Your To-Don’t List

It feels great to cross off all of the completed tasks on your to-do list as you complete them. It feels so good, in fact, that some people actually write the list after they have already completed the tasks just so they can scratch it off of their list. Your to-do list is a powerful tool for keeping you focused on the outcomes that you need to produce.

But with all of your going and doing, it’s easy to forget what you don’t want to do.

Writing Your To-Don’t List

What are some of the things that you do that no longer serve you? What are the things that you find yourself doing, even though they are taking away from your ability to produce the real outcomes that you want? What do you do now that, if you stopped doing it, would allow you to get done what you really want to get done?

A Few Ideas for Your To-Don’t List

I don’t know what would be on your to-don’t list. But a big part of being effective is deciding what you are not going to do. Your to-don’t list can house some powerful ideas that create a higher standard for the activities that you take (very much like understanding the difference between goals and disciplines. To-don’ts are disciplines and disciplines are powerful in producing great outcomes).

Here are 15 to-don’ts to get you started:

Don’t hit the snooze button.

Don’t choose one single method for prospecting.

Don’t avoid cold calling.

Don’t stop learning.

Don’t entrench yourself in unhealthy beliefs.

Don’t procrastinate on following up.

Don’t assume the solution before you diagnose.

Don’t make excuses.

Don’t allow yourself to be distracted.

Don’t try to win your dream client without nurturing those relationships.

Don’t avoid the big issues.

Don’t forget to be human.

Don’t move your dream client opportunity without spending the time to understand the needs of the stakeholders–even when they aren’t the decision-makers.

Don’t wing it.

Don’t choose mediocrity.