I think I should have written this list long ago! What I have done for years, ever since working downtown, was say to myself ‘do-less’ whenever I would start to feel overwhelmed. I find that sometimes it is just a matter of letting myself not do one or two things that are not in line with what I’m trying to achieve, and all of a sudden I have enough time. It’s amazing how certain things can eat up time and not really add any value. Like TV! I stopped watching TV in 2006 because it was so addictive for me. Another cool concept I came across which Tim Ferriss mentioned, is called Via Negativa – improving by removing. The idea is, instead of concentrating on what you do, you look at what you don’t do. This model helps to stop bad habits, like my TV at night, and remove situations that don’t add any value in the first place. This approach has another potential benefit; usually we try to take up a good habit, but the problem is when we fail, we feel defeated and stop trying. Now I’m not knocking making positive changes but, like they talk about on the Art of Manliness blog, sometimes the most powerful change can happen when you stop doing something that is holding you back from achieving a goal. Tim has a really great post on what he puts on his Not-to-do List. I’m up for doing-less! Here is the link to Tim’s blog article and there is also more you can read about on Via Negativa
The Not-to-Do List and the art of Improving by Removing
