You probably have a Todo list or two. Some kind of list of things you need to complete. Humans like the sense of accomplishment of crossing things off the list when they’re done.
Lists such as:
- Stickies on your monitor
- Reminders app on a device
- Lists in notebooks or on the fridge.
- Dedicated todo apps.
Won’t do
In the past I’ve made reminders of things not to do.
- don’t look at twitter/Facebook/whatever before 8PM
- don’t try a new note taking app this week
- don’t look at a new blog theme for one month
These are reminders of things I won’t do.
I’m on Josh Spector’s
For the Interested newsletter. In a recent issue, he linked to an article in James Clear’s
newsletter. I know… so many newsletters!
Sidebar: Personal newsletters are how I consume information, mostly. Start one yourself and tell me about it! Ask me for help!
Clear relates a story from Warren Buffet (super rich investor, one of the good billionaire guys, I guess?). It goes something like this …
- Make a list of the top 25 things you want to accomplish
- Review the list and circle the five most important to you
- The five you circled are List A and the 20 you didn’t are List B
- List A is your Todo list. List B as “Things To Avoid At All Costs” because they will distract you from doing what you really want (the top 5).
List B is your won’t do list. Make it visible so you can focus on not doing those things.
Let me know how it goes if you try it!
Speaking of trying these tools, next issue will be the last in the series. The last issue will have a Visual Tool you can use to reflect on these tools, or for any use. I hope you like it. I’ll keep writing here, but the topic will change.
What topics would help you most?
If this series of articles has helped you let me know! If they’ve confused you even more, let me know for sure! I’d be happy to chat through these and anything else creative.
What challenges are you having? Do you have a potential opportunity in front of you you’d like some help figuring out?
Interested in learning about something in the creative space?
Let me know, I’m happy to share my thoughts and do some research for you :)
Thanks for reading.
