http://www.jimcollins.com/article_topics/articles/best-new-years.html

I know it isn’t New Years, but I came across this article and wanted to send it out.

What a powerful concept. A stop doing list.

And not necessarily in the usual sense of most people’s stop doing lists from New Years.

Most people automatically think of things like giving up chocolate, quitting smoking and no more fast food as their “stop doing” lists.

And while I think Jim would certainly recommend stopping those things as well, in this article he is looking more at how you spend your time.

I love his three circles analogy.

If each of the following questions represented a circle, your ideal role in life would be at the intersection of the three circles.

1) What are you deeply passionate about?

2) What are you are genetically encoded for — what activities do you feel just "made to do"?

3) What makes economic sense — what can you make a living at?

I especially liked the last two paragraphs about his mentor, Rochelle.

Looking back, I now see Rochelle Myers as one of the few people I’ve known to lead a great life, while doing truly great work. This stemmed largely from her remarkable simplicity. A simple home. A simple schedule. A simple frame for her work.

Rochelle spoke to me repeatedly about the idea of "making your life a creative work of art." A great piece of art is composed not just of what is in the final piece, but equally important, what is not. It is the discipline to discard what does not fit — to cut out what might have already cost days or even years of effort — that distinguishes the truly exceptional artist and marks the ideal piece of work, be it a symphony, a novel, a painting, a company or, most important of all, a life.

What’s on your stop doing list?

Not sure where to start? I would suggest taking an inventory of your time for a couple of days and then reviewing it. My guess is there will most likely be some glaring areas of “stop doing” potential.

Jake