13th May 2024
Most of us have a ‘To Do List.’
When I was a younger, I
actually, ran my entire life by one. Everything was written down and I lived
off this list with military-grade precision. It wasn’t much fun, but it was a great reminder & I did get a lot done.
The ‘To Do List’ that so many of us keep often contains our work
commitments, team meetings, bill payments, grocery items, and social events, etc, etc.
Keep it going if it serves you well, but I’d like to tell you about something I now do differently, which serves me
nicely: a ‘Stop Doing List.’
You see, a great life and career is so much more about what you choose to stop doing than what you vowed to start doing.
Your ‘Stop Doing List’ might include the decision to:
..Stop comparing your real life to the fake lives manufactured online.
..Stop buying so many things you really don’t need, understanding that being frugal is super smart in a time of influencers encouraging you to eat in expensive restaurants, purchase luxury clothes, and fly to places they really can’t afford.
..Stop accepting every social invitation that comes your way because you have a deep-seated addiction to being liked.
.. Stop stressing about problems that are not real and worrying about
things that will probably never happen. “Remember, today is the tomorrow you worried about yesterday,” said Dale Carnegie.
..Stop complaining about how impossible that assignment you’re
working on is, and start getting the work done.
One step at a time is how masterpieces are made.
..Stop saying yes to business opportunities that you really should say no to.
..Stop spending the prime hours of your days engaging in superficial distractions and digital diversions.
..Stop giving anything less than your finest effort in everything you do at your job.
..Stop following the pack and start leading the field.
..Stop scrolling when it’s time to be creating and stop chitchatting when it’s time to be producing.
You have only this life to live. Your happiness, health, greatness, and wealthiness depend on using your days well.
So shift from focusing mostly on the things you need to do into a clearer and more concentrated sense of what you need to strip out of your hours.
Mastery is far more about the pursuit of simplicity than the seduction of complexity.
A meaningful and satisfying
life is sometimes more about what you take out of it than what you put into it.