You wake up, either by the alarm or naturally. You lay in bed and decide whether to hit the snooze and get a couple of extra minutes or start your day. And then it happens… you begin to feel the increasing pressure of time.

Your mind starts racing over all the things on your never-ending to-do list.

And maybe questions of doubt start to arise. How will I get it all done today? Am I missing something? How can I best manage my time?
As these questions come, there is one that probably does not. And that is the most important question…

What do I need to stop doing?

It’s a great question. The best question.

Here is my list of top four behaviors to stop doing so you can be more productive externally and acquire peace of mind internally.

1. Don’t read or watch the news first thing in the morning or last thing at night
80% of the news is filled with something that will excite or anger you. The habit of watching the news or reading the paper was essential when information was scarce, now we suffer from information overload and don’t have a proper filter as to what information is helpful or a distraction.

“The news has helped me become more productive, wealthier, and happier.”
-said no one ever

2. Stop taking all meeting requests
Just like our unquenchable thirst for more information can be a bad habit – so is quickly setting up meetings. And we think to ourselves. “We need to meet” “I need to be informed” and the most crippling of all. “If we set up a meeting, it will all get figured out.” And our day is spent jumping from meeting to meeting with no resolution or outcome, just a lot of opened conversation.

3. Don’t check email first thing in the morning or last thing at night
Email is a reactive activity and is teaching our brains to respond and not think proactively. If you consistently prioritize, checking email is not your number one priority for the day. Start with your number one priority and come back to email.

4. Put your phone up
Allow yourself to be bored. To daydream, to think, and to be present. Who does this any more? We have programmed our brains to pull out our phones at any moment of wait or inconvenience. Waiting at a stop light, waiting in line to order food, etc. And this is creating what I call “Self-Inflicted Attention Deficit Disorder” – We are training our brains not to concentrate.

It is easy to think if I’m overwhelmed that I need to get up earlier or stay later and that may be a short term fix, but it is not a long term strategy. By having a not-to-do list allows you to apply “Better Thinking vs. More Effort”.

by Eric Papp

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