Just Don't Do It
A surprisingly effective way to reduce anxiety
Many of us suffer unnecessarily from anxiety around our “TODO” list. I say this is unnecessary because truthfully we sign ourselves up for things we don’t want to do, to impress people we don’t like, or achieve things we don’t really want to achieve. Now our existential pursuit of things we don’t really want is a topic for another day. Today I want to focus on how to reduce our TODO list and help our sanity just a wee bit.
To reduce anxiety, tame the TODO list, and take back control of your life—Just Don't Do It. That’s right—simply do not do, the thing that you’ve arbitrarily signed yourself up to do.
Now, admittedly, for things like car payments or mortgages, this might be a poor approach. You should probably do the things you have to do. But this isn’t about things you have to do, it’s the things you tell yourself you should do. For the vast number of self-subscribed events, tasks, and unpleasant encounters we must sadly accept that we alone have signed ourselves up and we alone must either execute, delegate, or cancel these burdens.
Examples of things you can simply not do:
Call the company you think you should call
Attend XYZ’s event for their (baby/wedding/shower/dog’s inauguration)
Do that favor for XYZ (where XYZ is a person you don’t really actually like that much, but you’re just trying to be “a good person”)
Don’t spend 15 minutes calling your granny/”friend”/co-worker for the birthday card they sent you.1
Deciding not simply not do something is actually one of the most productive actions you can make. It actually runs the clock backwards on your TODO list.
Let's look at some examples!
Let’s say you have 3 items on your TODO list that you want to accomplish today:
3 Tasks on TODO List
- 1 Task Complete
= 1 Task Complete / 3 Total Tasks => 33%
You would be 33% complete with your day, assuming your built your TODO list properly.
But what if the 3rd item, is just something that you think you're supposed to do, but don't really need to do? How does that change the math?
3 Tasks on TODO List
- 1 Task Complete
- 1 Task we “Just Don't Do”
= 1 Task Complete / 2 Total Tasks => 50%
You would now be 50% complete with the day!
Just by removing a single task, we increase our day to HALFWAY DONE. Clearly, these are contrived examples and I envy the person who only has 2 things to accomplish for the day to be a net-win, but, the idea is still present, even during days with more complexity and more tasks. In fact, the more packed and busy your day—the more you should attempt to apply this principle.
But what if you simply removed one of the items from your list? Now if you complete a single item, you've accomplished 50% of your TODO list for the day. As long as you're focusing on the right things while planning your day / list—you can be sure this is a real productivity gain.2
Finally, remember that "Just Don't Do It" can take on many forms. For optional things it can literally be just not doing it. However, for important things that don't need to happen now this can also take on the form of delegation or tasks passed off to other people. (Hint: Combine this approach with chores / tasks you dread for a real productivity / happiness knock-out punch!3)
You can also procrastinate. Usually procrastination is viewed as a negative thing, and indeed most of the time it is, but truthfully, if an item is important and not urgent, and your day is already stacked—this is a strategic way to make space for the urgent things that need to be done, while still accommodating things that can't be dropped, ignored, or delegated.
I think there’s a balance to be had here. The real key lies in how valuable the relationship is to you personally, which is something only you can answer. Don’t cut important people out of your life for the sake of time, obviously. Only you can determine how valuable a relationship will be.
If you’re not sure if you’re building the right TODO list for the day, I highly recommend checking out “The One Thing” by Gary Keller.
This is not an original idea—this was popularized by Tim Ferris in “The Four-Hour Workweek”
This requires a certain degree of mindfulness when looking at your task list.
Asking questions like "Why am I doing this?" or "What is the consequence if this doesn't get done today?" are great ways to whittle down your todo list to the most important tasks. Another thing you can do is look at a task and think, "How much of my energy will I need to pour into this to get it done?" or "If I do this, will I have enough energy to get the rest done?"
Finally, you can also apply an approximate time estimate to the task. Certain tasks will take longer to complete than others, even if they are low energy. Yesterday, I spent 4 hours building a bookshelf I ordered (which was both a long time and a pretty high energy, physically intensive task). By going through my tasks and being honest about my estimated time, I was able to accurately time-block my whole day and get the project done.
I would pair a calendar with my task list and make blocks of events where I want to focus on getting one task or a collection of tasks done for the next 7 days.