What Not to Do If You Want to Be Productive
Productivity can be about getting things done, but it turns out that not doing things is just as important.
In her blog, Jocelyn C. Gley talks about the importance of “a checklist to stop”. In this age of multitasking, it’s easy to focus on all the things you have to do and forget about the things to which you have to say no. The “checklist to stop doing” is likely slightly different, but here are some of my favorite tips from Gley:
- I don’t listen to music or radio that has words.
- I don’t find emails from strangers urgent. (I love, I love, I love this.)
- I don’t answer phone calls or text messages in the morning.
There are more obvious problems, like avoiding social media until noon, but the key to making a good list of what not to do is to focus on the little things. In the words of Gley: “You want to weed out all the little things that hinder your productivity. Then, when you make your to-do list, try to focus as much as possible on the big picture – the long-term goals and projects that really matter to you. ”
Productivity Is Really What You Don’t Do | Jocelyn K. Gley
Photo by Courtney Dirks.