I’ve written in the past about making a STOP-DOING List, a list of those things which you have been doing because they seemed like the right thing to do- but now are not longer carrying the same value or punch that they once did. I’m also big on making To-Do lists and goals so that you can be sure of doing first things first and not being carried about by what is urgent but not important.
Today i ran across a document on my iphone from October of 2009 which a STOP-DOING list I made after listening to a inspirational talk from John Pearson at his Management Buckets Seminar. I’d forgotten about this particular list but I was please to see that I had already ’stopped doing’ 4 of the 5 things that were on the list!
When I saw the list all the frustration and anxiety I had about not doing those things came flooding back to me. Yet when I looked at the list I also know that I’ve not missed any of those activities and I’ve got more time to do the truly productive things.
It’s hard to let go of some tasks and activities that you’ve always done, but there is so much power and freedom in focusing on those few things that are REALLY critical to your success and happiness.
(for those staff of the Rescue Mission, please continue to look for tasks, duties, forms, events that we’ve been perpetuating that no longer are connected to our core purpose of LIFE TRANSFORMATION. Feel free to talk through with your director how you can refine your job and focus on the truly important things. We love to add new thing, but we also need to develop the talent of editing as we grow.)
DC
