Overview
The Stop Doing List is a productivity tool that explicitly identifies activities to eliminate or avoid. While to-do lists focus on what to accomplish, stop doing lists focus on what to eliminate, making room for higher-value work.
Core Concept
Time is finite. Adding tasks without removing others leads to:
- Overcommitment
- Stress and burnout
- Reduced quality
- Important work crowded out by urgent trivia
The solution: For every task added, consider what to remove.
How to Create
1. Track Current Activities
- Log everything you do for 1-2 weeks
- Note time spent on each activity
- Include meetings, emails, administrative tasks
2. Evaluate Each Activity
Ask for each:
- Does this align with my goals?
- Am I uniquely suited to do this?
- Could someone else do this?
- What happens if I stop doing this?
- Is this urgent or just habitual?
3. Categorize
- Stop Completely: Low value, no consequences
- Delegate: Valuable but others can do
- Reduce Frequency: Monthly instead of weekly
- Batch: Do less often but in larger chunks
- Automate: One-time setup, ongoing savings
4. Document Your List
Write down:
- What you're stopping
- Why you're stopping it
- What you'll do instead
Common Stop Doing Items
Meetings
- Recurring meetings with unclear purpose
- Meetings where you're not needed
- Status meetings that could be emails
- Meetings without agendas
Communication
- Immediate response to every email
- Participating in every Slack thread
- CC'ing everyone "just in case"
- Checking email first thing morning
Administrative
- Manually creating repetitive documents
- Tracking things that don't matter
- Reporting metrics nobody uses
- Perfecting documents before sharing
Professional
- Projects misaligned with strategy
- Networking events with no clear purpose
- Committees providing little value
- "Staying on top of" things tangential to your role
Personal
- Social media scrolling
- News consumption beyond minimal awareness
- Saying yes to social obligations out of guilt
- Volunteer commitments that no longer resonate
Implementation
Start Small
- Pick 1-3 items to stop
- Test for a month
- Observe consequences (usually minimal)
- Add more items
Communicate
- Tell stakeholders what you're stopping
- Explain why
- Suggest alternatives
- Be firm but kind
Review Regularly
- Monthly review of stop doing list
- Add new items as they emerge
- Ensure you're actually stopping
- Resist tendency to resume
Benefits
- More time for important work
- Reduced stress from overcommitment
- Better focus on priorities
- Clearer boundaries
- Strategic clarity about what matters
Essentialism Connection
From Greg McKeown's "Essentialism":
- Do less, but better
- Eliminate the non-essential
- Create space for what matters
- "If it isn't a clear yes, it's a clear no"
Common Obstacles
FOMO (Fear of Missing Out)
- What if something important happens?
- Reality: Important things surface
Guilt
- People are counting on me
- Reality: Others adapt; new solutions emerge
Identity
- This is part of who I am
- Reality: You're not your activities
Comfort
- I've always done this
- Reality: Habits aren't justifications
Questions to Ask
- If I wasn't already doing this, would I start today?
- What's the opportunity cost of continuing?
- Am I doing this from habit or intent?
- What would happen if I stopped?
- Is this the best use of my time?
- Could I spend this time on something with 10x impact?
Examples
Personal:
- Stop checking news more than once daily
- Stop attending networking events with no clear goal
- Stop working past 6pm on weekdays
Professional:
- Stop attending weekly status meetings (get async updates)
- Stop manually creating the same report (automate)
- Stop participating in projects outside core focus
Team:
- Stop holding meetings without clear outcomes
- Stop requesting reports nobody reads
- Stop CC'ing entire team on everything
