A “Stop-Doing” list is the opposite of a To-do list, which just adds more stuff on your agenda to be accomplished. They’re both useful, one to make sure you’re accomplishing tasks, the other to make sure you and your organization are not filling your schedules with things that are no longer productive, relevant and helpful.
When I started as the CEO of the Rescue Mission I picked up a list of responsibilities and tasks that my predecessor had done, and done successfully. One of the things that was on his agenda was a regular Rescue Mission radio show. This made perfect sense for him, he loved radio, had been and still is a radio talk show host, and has a great voice. Over the years I’d done plenty of radio interviews and had no problem stepping into the role. However, as I began to settle into my job I had to determine what things weren’t a perfect fit for me, and what things weren’t the highest and best use of my time. Eventually the radio show moved to the top of the Stop-Doing list and I backed out of it. It added another few hours a months to my schedule that I filled with things that were better suited to me.
As I’ve helped people go through the process of creating a Stop Doing list, which I written about here, it becomes clear that most people don’t have any background in how to go about creating a list of things that they want or need to stop doing. Short of coming and telling people what to do, which is nearly always a bad idea and should be a last resort for managers, here’s a couple of easy steps to help you figure out what are the high-value targets for a Stop-Doing List.
1. Do a Time Log. Once you start looking at how you really spend your time, you will be able to better determine what tasks and big picture strategies are taking up lots of your time, and you never even realized it. When analyzing your time log, don’t just look at miniature tasks, but look at time chunks that are being used up by tasks that are grouped under one project or another.
2. Know what You’re great at. Often times a Stop-Doing list filled with things that need to be done, but could be done better by someone else. Make a list of those things which you are great at, and those things which you would be better off handing to a teammate.
3. What’s Most important. the most successful people fill their days with tasks that are most central to their core purpose. Everything else is cut out. This makes sense because life is short, and without laser like focus you’ll spend your days living someone else’s dream and doing their bidding in life.
If you make these three lists, sit down with a cup of coffee and think it over, you’ll find some things to add to your Stop Doing list. Then it’s just about sewing up your courage to Stop.
David Curry
