Anyone who cares about productivity will be familiar with the ‘to-do list’. For years productivity experts have been droning on about the power of a properly categorised and prioritised to-do list. We love a to-do list when we write it and then there is keeping it up to date, crossing things off. But what happens if you can’t get to do the things on your list?
Here is an idea, a ‘Not to-do list’
The basic principle is simple – make a list of things that you don’t want to do. Michael Hyatt suggests we should list all the activities that you are intentionally going to stop doing for the sake of greater productivity.
The more you achieve, the more you come into contact with new opportunities meaning that your ‘not to-do’ list needs to set some boundaries. It works for you, reminding yourself where to focus and for others around you, giving them a steer about what to pass onto you.
Many people will share the same basic list but the key is to add specific tasks that catch you out. Common ‘not to-do’ tasks are:
Don’t answer calls from unrecognised callers
Avoid spam, unwanted or badly timed calls. If you don’t recognize a number, let it go to voicemail. Regularly check in with your voicemail and make a point of following up important calls.
Don’t read e-mail first thing or last thing
The start of each day should be for planning and the end for wrapping up, so don’t waste time trawling through hundreds of emails. Schedule specific times during the to attend to your email and ignore it at all others. A key to achieving this is to turn off all email notifications – it’s very rare that an email needs to be actioned instantly.
Do not organise or attend meetings with no agenda or end time
If a meeting is worth having, then it needs an agenda. Even a basic one line agenda will set the context and keep a meeting on track. In my view it also keeps meeting time to a minimum.
Never sleep with your phone
In fact try to leave your phone behind at every opportunity. There is a myth that people need to be ‘always on’ but in fact we all need a break. It’s healthy for us to have some down time but more than that it’s essential for the people who work for us to know we trust them to work alone. Most important of all, in my view, is to never use your mobile as an alarm clock. There’s comprehensive medical proof that looking at a screen before bed dramatically reduces the chance of a good nights sleep. On top of that, having a phone beside your bed will tempt you to check email & social media before going to sleep and that can’t be a good thing!
It’s great to focus on getting things done, but we need to remove the constant noise and distraction around us. By being clear about what you are not going to do you let the high priority tasks come to the fore – allowing you to see the wood, not the trees.