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Anti-to-do list

A short written list of behaviors to avoid, kept beside the ordinary to-do list

Three to five things you have decided not to do, each written as "Do not ..." and left in sight every day. It sits beside the ordinary task list and covers the other half of the problem: the reactions, distractions and habits that pull you off course, rather than the jobs to finish. An item stays until the behavior actually changes. Then another one replaces it. The reasoning borrows from inversion, the idea Charlie Munger described as working out where you are going to die so you never go there.

People on record

Sorted by strength of stance

Does it: documented as part of their own routine. Recommends: explicitly advises other people to do it. Discusses: covered it substantively without clear personal adoption; this can include criticism or disagreement.

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    Environment design

    Change the room instead of relying on willpower

    On record from 7 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it, 5 recommend it
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    Time blocking

    Give every hour of the workday a job before the day starts

    On record from 7 of 62 tracked people: 5 do it, 2 recommend it
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    Deep work blocks

    Long, scheduled, distraction-free sessions on one cognitively hard task

    On record from 6 of 62 tracked people: 5 do it, 1 recommends it
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    Deliberate wandering

    Unplanned, inefficient exploration kept on purpose as the counterweight to efficiency

    On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 recommend it
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    Digital declutter

    A 30-day break from optional tech, then reintroduce deliberately

    On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 recommend it
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    Hard thinking before lunch

    Book the mentally demanding work for the morning and stop making big calls late in the day

    On record from 2 of 62 tracked people: 2 do it

Protocol entry · notes paraphrased from cited sources, quoted excerpts copied from the transcript they link to. Not medical advice. Not affiliated with, endorsed by, or reviewed by anyone listed. How this works.