Matt Harris
4y ago
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I tried Tim Ferriss' Past Year Review in January. Central to this process is creating a Not-To-Do List.
The idea of a Not-To-Do List is simple - cut things out of your life that do not matter or are unnecessary so that you can spend more time, effort & focus on things that do.
“Not-to-do” lists are often more effective than to-do lists for upgrading performance. The reason is simple: what you don’t do determines what you can do."
- Tim Ferriss
Using a Not To Do List was reinforced to me when I read an account of Jim Collins, the author of Good to Great, as a graduate student at college.
Always busy, Jim was taught a valuable lesson by one of his college professors when asked how his behaviour would change with this thought experiment.
Picture yourself receiving two phone calls:
Phone call 1 - you learn that you've inherited $20million, no strings attached
Phone call 2 - due to a rare and incurable disease, you only have 10 years left to live.
When faced with this situation, what would you stop doing?
It’s an interesting thought experiment because it gets you to focus on what really matters in your life.
It helps you focus on the essential things that give your life colour, flavour and perspective.
By cutting out the inessential, you can place more emphasis on the essential.
"A great piece of art is composed not just of what is in the final piece, but equally important, what is not. It's the discipline to discard what does not fit … [that] marks the ideal piece of work...or, most important of all, a life."
- Jim Collins
Keeping things simple and focusing on what really matters, starts with saying 'No'.
To achieve high performance, saying 'No' is a critical skill. It allows you to focus on the things that are most important to you.
Saying 'No' also helps you start your Not-To-Do List.
What can you start saying 'No' to in order to compile your own Not-To-Do-List?
Here are a few habits that entrepreneurs and professionals can start to eliminate:
1. Looking at your phone first thing in the morning
This causes you to start your day on the back foot and places you under stress shortly after waking up and puts you in reactive mode for the rest of the day. Not a good way to start.
2. Answering calls from unknown numbers
Unless your calls have been pre-scheduled, let calls go to voicemail. If necessary, call back during the time you've allotted in your day for dealing with admin.
3. Constantly checking emails and social media
Set up an autoresponder and check your emails in batches at a set time every day. Allocate set time blocks in your day to spend on social media.
4. Agreeing to useless meetings
Unless meetings have a predefined start and end time, with a clear agenda, don't agree to them. Encourage asynchronous communication instead - send an email.
5. Drinking coffee late in the afternoon
The half-life of coffee is about 5 hours and drinking coffee later than 2/3pm in the afternoon will seriously impact the quality of your sleep.
6. Going to bed later than intended
Don't sit up mindlessly at night to squeeze in another Netflix episode. Stick to a regular bedtime and routine so your mind and body get enough rest to recharge.
7. Pleasing everyone
Use Opportunity Management to start saying 'No'. Break the habit of saying yes all the time so that you can focus on your goals.
8. Letting people ramble
When someone calls you, ask "What's Up" and encourage them to get to the point of the call or visit - GTP.
9. Working more to fix overwhelm
Define your single most important task for the day. If you don't prioritise, everything that lands on your desk or inbox seems urgent or important.
Let little bad things happen so you can your important work done.
10. Don't bring your phone into the bedroom.
The blue light from your phone will affect your sleep. Focus on analogue activities like reading a book or talking with your partner.
It will also stop you from looking at your phone first thing in the morning.
That's it for today!
Hopefully, you learned something new!
Every Thursday I send an email with simple habits and tools that help you optimize your daily routines for health, happiness and success.
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