Stop Chasing Tasks With a Not-To-Do List

The other night, Marcus sat at his desk until midnight, binging news alerts and doomscrolling through social feeds. His coffee grew cold, his muscles cramped, and he still hadn’t written the grant proposal due tomorrow. We’ve all been there—tempted by easy diversions that steal our most valuable hours.

A simple not-to-do list can change that. Rather than adding more tasks, you subtract the worst offenders. “I do not open Twitter before 3pm,” “I do not eat in front of the TV,” or “I do not answer unplanned calls” become your new guardrails.

Behavioral economics shows that reducing choice can help us follow better habits. When you remove paths to distraction, you steer your day toward focus. Marcus put his phone in another room, used a website blocker, and refused any midnight check-ins. Suddenly, the hours returned.

By cutting out the worst pitfalls, you’ll reclaim time and energy for what truly matters. It’s less about discipline than design—rearranging your environment so the wrong turns simply vanish.

Start by tracking your top five distractions over two days, turn each into a not-to-do rule you post where you work, and pair each with two backup tactics to avoid them. Test and adjust weekly. When you banish your worst habits, free time and focus naturally emerge.