Challenge 14 - Create a ‘To-Don’t’ List
Not every problem needs to be overcome, just the ones stopping you from where you want to be. 1
Today's challenge is to create a to-don't-list to help you be intentional with your time, complete the work that matters and avoid going down rabbit holes.
For many, the pandemic has changed our working lives and the familiar cadence of our daily work. So to address the routine disruption and best allocate our time, the simple answer it seemed was to write a to-do list. The list of all the actions that showed progress toward a known goal, a things to-do list if you would like, but if your list is anything like mine, we need a complementary list called the 'to-don't-list.'
When it comes to work, I often wonder where the time goes. Yet, we know from Parkinson's law that work expands to fill the time available for its completion, so to focus our finite energy on what matters and avoid the things that either sap our energy or distract us from achieving our goals.
In a recent article, the phenomenally productive organizational psychologist Wharton Professor Adam Grant shared his to-don't list:
1. Helping everyone who asks – with only limited time, he helps only those to who he can make a 'unique contribution'.
2. Mindlessly engaging with screens – he avoids getting on his phone or computer unless he has a specific plan for what he's going to do with them.
3. Putting work ahead of family time – he quarantines 3.00–7.00 PM on weekdays as a solid block of family time to spend with his three kids.
4. Playing online Scrabble – games play to his curious nature but he knows when strength becomes a weakness. The solution was to play Scrabble only at certain times and delete the Scrabble app from his phone.
So if you find you aren't completing your to-do list then the solution may not be to work more, but instead, consider what tasks you might stop doing. It sounds simple, but how? Firstly take a piece of paper, identify the goal you want to achieve. Secondly, write the actions required to achieve the goal on the left-hand side (the to-do list) and the right-hand side all the actions that might sap your energy or time (not-to-do list). At the end of the day, savour the success while you cross off all the actions you have achieved and acknowledge the ones you have been able to avoid.
What's on your to-don't list? Tell us here
Source: This tip is adapted from “Want to Be More Productive? Try Doing Less,” by Kate Northrup
Reference
1. Ann Hill
Further reading
Read: Is you to do list making you nuts? Ideas TED Adam Grant
Make a to-don’t list. hbr.org
** Disclaimer – Fresh start effect & 30 Day challenge by Duncan Young. All content and media on the Build Your Ideal Day Website is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice and should not be relied on as health or personal advice.
