The key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule but to schedule your priorities
-stephen covey
Tell me if this sounds familiar, you're on a diet and it's going really well. you are eating healthy and maybe even working out some. You take a carefully planned list to the grocery store to buy all the food that you'll need for the week while you're there you pick up bananas
different items for salads and some lean meat for proteins.
Out of habit you go down the aisle with your favorite chips or cookies. those irresistible ones that you know that you shouldn't buy. You think to yourself, “ i've been good, “ i'll ration them out and only have a few a week”.
Unfortunately that's not how it goes, you get home and before you have even unpacked all of the other groceries you've dove into the treat. Before you sit down for your next meal that treat is gone and you don't feel like eating the healthy foods that you purchased.
When you go to the store with a list of items to get, maybe you should have added a section for items not to get. If you go to the store with a to buy list and a not to buy list, you can mentally prepare yourself to overcome the temptation that you know you'll find there.
The idea of a not to do list has a ton of other applications. work for example, you have three things to do on your to-do list for a given day at work. These are the several items that you know that will get you the results that you want, but they are also probably the hardest and most demanding things to do.
our brains are very good at avoiding these harder items, in favor of what most of us would refer to as busy work. Checking email, research ,updating your calendar, and checking on sales figures or analytics for last week. All just busy work.
What if you went to work with a to-do list and a not to-do list, if you find yourself wanting to check email, update your calendar, or something else that is not included on your to-do list you can add it on your not to-do list and direct your focus back to where it should be.
Maybe even change the names of the list to something you like, list alpha and list beta. List priority and if i have time whatever works for you. I like applying this system to my goals as well.
Let's say that my goal is to lose 50 pounds. I make a list of all the things that I want to do to help myself reach this goal. I wrote down things like walk 10 000 steps each day work out three times a week, drink 96 ounces of water and eat fruits. Sounds great right ?
Most people set a goal and it lasts for a few weeks maybe even a month. If i am like most people then a few weeks into my goal i'll start to slip. instead of walking ten thousand steps one night, i stay home and watch Netflix instead of drinking water. One day I decide to drink juice, soda, and maybe even a beer. All of a sudden a few months have passed and i haven't lost any weight and my goal of losing 50 pounds is further away.
Than when i started what if along with my list of things to do to help me reach my goal. I had a list of things not to do things that would derail my efforts on that list i could put things like no tv until step goal is reached.
Remember, the key is not to prioritize what's on your schedule or journal but to schedule your priorities. While the not to do list may sound like more work or even a little silly, it is another tool that you can try out. It may work great for you while setting and attaining goals. Experiment with it to find out how to use it to better your life.
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