Not "to do" List

What is on your "Stop doing list"?  It could be your stop doing list is more important than your "to do" list.

 I was first introduced to the "to do" list when I started a career at Arthur Andersen's Administrative Services Division (later to become Accenture).  A tradition handed down from the Accountants, I would construct a line by line list of things "to do" - a individual work program.  This inventory of tasks would be "I-ed"out (a line drawn over the written task in the form of an I) when completed.  It was amazing the motivation generated by a written task on a sheet of paper. Also the power of seeing the list allowed for mental prioritization and efficiency.

I have never created a "stop doing list".  Those private items are left inside the mind conveniently available for forgetting and/or feeling guilty about after the fact.  A bad habit is difficult to stop.  It takes 21 days to break a habit.  The best alternative is to find the "triggers" that start the habit and find a replacement task.  Possibly a "to do" task can replace a "stop doing" task.

So on your next "to do" list.  Write the following:

Start a NOT "to do" List. :)