Alpacto › Free printables › Mental load › Soon translator
The Soon Translator: turn “soon” into a day you both initial
The soon translator is a one-page sheet for two people who keep saying “soon”. You agree once what six vague words mean at your place, then every promise gets a day and a time, and you both initial it.
- Sheet
- One page: a dictionary of six words and eleven promise rows
- Paper
- US Letter and A4, portrait
- Versions
- Blank, and a fillable PDF with 128 fields; the filled-in example is below
- Designs
- Minimal, warm and color
- For
- Two partners or roommates, either of whom can make a promise
What is on the sheet
Our dictionary
“Soon”, “Later”, “In a bit”, “This weekend”, “When I get a chance” and “After this episode”, each with a blank for what it means at your place.
The promise table
Who, What I’ll do, Word I used, Day, Time, We both initial, New day, We both initial, Done.
Two printed rules
One for moving a day, one for who writes it.
How the soon translator works in a week
Tasha and Wei’s dictionary, for the week of September 21:
| Word | What it means for them |
|---|---|
| Soon | within 2 days |
| Later | before 9 pm today |
| In a bit | 20 minutes |
| This weekend | by Sunday noon |
| When I get a chance | pick a day right now |
| After this episode | 45 minutes, tops |
Each promise went into a row with the word as it was said:
| Who | What I’ll do | Word | Day, time | New day | Done |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Wei | Fix the wobbly bathroom drawer | soon | Wed 9/23, 7 pm | Yes | |
| Tasha | Hang the hallway mirror | later | Mon 9/21, 8 pm | Yes | |
| Wei | Take the recycling out | in a bit | Mon 9/21, 9 pm | Yes | |
| Tasha | Email the HOA about the gate | soon | Tue 9/22, 12 pm | Yes | |
| Wei | Return the rug to the store | when I get a chance | Thu 9/24, 6 pm | Yes | |
| Tasha | Call the vet about Pepper’s shots | this weekend | Sat 9/26, 10 am | Mon 9/28 | |
| Wei | Clean out the car | this weekend | Sun 9/27, 11 am | Yes | |
| Tasha | Book our Thanksgiving flights | soon | Wed 9/23, 9 pm | Tue 9/29 |
By Sunday evening six of the eight promises are done. Each of them made four, so the sheet shows no one as the person who always says “soon”.
The sheet’s example; Tasha and Wei are invented. Every row carries both sets of initials, TG and WZ.
The filled-in example, minimal design.
Why the sheet asks for a time, not just a day
In a 2011 field experiment, 3,272 employees of a US utility got a letter about free flu shots at work. Some letters asked them to write down the date they planned to go, some the date and a time. It was a flu shot, not a couple, but it is why the sheet has both a Day and a Time column.
33.1% of the plain-letter group got the shot. Writing a date added 1.5 percentage points, too little to count. Writing a date and a time added 4.2 points, a real difference.
Milkman, Beshears, Choi, Laibson and Madrian, Using implementation intentions prompts to enhance influenza vaccination rates, PNAS, 2011.
The promise goes in while the word is still in the air.
More time is fine. Moving it quietly is not.
The first rule under the table: “A new day needs both sets of initials. Asking for more time is always OK. Moving it quietly is not.”
On the example, Tasha moved the vet call to Monday 9/28 and the flights to Tuesday 9/29, and Wei initialed both. Done stays empty there: the new days haven’t come yet.
The second rule keeps the joke from turning into a verdict: “The person who made the promise writes the day. Nobody translates for the other person.”
A fresh sheet each Monday.
Download the sheet
Three designs, each in US Letter and A4, blank or fillable, free with no email or account.
Questions people ask
How long is “soon”?
As long as the two of you agree it is. The sheet leaves the meaning blank; Tasha and Wei wrote within 2 days.
Does “soon” mean one hour?
Only if you write that. On the example, the short words are “In a bit”, 20 minutes, and “After this episode”, 45 minutes at most.
What if we can’t keep the day we wrote?
Ask for more time and write a new day, and you both initial it. Whoever made the promise picks the new day, the same as the first one.
Other free printable sheets
Save this sheet to Pinterest
Pin it now and the sheet is there the next time “soon” comes up. Six words with a time printed next to each, and eleven rows for promises you both initial.
Give the promise a deadline in the app
In Alpacto a task holds the person, the deadline, the standard of done and a reward, and both of you see the same terms before anything starts. It is the same promise row, kept on two phones.