The To Not Do List

"What you don’t do is just as important to your success as what you do do?” - Steve Jobs

It’s a Monday. I wake up to the buzzing of my alarm, do a quick stretch, rub my eyes awake, and grab a hot cup of coffee. I sit down at my desk, ready to get to work, check my to-do list, and… just like magic, it seems to have multiplied. Oh, the joys of living in the 21st century, where our to-do lists are ever-increasing. Between cleaning and fixing the house, keeping up with social media, going grocery shopping, doing laundry, and checking email, when does it stop? And for those of you who have kids, bless you. I look a little closer at each item, and sure enough, just like a game of whack-a-mole, when one would be checked off, three more seem to have pop back up. So I began wondering how I could fix this problem. Surely, I thought to myself, I couldn't be the only one….

It wasn't until I read Poor Charlie's Almanack by the late and great Charlie Munger that I heard an interesting concept called inversion. A brief aside: For those of you who don't know, Charlie Munger is the right-hand man of Warren Buffett. Buffett has credited much of his investing success to Charlie Munger. Anyway, in his book, he repeats the phrase "Invert. Always invert" when attempting to solve problems. And the light bulb went off in my head. What if, instead of a to-do list, I created a to-not-do list?

It was with much trial and error that my to-not-do list began to appear as an asset rather than a liability. At first, it felt constrictive. But after a couple of weeks, I finally began to see its value. Not only did this list help me make better decisions and avoid repeating mistakes, but most importantly, it kept my to-do list at bay. For the first time in what felt like months, my to-do list was kept to an accomplishable size. I was actually getting everything I had set out to do each day done. And the best part - it felt great. Double underscore. And what was that first entry on my fancy to-not-do list? "Do not put more than three items on the to-do list." Simple, sweet, and very effective. I'm not exactly sure why I chose three, but sticking to that cadence every day has helped me tremendously. Since that first entry, the list has grown, but I refer back to it weekly to remind myself: no more than three items!

So try it out, and let me know what you think. Be it in your business or personal life, I hope this helps you as much as it did me.