Be More Productive By Stopping

The Art of Thriving ran an article recently called "How stopping what you're doing helps you get it done." In it, the author listed out things she was going to stop doing in order to make room for things she wanted to do.

Since so much of productivity is saying yes to the right things, it helps to periodically examine what we say no to.

Here is my "Things I Will Stop Doing" List:

• Stop checking my email more than twice a day. I find myself checking when I am bored, when I am putting something off, or when I am just distracted. It takes way too much of my time
• Stop surfing the web mindlessly. I have plenty of free time; yet I spend so much of it following rabbit trails all over the web.
• Stop using the iPod after bedtime. I'm tired when I get to bed, but then I want to check the weather, perhaps tweet, maybe play a game…and the next thing I know it's two hours later.
• Stop taking the netbook with me to get things done at lunch. Our netbook is light. The keyboard is not big enough. So even though I am "writing" I am more or less fixing typing mistakes instead of creating. I actually get more done with pen and paper.
• Stop playing more than one round of any video game. I've been getting sucked into video games lately, and I blink and a few hours have gone by.
• Stop reading books that suck. I keep telling myself this, but somewhere in my training lurks the belief that if it is published it is good. Not so. Many of the books that are deeply discounted are that way for a reason.
• Stop loading up my Kindle with books. It's easy to get books on the Kindle because you can't see them. But all I'm doing is adding to my already huge list of things to read.
• Stop doing projects I don't care about. Too many times people ask me to do things as part of my volunteer commitments that only tangentially apply to my duties. If I really don't care about the issue, I will turn it back on the asker to take care of.
• Stop going to social events I don't want to. I'm a homebody, but I like socializing with people if they are not boorish. I'm not going to go to any more social events where I know I will be spending time with the boors.
• Stop cutting myself short on sleep. I need sleep. I don't get enough. 'Nuff said.
• Stop complaining about how much I have to do. Complaining only takes up time and blows the amount out of proportion. I will simply chip away at the list and get it done.

Thanks to LJ Earnest / Simple Productivity Blog
http://www.simpleproductivityblog.com/be-more-productive-by-stopping/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Simpleproductivityblog+%28SimpleProductivityBlog.com%29