“Not-to-do” lists are often more effective than to-do lists for upgrading performance.
The reason is simple: what you don’t do determines what you can do.
Here are nine stressful and common habits that entrepreneurs and office workers should strive to eliminate. The bullets are followed by more detailed descriptions. Focus on one or two at a time, just as you would with high-priority to-do items. I’ve worded them in no-to-do action form:
1. Do not answer calls from unrecognized phone numbers
Feel free to surprise others, but don’t be surprised. It just results in unwanted interruption and poor negotiating position. Let it go to voicemail, and consider using a service like GrandCentral (you can listen to people leaving voicemail) or Simulscribe (receive voicemails as e-mail).
2. Do not e-mail first thing in the morning or last thing at night
The former scrambles your priorities and plans for the day, and the latter just gives you insomnia. E-mail can wait until 10am, after you’ve completed at least one of your critical to-do items…
3. Do not agree to meetings or calls with no clear agenda or end time
If the desired outcome is defined clearly with a stated objective and agenda listing topics/questions to cover, no meeting or call should last more than 30 minutes. Request them in advance so you “can best prepare and make good use of the time together.”
4. Do not let people ramble
Forget “how’s it going?” when someone calls you. Stick with “what’s up?” or “I’m in the middle of getting something out, but what’s going on?” A big part of GTD is GTP — Getting To the Point.
5. Do not check e-mail constantly — “batch” and check at set times only
I belabor this point enough. Get off the cocaine pellet dispenser and focus on execution of your top to-do’s instead of responding to manufactured emergencies. Set up a strategic autoresponder and check twice or thrice daily.
6. Do not over-communicate with low-profit, high-maintenance customers
There is no sure path to success, but the surest path to failure is trying to please everyone. Do an 80/20 analysis of your customer base in two ways–which 20% are producing 80%+ of my profit, and which 20% are consuming 80%+ of my time? Then put the loudest and least productive on autopilot by citing a change in company policies. Send them an e-mail with new rules as bullet points: number of permissible phone calls, e-mail response time, minimum orders, etc. Offer to point them to another provider if they can’t conform to the new policies.
7. Do not work more to fix overwhelm — prioritize
If you don’t prioritize, everything seems urgent and important. If you define the single most important task for each day, almost nothing seems urgent or important. Oftentimes, it’s just a matter of letting little bad things happen (return a phone call late and apologize, pay a small late fee, lose an unreasonable customer, etc.) to get the big important things done. The answer to overwhelm is not spinning more plates — or doing more — it’s defining the few things that can really fundamentally change your business and life.
8. Do not carry a cellphone or Crackberry 24/7
Take at least one day off of digital leashes per week. Turn them off or, better still, leave them in the garage or in the car. I do this on at least Saturday, and I recommend you leave the phone at home if you go out for dinner. So what if you return a phone call an hour later or the next morning? As one reader put it to a miffed co-worker who worked 24/7 and expected the same: “I’m not the president of the US. No one should need me at 8pm at night. OK, you didn’t get a hold of me. But what bad happened?” The answer? Nothing.
9. Do not expect work to fill a void that non-work relationships and activities should
Work is not all of life. Your co-workers shouldn’t be your only friends. Schedule life and defend it just as you would an important business meeting. Never tell yourself “I’ll just get it done this weekend.” Review Parkinson’s Law in The 4-Hour Workweek and force yourself to cram within tight hours so your per-hour productivity doesn’t fall through the floor. Focus, get the critical few done, and get out. E-mailing all weekend is no way to spend the little time you have on this planet.
It’s hip to focus on getting things done, but it’s only possible once we remove the constant static and distraction. If you have trouble deciding what to do, just focus on not doing. Different means, same end.
What other no-no’s would you add to the list?
The Tim Ferriss Show is one of the most popular podcasts in the world with more than 900 million downloads. It has been selected for "Best of Apple Podcasts" three times, it is often the #1 interview podcast across all of Apple Podcasts, and it's been ranked #1 out of 400,000+ podcasts on many occasions. To listen to any of the past episodes for free, check out this page.
Such great content and an excellent reminder. Thank you for putting time into this so it will have us all a ton later.
Pretend to be a multi-millionaire for a couple days and see how much you’d really delegate and then use Tims’s 4HWW to do so!
Template every thing you can. Any email you have to send more than twice with the same response create a template.
Use a program like A-Text to create canned responses or added lines that are assigned to hot keys.
Automate social media postings with things like Buffer. All my posts are queued a week to two weeks in advance. I supplement as relevant but the key marketing and PR and event type postings are scheduled.
Digitize everything so that no matter where you are in the world you have access to it. I digitized my signature so that I can just drop it in a form. No more scanning, signing, re-scanning mess and no use of paper!
Just a few of the things I have done to make things more efficient in my work life.
scott
Excellent post, Tim. I’m only discovering it in 2016, but it’s still relevant and awesome!
Love this concept of the Not-To-Do List. I am so guilty of thinking I have to be there 24/7 for everyone and so frustrated with not accomplishing the work I know should be my top priority. Will be checking into the email auto response for sure. Thank you!!
Amazing how much has changed in 7 years. Reading words like cell phone and crackberry takes me back to the good old days..
WELL! Sounds like a cliff notes version of your book “The 4 hour work week”!….😉
I would definitely add “Don’t do it yourself if someone else can be tasked with it.” Delegation is a critical skill for success and it is learned in small steps.
Thank you for another jewel of information Tim. I am presently studying much of the information you are providing and hope to some day be able to contribute. (Please note I did meditate, did a brief work out, and nourished my self this morning before turning on this computer). 🙂
There is some serious wisdom here.
Everything is negotiable even timelines. When someone proposes a deadline thsts all it is a proposal. I learned to counter with a more realistic timeline and if I’m not going to hit they I call/email and let them know if it’s slipped and when I will be hitting it (still a negotiation). I found I was running just to run and when I hit impossible deadlines …nobody cares. So I started making sure they weren’t arbitrary deadlines and it’s made me less stressed.
I don’t particularly agree with number 4. It makes you unapproachable. There is nothing wrong with 30 seconds or a minute of ‘how are you doing’ to ‘bond’ and set the tone for the call so that the person you are talking to is left with a good feeling. It could help you down the road.
Stop living in the past, don’t be anxious about things that haven’t happened (yet, if at all ever will). Focus on the now with your goals in mind.
Mindfulness is underrated.
I used to re-read your post several times a year Tim, but then I finally downloaded to have at the ready.
Incredible thanks for sharing your insight.
Carl Kruse
one thing I don’t do is continually put the little stuff off. A person can decide not to do something so many times they could have done it in the time they took to put it off. Once every few weeks I put my whole desk in one stack a complete each thing when I get to it w/o making judgement.
This is amazing advice. TYVM for posting this. I would add: “Don’t keep a messy desk. Keep it neat & organized and you’ll save time trying to find things. It will also lessen your stress to not be surrounded by clutter.” This is one that soo works for me.
I’d like to add one more “do not” – Do Not give up. Life can bring so many hurdles into the way be it from family, friends or even work itself. However, if what you are doing is really that important to either you or the cause at hand then do not give up. Stay focused. Maintain your mission. You will succeed. Failure only happens when you fail to keep moving forward.
Grabbing my Tools of Titans tonight!
Reminds of a beautiful quote from the book I Am That: “to work in the world is hard, and to refrain from all unnecessary work is even harder.” Sounds like your kind of mentality.
“Schedule life and defend it just as you would an important business meeting.” Yes.
I would add this to the list: Do not allow yourself to become utterly distracted or pulled off course by a relationship that is in frequent desperate need of repair. It can be gut-wrenching when things get really rocky with someone you dreamed of sharing life with, for example. But tons of time and energy spent working on a relationship means tons of time and energy not spent working toward all your other dreams. Tough.
Unknown callers often have a name and money. I’d call them potential new customers. I get the gist, but would argue that voicemail is for job owners. Business owners want their company phones answered. By a human. That speaks English (or whatever the expected language is), is nice and can help the caller solve the problem they called you to solve. People like to talk to humans, that is why they called, right?
Hey Tim, it would be very much appreciated if you could update the services and links in this post. Many are dead links 🙁 I know you don’t need to worry about SEO anymore since you have made it, and 10 years ago you were probably still “faking it” LOL.
Love you!
Hey Tim!!
I am grateful As always for the great information.At times I do struggle with prioritization.
Thanks!!
There are so many people who get energetically enslaved and distracted by what they feel is an obligation or responsibility they have to follow through on when really its just a life distraction and energy robber. There is the cultural fear of not being on-top of things, not being the best, not being in”the know”….when really knowledge, true understanding, and clarity come from silence and inward reflection.
Really great article [Moderator: website removed.]
Do not take your phone into a meeting. It can distract you and others in the meeting. Too often I’m in a team meeting and somebody is gazing down at their mobile. It can wait, even if it’s work related email. Give the meeting your undivided attention.
Tim – always a good read. I personally struggle spending major time – on minor things (great Jim Rohn quote) Especially with people. Letting people ramble and ramble and me, not being able to politely move them along.
I would add that if you found this on facebook youre spending to muchtime on facebook follow the email rule with facebook and i wiuld also add commenting on random lists you found on facebook as 2 minutes of your time better spent elsewhere
Don’t put pineapple on pizza. It’s an abomination.
Thank you Tim for sharing!
I wish the cell phone thing was on EVERYONE”S not to do list. My fiance and I find it sad when we go to a restaurant and other people spend an entire meal on their phones. Really? You can’t spend a few minutes communicating with the person you are with?
I love these, except I can’t imagine not having my cell for a whole day… 😛
Don’t carry your cell phone everywhere. Agree 100%. It feels great to leave it at home.
I grew up without a cell phone. Why do I “need” one now. I don’t, really.
I get so many strange looks from people when I tell them I don’t have my phone with me.
I do enjoy the camera on it though. I’m thinking about using airplane mode more.
love this article. It’s easier when focus in what’s not to do. I just use procrastination I used have when it’s come to what to do to apply to what’s not to do. It’s fun.
I’ve eliminated e-mail from my phone so that I only check it on the computer when I can respond with proper vocabulary/punctuation/personality and it saves me thinking about e-mails without time to properly respond
Set a time (and timer) for social media. It’s like the Bermuda Triangle – you think you’re just going to fly by and it sucks you in!
I read this years ago and started following it. Best thing I ever did was to fire several PITA customers.
So much goodness here Tim. Items 5-10 for me are life changers.
AND no. 10, stop drinking liquids laced with ethanol.
A bad habit in advance warning. Just because marijuana is increasingly more legal, does not mean you can still perform at your best no matter how creative you think it makes you. Discipline in advance please. Work maybe play at its best, but not all play belongs at work! ATG
2007 written and still truth! 😀 Good job Tim.
I would love to hear how these tips might be modified for a service entrepreneur. I’m in IT support. Clients email and phone at all times of the day (and sometimes night, too), and limiting my email to certain hours of the day means I make someone angry because I didn’t answer quickly enough. I just bought ToT, so I’m hoping some tips are in there, but anyone else is welcome to comment.
#7 pal, #7.
I would recommend something that I have heard on a few of your podcasts, which is: Don’t try to do EVERYTHING yourself. Let go a little and delegate wherever possible. Hire people as soon as you can afford to and have them deal with some of these time consuming calls and emails, so that you can focus your time and energy where it is most useful for the business.
Sadly, we do have to provide 24/7 customer support, so am never without the phone. Hopefully soon we’ll have the budget to hire a call center.
Do not work (effort) more than your paycheck is.
I actually implemented all of these suggestions and the result is great. I do not answer emails until 11 am. I batch all of my phone and email activities twice a day. No one has been upset about it. My clients do not call me after 6 pm anymore because I don’t answer. This is ground breaking for me because I used to go to the bathroom with my phone. I was afraid that I will lose business. It didn’t happen and clients learned to respect my time.
I would add, take a defined breather every day. It’s ok to work your butt off, but stepping away for a 15 minute clip to take a walk or remove yourself from the workspace only helps to clear the mind and refocus. One or two a day does the trick!!
Great tips.
Putting them on an ink board in my home office across from desk as a daily reminder.
Thanks!
10. Spend time watching or listening to any of the news media. I blocked it off all of my devices and it feels great. The key though is all sources must go. If someone, including family or friends post a news story or “current event” I block them. In my life I have not learned a single valuable lesson from news or gossip. If I am interested in something I will find it.
AWESOME!
Great list! Here’s another one- do not let your thoughts get stuck in the groove called: the unresolved issues of your life- e.g. betrayals, abandonment, outcome of the most recent presidential election, negative self-talk. Maintain brief morning, midday, afternoon and evening routines that include meditation, intention-setting and affirmations. Build a tool box of effective strategies to redirect the thoughts when they do creep up: one-line affirmations, changing what you are doing, reaching out to someone else to see how they are doing- and keep venting to a minimum! Grieving of deep loss aside, guard your heart and mind with all your might.
Wow – Tim, you used ot be at the forefront of thinking – but this is so…..meh – who uses email?
Don’t watch sport. Especially not on TV. Simple. Hours of meaningless and banal conversation avoided. : )
Limit social media use just like email!
Things have changed. All the not to do lists are not applicable now and there are a lot to add on the list.
Avoid multi-tasking like it’s the coronavirus.
Hey Tim,
Its so great reading what you think and gives an altogether different perspective.
Love your views and your books and videos
All the stuff out there is damn cool and inspiring
Thank you for doing what you are doing
Social media! That includes the professional and personal social media! Don’t be checking that every “ding”. In fact stop that notification for good 😀
A lovely post and agree with all !! I am going to add two of my own -“Do not say “YES” to everything. Learn to prioritise on the items that need you to focus. Learn to separate the wheat from the chaff.” The other one – “Do not be delayed / late for any of your task. Respect other people’s time”
I just subscribed to the “5-bullet Friday” newsletter, which recommended reading this as a top post. Although I think this list could be good, since it was written before the first iPhone came out, it makes me doubt its current relevance. There is a reference to blackberrys and, the two links for grandCentral and Simulscribe are both broken, further leading me to think that the content here is outdated. Overall, the general ideas seem good, but it would be nice to have the list updated.
I like it. Good job.
I work with very few selected clients and spend time with them to understand their business pain area’s and we both are getting good results. I am available to them in their needs. But to focus on high paying clients is injustice to other clients as well.
I am thinking about completely deleting my inbox email after I get my cancer tube out… You think thats a good idea 🤔
I learned the last lesson here more recently than the others. When I read it some years ago, I couldn’t really picture this trouble. But then a bunch of stuff went wrong in my personal life, and I threw myself into my work, which is creative, artistic work. Throwing years of cultivating a roll up your sleeves and get the thing done attitude towards creative projects away, I turned to to the comforting idea that this creative, artistic work was going to save me from the personal troubles, because it was loftier and somehow more sacred than any other kind of work, This error — in addition to being a fairly arrogant way to regard all other forms of work! — led me to burnout, disillusionment, boredom, isolation and the ultimate need to take stock of a wider swath of life: friends, family, leisure, rest, introspection. It has also led me to understand all the tremendously unhealthy non-boundaries many people in creative fields have with their collaborators (a fancier, loftier word for “co-workers”). Because creative work can sometimes be a form of intimacy as compelling as a love affair, we should actually be more careful, not less, about the way we interact in our work. It’s marvelous fun to read about crazed bohemians living in mad group marriages while gleefully and often wonderful “misuses” of everything from paint to streets to clay to buildings, but balance is important, too.Read farther, and you will often find burn-out, disillusionment, depression and loss at the ends of some of these adventures, where the revolutionary creative act was confused with “revolutionary” personal relations. Well! I hope my musings are helpful. Thank you for your fantastic books, interviews, articles and experiments, Tim!
Absolutely loved it. This was my first newsletter read and boy was it worth it! I’ve been reading the Four hour workweek and that led me to the podcast which led me here. I haven’t started much yet since it’s only been a couple of days. But you hit it off the park when you said it’s more important to know what not to do than what to do! Here’s waiting for the next one!
Simple, straight and solid… thanks.
Jeffery Ian Smith, (Moderator: title removed)
In New Zealand we have a motto for earthquakes which is Fix Fasten and Forget so when something goes wrong Fix it if you can, Fasten by putting in the prevention and Forget if you have done what you can then stop thinking about it stop chewing it over and move on.
Porn, sugar, smoking pot, staying in bed after waking up. I wonder if you could create a hierarchy of advice for people at different stages. For those of us just starting out (or trying to), even taking into account in cases in which people have no resources (I know it’s about resourcefulness). It would be useful to have Mutual Encouragement Groups locally. I might start one, who knows. Just turning my gut health around and starting to feel alive again. Thanks for the phenomenal work.
I am a startup doing contract work for 12-18 months. Lame!! 🤣😍 Crunched numbers. I need to do 7000% productivity to only work 2 hours a week as a writer. Any ideas?
Omg! This is so awesome. Loved your post.
I find number #1 hard to do. I figure, if it’s important enough they will leave a voicemail, but occasionally I do pick up and I’m glad I did, otherwise I might have missed some business.
“Do not e-mail first thing in the morning or last thing at night”, this is me =( i will not do that againe, thank you =)
Sara Calzedonia
[Moderator: title and link removed.]
Awesome blogg you have here
The number of mental health problems surfaced by asking – how is it going? will keep that on my to do list.
I wonder how this post would be updated for 2023. I feel like Tim’s demeanor has changed so much over the years and this list really reflects (what I percieve) to be a more cut-throat/ less nuanced take.
This list is great. I notice this post is from 2007. Some principles, of course, remain consistent over time, but I was wondering if there is an updated version of this list based on your learnings in the past 16 years.
Do not do something for someone they are capable of doing and for which they are responsible. Take that monkey off Your back!
Couldn’t help myself…. mine would be: don’t make excuses to not work out or try to eat healthy only to tell people “I don’t have time to get healthy”. It’s just untrue, and annoying for people who juggle kids, work, hobbies, yet still find time to prioritize their health. No one with a non-fitness oriented career and kids works out 2 hours a day (unless you’re Arnold) but even 20 minutes of activity a day can have a huge impact on your health long-term. 4 hour body is a great book for regular hardworking people- worth a read!
Cell phones don’t join you at meal times. Ever. Especially if you have children.
No social media when you wake up!
Great advice! Thank you for sharing them, Tim!
-Creating lists of contacts/companies to reach out to (use Upwork instead)
-Copywriting for marketing purposes (ChatGPT, yes, use a machine to do it faster and often better than a person)
-Coming up with gift ideas (ChatGPT)
-Scheduling calls without any back-and-forth messages (All calls scheduled through calendly.com with my fixed availability for calls each month)
-Recording podcasts asynchronously (Try Rumble.studio and record podcast interviews without the podcaster and interviewee speaking together)
-Editing podcasts (use Upwork instead)
-Proofreading or editing my own book (Upwork)
-Technical tasks (Upwork that are not worth my time and effort to do myself)
-Creative tasks (Fiverr and not pretend I am a designer)
-Shop at many different brick-and-mortar stores for the same product (this is what Amazon or Google Shopping is for… to stop wasting your time).
-Buying wet and dry food for my pets (Petco.com repeat delivery every three months solves this too)
You are awesome.
I am reading and watching all of your work
Seth Godin’ s work
And Derek Sivers top 3 favorites right now