This week’s Quick List* is a companion piece to our Quote of the Week: Stop the Busy-ness and it’s a list you get to make: Things to STOP doing in an effort to STOP the Busy-ness. Or we can call it a NOT To Do List.
You may be thinking to yourself…if I knew what to stop doing to stop the busy-ness, why wouldn’t I just do it?
Why do I need to make a list?
One answer is that most of us runrunrun from to do to to do. And don’t stop to think and question and remember lessons. Or not enough anyway.
So here’s a question for you…based on your desired outcomes what can you STOP doing?
- Are meetings productive? Are they helping you and your team achieve desired outcomes? What would happen if you stopped attending? If you are the leader, what would happen if you stopped having them?
- What about reports? Are they being read? If not, is there any benefit to the writer?
- What about all the forms you fill out? Are they needed? Are they purposeful?
- What about work style? Do you have a “helpful” habit of taking on other people’s work?
- Whatever it is you are doing…why are you doing it? How is it helping you achieved your desired outcome(s)?
These are good questions to ask your team too. In fact, a fun way to start the discussion would be to show this quick video: Too much to do. Then share this snippet from the Management Toolbox* website: “20% of our work time is lost doing unnecessary things“*.
Look for unnecessary work…duplicate work…work that isn’t contributing to your goals and desired outcomes.
What can you move from your TO DO list to your NOT TO DO or STOP DOING list?
It will be great for morale and productivity; health and sanity. Theirs and yours.
See examples and handy form below. Come up with 10 if you can. Even more would be great.
By the way, this may seem like a repeat of last week’s 10 Things to Leave Undone and actually there usually is some overlap. But here’s the difference.
Your Things To Leave Undone list would include things you planned to do or thought about doing or came close to doing. So for at least a little while, they were on your To Do List, competing with other things you wanted or needed to do. Taking up energy. And they might be on your To Do List in the future because you would like to do them if conditions allow.
Your STOP Doing or NOT TO DO list – would include things you’ve done before or thought about doing or come close to doing and have made a conscious decision NOT to do them anymore. Writing them on the STOP Doing or NOT TO DO list serves as a reminder not to get sucked in again.
Here are some ideas from our Undone Heroes:
In #1 – Sally was correcting paperwork turned in by sales reps. She decided they would never learn if she kept doing this so she left it undone so that they could do it. It saved her an hour per day. She put it on her STOP DOING list as a reminder to stop doing it forever.
In #3 – John’s decision to not attend the committee meeting raised his awareness about the committee’s lack of accomplishments and he decided to resign from the committee. It saved him 6-8 hours per month. He also decided to stop joining committees if there wasn’t a measurable desired outcome. He put it on his STOP DOING list as a reminder.
In #6 – Christy was pleased with her decision to pick up the phone and call Chris instead of responding to his nasty e-mail. In the past she had spent hours writing, re-writing, worrying about such e-mails. Her phone conversation with Chris had only taken about 10 minutes and they were both laughing by the end of the conversation. Responding to angry e-mails via e-mail was a great things to add to her STOP DOING list.
In #7 – Mary liked making cupcakes so she didn’t add this to her STOP DOING list but she did put the bakery’s phone number in her contact list for emergency situations.
Do those examples trigger any ideas?
Think about all areas of life.
Whatever it is that you are doing this week…why are you doing it?
Related Articles:
* This weekly feature is for managers who don’t have time or don’t want to make time to read lengthy articles or even short paragraphs. We call it a Quick List. AKA – 10 by 10 on Tuesday. 10 ( ideas or tips or questions or steps or ways to Get 2 Goal or Be a Better Manager, etc) by 10 (AM – EST) on Tuesdays. Click here if you’d like to see all Quick Lists created to date.
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