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How to Write a Not-To-Do List
You already have a list of what to do. The list that often helps more is the one showing what to stop — the recurring habits, commitments and defaults that quietly cost you time and focus every week.
17 July 2026 · 4 min read
Tim Ferriss popularised the not-to-do list and the idea behind it is simple: most people know roughly what they should be doing. The harder problem is stopping the things they should not be doing, because those things are usually habitual, familiar and comfortable.
Adding more to your to-do list is straightforward. Removing things from your default behaviour is something else. A not-to-do list makes those removals explicit rather than leaving them as vague intentions.
What belongs on it
Not constraints or aspirations. Specific recurring behaviours that cost you more than they return. The most common candidates:
Checking email first thing in the morning. Starting the day reactive hands your attention to other people's priorities before you have had the chance to engage with your own. If this is a default, it belongs on the list.
Attending meetings without a clear reason to be there. Most people have at least one recurring meeting they contribute almost nothing to. It is easier to keep going than to ask whether your presence is actually needed. The not-to-do list is where you decide in advance to start asking.
Saying yes before thinking. If someone asks you for something and your default is to agree before you have considered the cost to your week, that default belongs on the list. Not as a rule to say no more, but as a reminder to pause first.
Checking social media or news during focused work windows. The specific platforms are less important than the pattern. If there are contexts in which you consistently drift to certain apps, name those contexts explicitly.
Why a list works better than intentions
Saying you want to stop doing something is not the same as deciding in advance that you will not do it. The decision made in advance, calmly, when you have perspective, is much more reliable than a decision made in the moment when the habit is triggering.
The list externalises the commitment. Instead of relying on remembering how you felt about something last Tuesday, you have a written record of the decision. That matters because the pull of familiar behaviour is strongest when you are tired, stressed or in the middle of something else.
A weekly version alongside the permanent one
A permanent not-to-do list covers recurring patterns that apply most of the time. A weekly version is different. It responds to what you know about this specific week: the conversation that tends to pull you off course, the person whose demands expand to fill whatever time you give them, the urge to over-prepare for a meeting that does not require it.
The weekly reset is a natural place to write this. As part of the environment audit, you are already asking what conversations to avoid and what to remove. A not-to-do list is just a more direct version of that question.
Keep it short
Three to five items on the permanent list is enough to start. A long list becomes noise. The point is not to cover every possible thing you should not do. It is to name the specific things that are currently costing you the most, and make a clear decision about them.
Review it every quarter. Some things will have changed. Some will be habits you genuinely broke. Others will still be there because the pull is real. That persistence is information worth noticing.
Common questions
What goes on a not-to-do list?
Recurring behaviours and defaults that cost you time, focus or energy without delivering enough value. Checking email first thing. Attending meetings that do not need you. Saying yes before thinking. The specific list is personal.
How is this different from just saying no to things?
Saying no in the moment requires a decision each time. A not-to-do list makes the decision in advance. When the situation arises, you already know where you stand. Pre-commitment is more reliable than in-the-moment willpower.
How often should I update it?
Quarterly for permanent items. A short weekly version alongside it responds to what you know about this specific week. The Friday review is a good place to spot candidates for both.
Decide what not to do before the week begins
The environment audit in Weekly Reset asks exactly this question every Sunday. Fifteen minutes. Free forever.
Related: How to stop saying yes to everything · How to set boundaries at work · How to manage your energy