5 Reasons Not to Use #OneDayIWill

#OneDayIWill is a horrible hashtag. You can do much better.

Now I know Google was well intentioned in creating #OneDayIWill, but what good is it in creating any actual change? As far as hashtags go, its a pretty flawed one. Here’s why:

1. It is just a wish

How often do you hear “One day I will make it big” or “One day I will get a dog”? 4 out of 5 times those statements don’t end in a garage band signing a major contract or a person heading to the pound to pick out a new pup.

So what can a wish achieve? The only successful wish speech I can think of is “I Have a Dream”. But every other right and respect was won via action. Do you think busses would have been desegregated if Rosa Parks posted as her Facebook status “#OneDayIWill sit in the front of the bus- B) feeling revolutionary”, or women would have a vote if Susan B. Anthony tweeted “#OneDayIWill vote for president! #imwithher #NeverTrump”, or we would know the structure of DNA if Rosalind Franklin instagrammed “#OneDayIWill know what DNA looks like”? Nope. None of that. Parks had to sit down on that bus, Anthony had to lead those protests, and Franklin had to snap that photo (and she never did it for the ‘gram). Each of those achievements started with an action. Not some wish. I’m not Cinderella (I am more of a Belle meets Mulan), I don’t have a fairy godmother.

At the end of day “One day I will” is just a wish for something you want to see happen. It entails no promises.

Three wishes, to be exact. And ixnay on the wishing for more wishes. That’s it. Three. Uno, dos, tres. No substitutions, exchanges or refunds. (Aladdin, 1992)

2. There is no commitment

Ask my room mates. I have told them “one day I will take out the trash” more times than I can count. Does it happen? Ehh. We’ll say sometimes. Achieving something and saying something are not mutually exclusive. I can tell you what I will get done today, but I cannot tell you what I will do 20 or 30 years down the line. If anything, #OneDayIWill is more of a suggestion. Even with Facebook’s On This Day app I am not sure I will remember to work on my #OneDayIWill goal or what it even was, but you can put me down for a solid maybe.

My kitchen when its time for me to take out the trash (Sesame Street)

3. Digestible goals are easier to achieve

Say I was prepping to audition for the musical Hamilton. I could say “#OneDayIWill play King George in Hamilton” (Miranda said he’d be open to it), or I could say “#TodayIWill practice my audition song for 2 hours”. There is no guarantee the first one will ever happen. I cannot control who else auditions or the vision the musical director has for the show, but the second goal is totally achievable. Its a stepping stone towards my overarching goal. And even if I did not get the part, I know if I worked on a #TodayIWill goal each day leading up to my audition I would have at least presented my best self. By setting #TodayIWill goals I can see my progress and can adapt accordingly, which I cannot do nearly as well with #OneDayIWill goals.

The best example of this is in elementary school when your teachers asked you, “what do you want to be when you grow up”. In kindergarten I answered “#OneDayIWill be a writer”. Then when asked again in 5th grade I replied, “#OneDayIWill be a lawyer”. Now I am in college, I am not an English Major and I am not on a pre-law track. I am nowhere close to achieving either of my #OneDayIWills, because they never seemed real enough to start working on them. Sure being a writer or a lawyer sounded cool at the time, but that was something far out in the future when I was a gown up. And as I approach my “grown up” years, I realize I made little to no progress achieving my childhood goals. Digestible goals make overarching goals more real because they provide you with intermittent rewards and allow you to see the progress you’ve made.

The Schuyler Sisters knew how to set goals #WomensRights #TotallyRight #StillWaitingForThatSequelJefferson #WillIHaveDoneEnoughWhenMyTimeIsUp

4. There is no personal investment

No one is holding you accountable for what happens beyond the foreseeable future. You are not responsible for the social, political, or economic climate of 2050. How can you have expectations for future unless you go out and make that future happen? Sure right now saying “#OneDayIWill be payed as much as a man for the same work” might feel great, but what are you actually doing to make that happen? And if that doesn’t appear to be happening anytime soon, sure, you can blame current economic and social conditions, but wouldn’t your time be better spent fighting to achieve equal pay then waiting around for it to happen? Go out, invest in your future. One day it will be your present.

Invest in the future you want to see

5. There are tons of alternatives avialable

A popular one is #iwd2016. As far as hashtags go, its a pretty great one. Its representative of people of multiple cultures and it highlights the state of women today, not achievements that may or may not happen. The main drawback is it does not have a “and next” component.

My hashtag of choice is #TodayIWill. Its based in the reality of today, but also gives you a concrete stepping stone to achieve the future you want to see. You cannot commit to achieving something in the unforeseeable future, but you can always commit to what you will do today.

Harder to implement but with greater return would be #TodayWeWill. If you could get a group together, like your Lean In circle, to commit one action that betters the lives of women, that does 10 times more than a person saying #OneDayIWill. It gets us one step closer to the future we want to be living. I mean sure, we could just wait around 100 years for a hero to come along and save the day (it worked for Aurora). Or we could create actual change. We can be our own superheroes.

Be your own super hero (Art by Kiki & Company).

So social media community, I challenge you to be your own superhero today. Don’t wait around to see what society dishes out to you, dish it out to society. You cannot rely on the conditions of society years from now. There are no promises there. But you can depend on what you will do today. Make the change you want to see in the world. Take that first stepping stone in achieving your #OneDayIWill goal, and it starts with #TodayIWill.

What will you do today?