How a TO STOP list can improve your creativity

Do you have a TO DO list? I am sure you do. 

I generally have two. One for work, one for family/private things.  Sometimes I have one per important project I am working on.

We live in a multitasking work and our lists tends to get very long and often contain all sorts of things, big and small, ranging from ‘call the dentist/mom/best friend’ to ‘create a website’.

So having a TO DO List is a good thing to focus on what you need.

But do you have a TO STOP List?

Why do you need a TO STOP list?

In order to do the important things on your TO DO list, you need to create time and space.

Before you focus on what you need to do, you must create a clearing by identifying what you will no longer do.

A TO STOP list does exactly that: it tells you what is taking up too much time, what drains your energy and what you need to get rid of in order to focus on essential activities.

Such a list aligns you with what matters most.

A TO STOP list teaches you the Art of Sacrifice. Your success is closely tied to how well you focus your attention. And that means sacrificing a few activities or even whole projects.
It means not signing up for yet another e-course on how to improve your blog (which I just did yesterday!
It means not saying yes to volunteer at your kid’s school.
It means setting up a few rules for what you are going to stop doing.

How to make a TO STOP list?

• Think about activities and tasks that:
  • drain your energy
  • waste your time (time you could spend to work on your dream!)
  • are no fun 
  • you do out of guilt or because you cannot say no
  • lead to nothing really productive or stimulating.
• Now look at those activities:
  • which ones can you outsource, delegate?
  • how much time would that save?
  • how much money would that cost?
• Make a list that looks like this:

TO STOP	Delegate/Outsource	Time saved	Cost
Signing up for new e-courses	not necessary	6 weeks of article writing for daily prompts I feel obliged to honour	0

Interactive Whiteboards by PolyVision

• Re-focus your TO DO List:
  Once you have freed up all this new time, go back to your TO DO list and look at the activities on there. Are there some that actually need to go on your TO STOP list?
• Bottom line(s):
  • you are more focused
  • you have more time (and fun!)
  • you can dedicate all your attention on doin your genius work
  • you will be much more creative!

So,… what are you putting on your TO STOP list today?