If you’re anything like us, you’ve got a to-do list a mile long — and it’s getting longer every day. Even as you check items off the top, there are more and more on the bottom. If it’s all getting overwhelming, it might be time to take some of those tasks off of your to-do list and add them to a new list: the don’t-do list.
To-Dos and To-Don’ts
Writing for Harvard Business Review, Alison Rimm described the way she augments the standard to-do list to maximize her task management and get more done. It’s a matter of making not one, not two, but three lists. The first is for important items that don’t have a deadline — things like “buy more socks” or “schedule a vacation.”
The second list is for things that need to be done ASAP, like “email client” or “draft a project budget.” The final list might be the most important one of all: it’s the don’t-do list.
So what goes on your don’t-do list? That all depends. It’s not for things that you shouldn’t do — you’re not going to put something like “Don’t waste time on Facebook” on this list.
Instead, it’s for things that would be tempting to add to one of your to-do lists, but that you just don’t have time for. The don’t-do list is a good place for anything that you can delegate to others, anything that isn’t in line with your larger goals, or anything that just isn’t as important as everything else on your list
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