, Clara and Charlie. He grew up in the small town of Blackstone, Massachusetts, where he made a name for himself by dying twice before the age of eighteen and becoming the first student in his high school to be suspended for inciting riot upon himself.
Memoirs of an Imaginary Friend was the 2014 Dolly Gray Award winner and was nominated for a 2017 Nutmeg Award in Connecticut. Matthew was also awarded first prize in 2016 and second prize in 2017 in the Magazine/Humorous Column category by the CT Society of Professional Journalists.
He is also the author of the rock opera The Clowns and the musicals Caught in the Middle, Sticks & Stones, and Summertime. He has written comic books for Double Take comics. He is a columnist for Seasons magazine and has published work in Reader's Digest, The Hartford Courant, Parents magazine, The Huffington Post, and The Christian Science Monitor. He was awarded first prize for opinion writing in 2015 by the Connecticut Society of Professional Journalists.
When not hunched over a computer screen, Matthew fills his days as an elementary school teacher, a storyteller, a speaking coach, a blogger, a wedding DJ, a minister, a life coach, and a Lord of Sealand. He has been teaching for 20 years and is a former West Hartford Teacher of the Year and a finalist for Connecticut Teacher of the Year.
Matthew is a 35-time Moth StorySLAM champion and 5-time GrandSLAM champion whose stories have been featured on their nationally syndicated Moth Radio Hour and their weekly podcast. He has also told stories for This American Life, TED, The Colin McEnroe Show, The Story Collider, The Liar Show, Literary Death Match, The Mouth, and many others. He has performed in such venues as the Brooklyn Academy of Music, The Wilbur Theater, The Academy of Music in North Hampton, CT, The Bynam Theater of Pittsburgh, The Bell House in NYC, The Lebanon Opera House, Boston University, and Infinity Hall in Hartford, CT.
He is a regular guest on several Slate podcasts, including The Gist, where he teaches storytelling.
Matthew is also the co-founder and creative director of Speak Up, a Hartford-based storytelling organization that produces shows throughout New England. He teaches storytelling and public speaking to individuals, corporations, and school districts around the world. He has most recently taught at Yale University, The University of Connecticut Law School, Purdue University, The Connecticut Historical Society, Kripalu Center for Yoga and Health, Miss Porter's School, The Berkshire School, and Graded School in Sao Paulo, Brazil.
Matthew is the creator and co-host of Boy vs. Girl, a podcast about gender and gender stereotypes.
Matthew is married to friend and fellow teacher, Elysha, and they have two children, Clara and Charlie. He grew up in the small town of Blackstone, Massachusetts, where he made a name for himself by dying twice before the age of eighteen and becoming the first student in his high school to be suspended for inciting riot upon himself.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews
November 10, 2022
The major irony of this book is that the author preaches not wasting a single minute of your life...while wasting hours of the reader's. The idea is good, but the delivery is extremely poor. I had my notebook out and was excited to get this book from the library, but there was nothing worth jotting down through 8 chapters, so I finally threw in the towel. It's cringeworthy reading throughout, as the author overdramatizes and repeats (and repeats, and repeats...) things from his past, talks about himself in the 3rd person, changes two words from an author's quote and lists it as his quote, puts himself in lists with Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, President Obama, and Taylor Swift, and spends multiple pages detailing which housekeeping tasks he does and which ones his wife does (I wish I was joking). This list of these types of unbearable things is endless. The main reason I'm bothering to leave a review is because I wish someone had written a review like this prior to my reading it, so I wouldn't have wasted my time.
September 17, 2023
Listened to this one as an audibook 🔊
I decided to give this book a chance as it was a recommendation from Ali Abdaal who I love as a productivity person but as a reader I think our tastes are very different. The last few books he recommended, and I did read were just not that good.
I don't think the book has any life changing tips and the author is just so pretentious and pompous that it makes it a torture to go through the book. I can bet you a lot of money that the author's favorite person is himself! And he likes to tell us about he does everything perfectly.
I expected more useful tips from this book. I was hoping for something that may give you a push to do stuff that you have been procrastinating as I had that feeling from the title. Instead, the author gives a lot of personal examples and obvious stuff that does not need a genius to figure out. It was also too long as the main concept is that you need to think of time as a currency and try to save as much time as possible for the more important things. (The author got the skill to floss his teeth and shower in under 5 mins!). I think it is clear that I was not a big fan of the book but to be fair. I thought Dicks has some skills writing fiction and then found out that he indeed had some fiction stories that may be worth checking out.
I decided to give this book a chance as it was a recommendation from Ali Abdaal who I love as a productivity person but as a reader I think our tastes are very different. The last few books he recommended, and I did read were just not that good.
I don't think the book has any life changing tips and the author is just so pretentious and pompous that it makes it a torture to go through the book. I can bet you a lot of money that the author's favorite person is himself! And he likes to tell us about he does everything perfectly.
I expected more useful tips from this book. I was hoping for something that may give you a push to do stuff that you have been procrastinating as I had that feeling from the title. Instead, the author gives a lot of personal examples and obvious stuff that does not need a genius to figure out. It was also too long as the main concept is that you need to think of time as a currency and try to save as much time as possible for the more important things. (The author got the skill to floss his teeth and shower in under 5 mins!). I think it is clear that I was not a big fan of the book but to be fair. I thought Dicks has some skills writing fiction and then found out that he indeed had some fiction stories that may be worth checking out.
December 27, 2022
There are definitely a lot of helpful tips and reminders in this book that I plan to implement in my life, so it’s a good book in that sense. I’m giving it three stars because I wasn’t a huge fan of the way he approached a lot of the writing. It’s very repetitive. We hear about how he used to work at McDonalds, got held up at gunpoint, lived out of his car, had a group of anonymous people try to derail his career, doesn’t have a relationship with his father, is a VERY successful creative, blah blah blah from about an average of 20 times each. We get it. He does say that he doesn’t expect every bit of his advice will work for everyone but he also calls people who don’t follow his advice stupid. Some of his advice, while helpful if you can do it, is also pretty privileged (ie hiring people to do things you don’t want to do so you have more time for other things). He also recommends breaking rules and includes examples can be dangerous in certain situations (ignoring signs and ropes that say not to cross, doing things that he could get away with as a white man but that could get, say, a black teenager arrested or worse) or downright disrespectful to other people.
TLDR: I still recommend reading the book to get out of it what you can, but take certain things with a grain of salt, and just accept that he’s an asshole (or at least comes off like one).
TLDR: I still recommend reading the book to get out of it what you can, but take certain things with a grain of salt, and just accept that he’s an asshole (or at least comes off like one).
January 7, 2024
Yikes. To think Ali Abdaal said this was one of his most influential. Perhaps he should start questioning his ethics and morality (as he and the author are friends) in recommending to his audience. Especially since this feels like the antithesis to “feel good productivity” - Dicks suggests maximizing the small time between menial tasks to work and produce!
The book is filled with self-aggrandizement (if Dicks could break his own arm to pat himself on the back, he would) and soul crushing, shallow, obvious productivity tips. You know that 5 minutes you have to ruminate about your poor life decisions in between picking up your coffee order? You better start using that to write or work on your project! 5 minutes in the toilet? It’s now your makeshift workstation.
Save yourself the trouble - read something else that isn’t pastiche.
The book is filled with self-aggrandizement (if Dicks could break his own arm to pat himself on the back, he would) and soul crushing, shallow, obvious productivity tips. You know that 5 minutes you have to ruminate about your poor life decisions in between picking up your coffee order? You better start using that to write or work on your project! 5 minutes in the toilet? It’s now your makeshift workstation.
Save yourself the trouble - read something else that isn’t pastiche.
January 9, 2023
As many other readers agree, this book is a ridiculous waste of time and pages. Unfortunately I had not read the reviews before picking it up, so I would like to spare you.
The author boasts about having written parts of this book in the spare 10 minutes while he waits for his kids to get ready before leaving the house. Let me just say that this is clearly evident in his poor writing and repetition of unhelpful ideas, simply to fill pages. The book talks about not wasting time although reading it has been the worst use of my time, which makes me think that the author is borderline fraudulent!
The author boasts about having written parts of this book in the spare 10 minutes while he waits for his kids to get ready before leaving the house. Let me just say that this is clearly evident in his poor writing and repetition of unhelpful ideas, simply to fill pages. The book talks about not wasting time although reading it has been the worst use of my time, which makes me think that the author is borderline fraudulent!
March 6, 2024
I wish Goodreads allowed readers to give out negative star ratings. It would be entirely appropriate to issue them here. The author spends way too much time bragging about how amazing he is, and when not patting himself on the back, he's pounding it into the reader's skull that the whole point of life is not to waste time. So do as the self-appointed guru says, and don't bother to read this book. Spend your precious time on something worthy. The end.
November 25, 2023
I'd give this 0 stars if I could. Moral of the story- don't waste your time. Ironically, I've wasted hours of my life reading this.
May 13, 2023
Are there some good tips at the beginning? Yes.
Is the author a pompous ass? Also yes.
He’s super judgy and clearly does not think highly of his wife, and does a lot of “laugh along with me at how dumb she is” (my quote, not his) and I just can’t stand that. He thinks he’s absolutely hilarious when he makes degrading comments about others (I.e absolute monsters, ridiculous and stupid, and these are his words) but I can’t imagine they come across as funny when reading, especially if the own author himself reading his own words in the audiobook fell super flat.
It’s repetitive, and really loses its way around the halfway point to a book that just wants to talk about himself. Half the things didn’t make sense, like when he takes 100 second showers, and then goes on to say he does certain things for the first and second full minutes of his showers. The math ain’t mathin’ there my dude.
The summary appendix really could have been the full book and it would have been way shorter and more useful.
Is the author a pompous ass? Also yes.
He’s super judgy and clearly does not think highly of his wife, and does a lot of “laugh along with me at how dumb she is” (my quote, not his) and I just can’t stand that. He thinks he’s absolutely hilarious when he makes degrading comments about others (I.e absolute monsters, ridiculous and stupid, and these are his words) but I can’t imagine they come across as funny when reading, especially if the own author himself reading his own words in the audiobook fell super flat.
It’s repetitive, and really loses its way around the halfway point to a book that just wants to talk about himself. Half the things didn’t make sense, like when he takes 100 second showers, and then goes on to say he does certain things for the first and second full minutes of his showers. The math ain’t mathin’ there my dude.
The summary appendix really could have been the full book and it would have been way shorter and more useful.
July 27, 2022
A self help book that will help you help yourself pretty goodly. I will not do everything that Matthew Dicks suggests but I will implement most of his suggestions. Matthew is in beast mode for most aspects of his life and work. Reading about how he manages time and the amount of stuff he has on the go can be intimidating. I don't want to be the author, but I will use him as inspiration. The book is truly full of actionable ideas to train you to manage your time and pursue your goals. Half way through the book, I emailed Matthew to ask a few questions and he responded with a very nice email. He is the real deal and his book is quality.
June 25, 2023
The author makes excellent points. However, it could be a shorter book with less short stories about his daily routine or his wife. In addition, some of the stories don’t correlate well with the point he is trying to present. It has great philosophical points to make changes, but lack of well developed examples and guidance of n how to apply things practically.
September 9, 2024
Someday is Today is quite an interesting book and, in many ways, not your typical self-help/ self-development book.
Written by hyper-productive Matthew Dicks, it starts with a foreword by his wife warning the reader that Matthew is a particular type of person, one most people aren’t, and soon we discover this to be very accurate. Dicks has concrete ideas about the cost of time and how much different activities cost in terms of how much time they’ll take, not only at a micro level but during a lifetime.
He proposes a view of your 100-year-old self that looks back on life. What we live now is that life, so what are you doing right now? Does it matter?
It certainly views things differently, and this book is filled with such perspectives.
Dicks uses a lot of examples from his personal life as illustrations for what he does in his own life through a highly effective lens. Although he incentivises people to say more Yes in life, he also has very clear boundaries about what to say no to.
His views align a lot with those of writer Cal Newport (Digital Minimalism, Deep Work and Slow Productivity) as well as Ali Abdaal (Feel Good Productivity) and, in many ways, with Oliver Burkeman (Four Thousand Weeks). The core idea permeating all these books is one of pressing time, not to make more but to lead a more meaningful life.
Someday is Today showcases many ideas on how to be more productive, but it also invites the reader to reflect on their values, wants, and wishes because many people don’t have aspirations or dreams.
Provoking and occasionally braggy, Someday is Today is a peculiar book with great value.
Written by hyper-productive Matthew Dicks, it starts with a foreword by his wife warning the reader that Matthew is a particular type of person, one most people aren’t, and soon we discover this to be very accurate. Dicks has concrete ideas about the cost of time and how much different activities cost in terms of how much time they’ll take, not only at a micro level but during a lifetime.
He proposes a view of your 100-year-old self that looks back on life. What we live now is that life, so what are you doing right now? Does it matter?
It certainly views things differently, and this book is filled with such perspectives.
Dicks uses a lot of examples from his personal life as illustrations for what he does in his own life through a highly effective lens. Although he incentivises people to say more Yes in life, he also has very clear boundaries about what to say no to.
His views align a lot with those of writer Cal Newport (Digital Minimalism, Deep Work and Slow Productivity) as well as Ali Abdaal (Feel Good Productivity) and, in many ways, with Oliver Burkeman (Four Thousand Weeks). The core idea permeating all these books is one of pressing time, not to make more but to lead a more meaningful life.
Someday is Today showcases many ideas on how to be more productive, but it also invites the reader to reflect on their values, wants, and wishes because many people don’t have aspirations or dreams.
Provoking and occasionally braggy, Someday is Today is a peculiar book with great value.
August 17, 2024
Good book...I enjoyed overall. I feel that there are a lot of practical tips Matthew gave. I appreciated the humor as well sometimes, and the balance of ideals with realistic perspectives too.
I also appreciate the concept of the 100 yr-old self and thinking in those terms. Also, letting go of the idea of perfection, and the preciousness of everything needing to be just so to create. Lots of good stuff here!
I also appreciate the concept of the 100 yr-old self and thinking in those terms. Also, letting go of the idea of perfection, and the preciousness of everything needing to be just so to create. Lots of good stuff here!
June 28, 2023
I really like this guy. And though his manner was off-putting, he came off as an arrogant know-it-all, he's earned his confidence and talks very respectfully of his wife so I'll let it go. But he definitely thinks his way is the RIGHT way.
Audiobook. I've listened to it for a few weeks. The main point that sticks with me days later is his suggestion to capitalize on the little 5 and 10 minutes periods of your life where you are waiting. Don't sit there waiting for the person to be ready so you can leave; unload the dishwasher, add a few sentences to your book (in his case). Don't waste precious time. And it's true, we can fit so much more in our day.
Say yes, even though it's trending to say NO. You'll open up your life to so many more opportunities. Try something new.
Don't wait for the perfect conditions to work on your goal. His example was a Writer's Retreat in upstate New York four hours away. They gave you warm snacks outside your cute cabin and had bonfires in the night to discuss your work. You don't need that. You've already wasted 8 hours of travel time that you could have been writing hunkered down at the library next door. It's fluff and unnecessary, though sounds good to others and is a great moneymaker.
"Not everything needs to be a Thing". You don't have to turn everything into a show-stopping event. Making something out of everything. Ex: chef making guac at your table rather than the kitchen, so your conversation is interrupted so he can do his job, Wedding reception that have signature drinks named after the bride and groom, travel soccer teams that have high costs for families. It's all about profits and we fall for it. His rant on this is really funny.
Ask people what their interests are and try them yourself. To become more creative is to expand your interests across disciplines. But we can't often see what other realms would be worth exploring. Ask your friends and colleagues to come up with what areas of interest they think you should pursue. a book, a film, a podcast, a food to try. "An interest of yours that you think I should try."
And the biggest one of all. "You can't afford to be a pessimist" That whole chapter. Need to read 100x and rethink my approach to life and people.
Audiobook. I've listened to it for a few weeks. The main point that sticks with me days later is his suggestion to capitalize on the little 5 and 10 minutes periods of your life where you are waiting. Don't sit there waiting for the person to be ready so you can leave; unload the dishwasher, add a few sentences to your book (in his case). Don't waste precious time. And it's true, we can fit so much more in our day.
Say yes, even though it's trending to say NO. You'll open up your life to so many more opportunities. Try something new.
Don't wait for the perfect conditions to work on your goal. His example was a Writer's Retreat in upstate New York four hours away. They gave you warm snacks outside your cute cabin and had bonfires in the night to discuss your work. You don't need that. You've already wasted 8 hours of travel time that you could have been writing hunkered down at the library next door. It's fluff and unnecessary, though sounds good to others and is a great moneymaker.
"Not everything needs to be a Thing". You don't have to turn everything into a show-stopping event. Making something out of everything. Ex: chef making guac at your table rather than the kitchen, so your conversation is interrupted so he can do his job, Wedding reception that have signature drinks named after the bride and groom, travel soccer teams that have high costs for families. It's all about profits and we fall for it. His rant on this is really funny.
Ask people what their interests are and try them yourself. To become more creative is to expand your interests across disciplines. But we can't often see what other realms would be worth exploring. Ask your friends and colleagues to come up with what areas of interest they think you should pursue. a book, a film, a podcast, a food to try. "An interest of yours that you think I should try."
And the biggest one of all. "You can't afford to be a pessimist" That whole chapter. Need to read 100x and rethink my approach to life and people.
November 19, 2023
Are we back in 2010? This reads like the productivity toxic books of the past with a constant reminder of how saving one minute here is equal to x many hours over a year.
Don't waste a single minute on anything not productive. Waiting for your kids to put their shoes on? Make sure those 10 minutes are spent writing or working or anything except being as unproductive as just sitting and waiting for your kids to finish.
A big focus is on using pockets of time towards a goal, which is a great concept. We move forward during imperfect moments, but Dicks takes it way too far. He has a goal of showering and shaving in under 100 seconds and counts ALOUD to keep him on track. "That’s an extra 36.5 hours over a year. An extra day and a half to accomplish my goals while other people are naked and soapy."
I know that his whole thing is that he is a storyteller, but my goodness I could have done with less of it. This book could have been a bulletproof list, and the stories told of actual humans felt like they were just told to show how much better he is than other people. This includes his wife.
His wife writes his forward, which is a lovely idea but ends up as a summary of how terrible she is and how great he is. After reading this book, we'll be as good as him even if we start out as bad as she is. These steps will work for anyone, except her. She'll never be able to change because that's who she is ("a particular drive that Matt possesses and I do not").
Some good points sprinkled throughout the book (100-year-old self, the difference between wanting to write and wanting to have written, not waiting for perfection, treating time as valuable). Reading only the Appendix (Chapter-by-Chapter Action Plans) will cover all of them without having to slog through toxic productivity and sentence after sentence about how great the author is.
"I’ve never actually used a semicolon in my life. I don’t have time for that nonsense."
I prefer to live in a world where my time is spent on pleasure too, and is not judged by how productive I am. And a life full of semicolons ;;;
Don't waste a single minute on anything not productive. Waiting for your kids to put their shoes on? Make sure those 10 minutes are spent writing or working or anything except being as unproductive as just sitting and waiting for your kids to finish.
A big focus is on using pockets of time towards a goal, which is a great concept. We move forward during imperfect moments, but Dicks takes it way too far. He has a goal of showering and shaving in under 100 seconds and counts ALOUD to keep him on track. "That’s an extra 36.5 hours over a year. An extra day and a half to accomplish my goals while other people are naked and soapy."
I know that his whole thing is that he is a storyteller, but my goodness I could have done with less of it. This book could have been a bulletproof list, and the stories told of actual humans felt like they were just told to show how much better he is than other people. This includes his wife.
His wife writes his forward, which is a lovely idea but ends up as a summary of how terrible she is and how great he is. After reading this book, we'll be as good as him even if we start out as bad as she is. These steps will work for anyone, except her. She'll never be able to change because that's who she is ("a particular drive that Matt possesses and I do not").
Some good points sprinkled throughout the book (100-year-old self, the difference between wanting to write and wanting to have written, not waiting for perfection, treating time as valuable). Reading only the Appendix (Chapter-by-Chapter Action Plans) will cover all of them without having to slog through toxic productivity and sentence after sentence about how great the author is.
"I’ve never actually used a semicolon in my life. I don’t have time for that nonsense."
I prefer to live in a world where my time is spent on pleasure too, and is not judged by how productive I am. And a life full of semicolons ;;;
January 2, 2023
It was definitely worth a full read despite a very slow and rambling start. I’ll be trying out the action plans in the Appendix so may adjust my rating later. I have to admit the first Part of the book felt completely unnecessary because it seemed filled with a lot of lengthy explanations about how saving a half-hour doing something more efficiently translates into “x” number of days or months per year. The advice that walking fast saves your time for other things is not surprising to anyone who has learned to walk and needed to solve the eternal human problem of moving their body from point A to point B.
I loved Storyworthy immensely so I probably was expecting too much in comparison. I would say this book is more of another approach to his memoir seen through the lens of productivity and creativity strategies vs a self improvement book. That is evidenced with the repeated references to the same anecdotes. Felt like this really could have benefitted from one more round of editing (and perhaps like his poetry class example) with a specific focus on respecting the reader’s time by being more concise.
I loved Storyworthy immensely so I probably was expecting too much in comparison. I would say this book is more of another approach to his memoir seen through the lens of productivity and creativity strategies vs a self improvement book. That is evidenced with the repeated references to the same anecdotes. Felt like this really could have benefitted from one more round of editing (and perhaps like his poetry class example) with a specific focus on respecting the reader’s time by being more concise.
July 1, 2022
Someday is Today, by Matthew Dicks does not disappoint! If you are looking for any of the following:
• “22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel your Creative Life,” or…
• Entertaining true-life stories by a master storyteller that will make you laugh, smile, think, or…
• Inspiration to do everything you always wanted to do but thought you didn’t have time to do, or…
• Specific strategies for saving precious minutes, hours, days, and aggravation, or…
• A window into the life/mind/of the talented, hilarious, author who if you believe the afterword (and I do), is “not a crackpot” … then this book is for you.
You will want your own copy to highlight and reread. (And there’s even an action plan in the back of the book. And you’ll want to read Matthew Dicks’ other books (fiction and nonfiction) and check out his storytelling videos. Brilliant/talented guy!
• “22 Simple, Actionable Ways to Propel your Creative Life,” or…
• Entertaining true-life stories by a master storyteller that will make you laugh, smile, think, or…
• Inspiration to do everything you always wanted to do but thought you didn’t have time to do, or…
• Specific strategies for saving precious minutes, hours, days, and aggravation, or…
• A window into the life/mind/of the talented, hilarious, author who if you believe the afterword (and I do), is “not a crackpot” … then this book is for you.
You will want your own copy to highlight and reread. (And there’s even an action plan in the back of the book. And you’ll want to read Matthew Dicks’ other books (fiction and nonfiction) and check out his storytelling videos. Brilliant/talented guy!
December 28, 2023
I hoped to enjoy this book, especially after loving StoryWorthy, but unfortunately, it didn't measure up.
Matt unintentionally comes off as repetitive, a personal point that might not bother everyone. The constant self-labeling as a "Hawk" felt a bit off to me, almost like a high school quarterback vibe. He could have conveyed the same idea more subtly, like stating his big-picture orientation and his wife's detail-oriented approach.
The initial part, "Time," began strong, but around Chapter 4, it felt like listening to a highly functional depressive person.
The book improves in later chapters, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're not already a fan of Matthew. While I adore him as an author, this book falls short of his best work in my opinion.
Matt unintentionally comes off as repetitive, a personal point that might not bother everyone. The constant self-labeling as a "Hawk" felt a bit off to me, almost like a high school quarterback vibe. He could have conveyed the same idea more subtly, like stating his big-picture orientation and his wife's detail-oriented approach.
The initial part, "Time," began strong, but around Chapter 4, it felt like listening to a highly functional depressive person.
The book improves in later chapters, but I wouldn't recommend it if you're not already a fan of Matthew. While I adore him as an author, this book falls short of his best work in my opinion.
July 24, 2022
Ali abdaal recommendation
June 27, 2024
Time is precious, and your main commodity in life is something that sticks in my mind. Throughout this book, Matthew highlighted the importance of time and how precious it is. He repeated this idea several times. It made me laugh when he listed a series of activities he tried to cut off. In this book, I realized his story is a quest to maximize time as effectively as possible and what he gained in return.
The idea here is that we need to be mindful of how we spend our time and manage it consciously rather than just going with the flow. I love how Matthew encourages us to consider time as a key factor in our decision-making. He also asked us to think about whether the decisions we make in life will be something we regret when we're 100 years old. It's not literally 100 years old, but it means we shouldn't regret our decisions when we die.
Lastly, I appreciated how the author keeps moving on no matter how hard his life gets. It's truly inspiring.
The idea here is that we need to be mindful of how we spend our time and manage it consciously rather than just going with the flow. I love how Matthew encourages us to consider time as a key factor in our decision-making. He also asked us to think about whether the decisions we make in life will be something we regret when we're 100 years old. It's not literally 100 years old, but it means we shouldn't regret our decisions when we die.
Lastly, I appreciated how the author keeps moving on no matter how hard his life gets. It's truly inspiring.
June 12, 2024
This did not work for me. I listened to most of part 1 on time and was utterly annyoed the more I listened. Not that his advice or ideas are completely off or bad, I mainly didn't like the tone and name calling thrown in here and there.
I tried parts 2 and 3 but didn't even get that far there as the narration and tone just didn't gel with me.
I recommend sampling if you are interested, to see if you like his narrative voice and narration style.
I tried parts 2 and 3 but didn't even get that far there as the narration and tone just didn't gel with me.
I recommend sampling if you are interested, to see if you like his narrative voice and narration style.
October 21, 2024
There are helpful tips and mindset shifts in here to be sure, but Dicks’ approach to life is, frankly, exhausting. When your worth, success, and happiness are measured by how much you produce, you have to do things like time your showers to ensure you’re not wasting a single second or view a coffee ritual as a waste of time. I simply don’t have any desire to live this way, and I think Dicks’ misses out on the miracle of simply living in pursuit of accomplishment.
December 19, 2023
Life is not lost by dying; life is lost minute by minute, day by dragging day, in all the thousand, small, uncaring ways.
Or be like everyone else and go nowhere.
A diverse set of experiences opens up a host of unpredictable possibilities.
Stuff begets stuff.
Your finish line should not be a fixed point in space but a horizon of possibilities.
Judge the work, not the person.
We cannot wait for the world to recognize our achievements. We can't depend on the world to take care of us. We must be willing to take care of ourselves.
The making should be ordinary. The results should be extraordinary.
Or be like everyone else and go nowhere.
A diverse set of experiences opens up a host of unpredictable possibilities.
Stuff begets stuff.
Your finish line should not be a fixed point in space but a horizon of possibilities.
Judge the work, not the person.
We cannot wait for the world to recognize our achievements. We can't depend on the world to take care of us. We must be willing to take care of ourselves.
The making should be ordinary. The results should be extraordinary.
Read
May 14, 2024The message is beautiful at its core: Don't put off things you need to do by procrastinating with useless tasks; get the stuff you need to get done now.
Although I liked the message, I did not enjoy the book much. It seemed more like a memoir about someone I don't particularly care about.
Although I liked the message, I did not enjoy the book much. It seemed more like a memoir about someone I don't particularly care about.
July 6, 2024
It had a lot of good advice but it is quite surprising to hear that he has written multiple books and is an acclaimed storyteller because it seemed quite manic and that it could have used a thoughtful editor.
June 6, 2024
Lo escuché como audiolibro por recomendación de Ali Abdaal. Desacuerdo con el autor en muchas cosas, sólo cree que lo que él hace está bien. Da algunos tips interesantes pero no para tantas horas de escucha. No lo recomiendo.
February 18, 2023
“What would your 100 year old think, say , or do?”
had to skim some parts of the book on my first read as I thought some of the writing was a rehash of earlier information in the book.
It’s a book that espouses ideas of squeezing the most out of everyday so that the creator, maker, or do-er can get to the act of working on their project, be it business or book.
had to skim some parts of the book on my first read as I thought some of the writing was a rehash of earlier information in the book.
It’s a book that espouses ideas of squeezing the most out of everyday so that the creator, maker, or do-er can get to the act of working on their project, be it business or book.
August 17, 2024
i’ve read some tough and negative reviews on this book and i have to say, i don’t know about them but i walked away with some good valuable stuff from Matthew’s lessons and sharing of his journey. Some of it was a reminder, and even repetitive at times but overall a great read with practical tools and insights with some bits of humor spread throughout.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 29, 2023
As other users here mentioned its funny that the author teaches us about not wasting time and yet wastes the readers time by making the book longer as it had to be.
I liked the first chapters and got actually really inspired to waste less time, but as I continued the read I got more and more bored until I had to force myself to even finish it.
I liked that he did a small conclusion of the most important points at the end of the book.
But once he started to be angry for people not wearing masks and when he kept writing about white privilege I somehow felt less inclined to think of him as someone who can teach me something.
Did I get something useful out of the book? Yes
Was is life changing by any means? No
Would I recommend it to someone? Not really
I liked the first chapters and got actually really inspired to waste less time, but as I continued the read I got more and more bored until I had to force myself to even finish it.
I liked that he did a small conclusion of the most important points at the end of the book.
But once he started to be angry for people not wearing masks and when he kept writing about white privilege I somehow felt less inclined to think of him as someone who can teach me something.
Did I get something useful out of the book? Yes
Was is life changing by any means? No
Would I recommend it to someone? Not really
November 22, 2023
This book reads as more of an autobiography than as "actionable ways to propel your creative life". I often had the impression that the author is deeply insecure about himself - perhaps due to a negligent father whose attention he sought as a child. There are also many points he makes that I disagree with, such as when he writes:
"This poor guy actually thinks that people care what he looks like while shopping on a Saturday morning. He thinks they will remember a day later what he looked like. He's not alone, of course. But the less you care about your physical appearance, the more productive you can be. And caring less is a good idea in many, many cases. Perhaps not when you are meeting with a client or making a presentation or attending your cousin's wedding, but in your day-to-day existence, caring less is good, because no one ever cares as much as you think."
Perhaps not being overly obsessive about the way you look or dress is good, but caring too little about one's appearance in the name of productivity seems like a bad choice to me. It's the reason so many people travel to France or Italy, where a slight emphasis is put on being well dressed instead of being an absolute slob just to be able to work more efficiently. It's possible to do both.
I did appreciate the chapter on being an optimist. In particular, I appreciated the following paragraph:
"'Throwing my present to the future' is based upon the assumption that many of the problems we face today are temporary, fleeting, and ultimately forgettable, but in the moment, they can feel awful, momentous, and painful. In these cases, I try to avoid those negative feelings by acknowledging that the problem will be irrelevant in a day or a week or even a month and then pretending that the next day, week, or month has already arrived. The future is often better than the problematic present, so maintaining an awareness of that more pleasant future and assuming the emotional disposition of that future version of yourself can alleviate the short-term suffering caused by troublesome but temporary struggles."
Overall there were some good gems in this book, but it's unfortunate that it read as an autobiography and so much of it was founded on self praise.
"This poor guy actually thinks that people care what he looks like while shopping on a Saturday morning. He thinks they will remember a day later what he looked like. He's not alone, of course. But the less you care about your physical appearance, the more productive you can be. And caring less is a good idea in many, many cases. Perhaps not when you are meeting with a client or making a presentation or attending your cousin's wedding, but in your day-to-day existence, caring less is good, because no one ever cares as much as you think."
Perhaps not being overly obsessive about the way you look or dress is good, but caring too little about one's appearance in the name of productivity seems like a bad choice to me. It's the reason so many people travel to France or Italy, where a slight emphasis is put on being well dressed instead of being an absolute slob just to be able to work more efficiently. It's possible to do both.
I did appreciate the chapter on being an optimist. In particular, I appreciated the following paragraph:
"'Throwing my present to the future' is based upon the assumption that many of the problems we face today are temporary, fleeting, and ultimately forgettable, but in the moment, they can feel awful, momentous, and painful. In these cases, I try to avoid those negative feelings by acknowledging that the problem will be irrelevant in a day or a week or even a month and then pretending that the next day, week, or month has already arrived. The future is often better than the problematic present, so maintaining an awareness of that more pleasant future and assuming the emotional disposition of that future version of yourself can alleviate the short-term suffering caused by troublesome but temporary struggles."
Overall there were some good gems in this book, but it's unfortunate that it read as an autobiography and so much of it was founded on self praise.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 28, 2023
The book is a bit longer than it needed to be. Matthew has some interesting stories and there are some good tips in here though. I did find myself just wanting to get through the book to finish it rather than wishing it was longer.
Displaying 1 - 30 of 134 reviews