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# Not To Do lists
- URL: https://www.chrismessina.me/blog/not-to-do-lists/
- Published: 2006-02-08T13:01:57.000Z
- Updated: 2026-03-25T03:34:27.000Z
- Author: Chris Messina
- Tags: Life online, Personal

[](http://www.flickr.com/photos/factoryjoe/97272414/?ref=chrismessina.me)[Brad](http://codinginparadise.org/?ref=chrismessina.me) (of [Coworking fame](http://coworking.pbwiki.com/?ref=chrismessina.me)) shared with me a brilliant idea last night when I ran into him at Ritual: "Not to do lists". Damn, wish I'd thought of that. As someone leading four or five lives' worth of stuff to do (my own estimation, since everyone should probably be able to get away with sweating a little less these days), having a "Not to do list" when I'm getting jammed up makes a lot of sense. It means being more aware of what you're wasting your time on and -- as Brad lucidly pointed out -- frees up more time to be filled with real good stuff. In fact, in his experience, every couple months when he refreshes his list, adding things *not* to do, something inevitably better comes down the pipe to make use of his newly available time. I'll have to give this a whirl and see how it goes.

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### 💬 Comments from the original post

**[Great Idea at Jackson Miller](http://jaxn.org/blog/archives/1548-great-idea.html?ref=chrismessina.me)** · 2006-03-12 20:55:09

\[...\] Here is a new one, Not-To-Do Lists. You know all those things you do in-between doing the things on your To-Do lists? Well, put them on a Not-To-Do list and stop doing them ;) \[...\]

**[Web Worker Daily » Blog Archive Tip of the Week: Create a Not To Do List «](http://webworkerdaily.wordpress.com/2007/06/12/tip-of-the-week-create-a-not-to-do-list/?ref=chrismessina.me)** · 2007-06-12 04:44:55

\[...\] and a clue that I need to revisit what I’ve been doing. When I feel this, I create a Not To Do List and figure out stuff that I need to let go of. Lately, I’ve been feeling stressed out and not \[...\]

**[Il Liceo » Blog Archive » Stress Reduction: Whittle down your to do list with a not to do list](http://www.illiceo.com/hacking/stress-reduction-whittle-down-your-to-do-list-with-a-not-to-do-list?ref=chrismessina.me)** · 2007-06-12 16:27:06

\[...\] a good way to clean house and catalog those things that you’ve prioritized out of your life. Not To Do lists \[FactoryCity via Coding in Paradise via Web Worker \[...\]

**[ma planète](http://www.maplanete.ch/?p=164&ref=chrismessina.me)** · 2007-06-22 09:15:34

**A Not-To-Do List...**Faire des listes, c’est mon dada (j’aime pas les chevaux). En lisant le blog notebookism, je tombe sur cette idée brillante, émise par Brad Neuberg: faire une liste de choses à ne pas faire, une Not-To-Do list. Brad (oui je l’appel...

**[seinfieldian chains & not-todo lists at Alexander Cameron](http://www.azcameron.co.uk/2007/08/19/seinfieldian-chains-not-todo-lists/?ref=chrismessina.me)** · 2007-08-18 18:40:26

\[...\] 2nd brilliantly simple concept is similar to the someday/maybe list - the “not todo” list, which is, as the name suggests, the total opposite of a todo list. “Not-to-do” lists can be \[...\]