Success Advice
Why a Don’t Do List Is More Important Than a To Do List

While a to do list is a crucial part to a successful day, building a don’t do list is likely to have much longer and further reaching benefits to your success. Where to do lists are all about the tactical things you need to work through in a given day or for a project, a don’t do list is all about the strategic things you’re going to cut out of your life.
With those things out of your life you’ve got room to get the most important tasks of the day done. Once we are specific about calling out the things we’re not going to do in a day, it gets much harder for the urgent but not important tasks to consume huge swaths of our day.
A don’t do list helps ensure that we have a default no to so many commitments and thus the margin we need for our important tasks.
If you want to be more successful by building a don’t do list, here are 3 questions to ask yourself:
1. What saps your energy for the day?
The first place to start as we build out a don’t do list is to figure out what saps your energy in the day. If checking your email kills your productivity for the rest of the day then add no email before noon to your don’t do list.
If morning meetings, or writing, or phone calls regularly derail your work on the most important projects in your life, then cut them out. Maybe that means you don’t do them in the morning or perhaps you only do calls on Tuesday’s.
If you can cut those energy draining tasks out of your most productive parts of the day you’re now free to get your 3 most important tasks done without interruption. Then when your energy is lower you can do the tasks that are troublesome anyway and know you got your most important tasks of the day done.
“Without passion, you don’t have anything, without energy you have nothing.” – Donald Trump
2. Which projects sound interesting, but are really just procrastination techniques?
Many of us have great ideas regularly. Ideas we’d love to pursue and would be a great success. The problem is that these ideas regularly come up in the midst of current projects right at the point where we’re in the messy middle grinding out the hard work to complete a project.
You’re writing a book and one of the research pieces gives you a bunch of ideas about other things you could write that aren’t about the book you should be working on. When these new ideas come up, write them on your don’t do list.
You’re actively deciding that it’s good enough idea to write down, but now is not the time to waste energy on it. Once you’re done with your current, more important project push, come back to the ideas on your don’t do list and take one off and run that project to completion.
3. What does everyone else view as normal?
How many people around you think it’s totally normal to get interrupted by their phone every 5 minutes? They dive into answering Tweets or checking Facebook and in the process continually get distracted from their work.
Many things that everyone views as normal should go on your list of things you’re never going to do. If you can cut out so much of the fluff that people engage in everyday, then you’re going to have the time to dive into the projects that matter.
What’s ‘normal’ is also average, and no one wakes up expecting to be average. If you don’t want to be average put most of what those around you view as normal on your don’t do list.
If you can use these 3 questions above to build your don’t do list and then stick to it, you’re going to have so much more space in your life. Space to improve yourself with reading. Space to build relationships with those you care about. Space to build the business you want to build.
“If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be.” – Maya Angelou
Have you created your don’t do list before? How has it helped you? Leave your comments below!
Success Advice
Why One-Size-Fits-All Leadership Will Always Fail (and What Works Instead)
The surprising truth about leadership styles that can make or break your team’s success.

Leadership has always been as much about people as it is about performance. Ken Blanchard, in his influential book, “The One Minute Manager”, put it simply: different strokes for different folks. (more…)
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What Every New CEO Must Do in Their First 100 Days (or Risk Failure)
Your first 100 days as CEO could define your entire legacy, here’s how to make every move count

When Tim Cook took over from Steve Jobs at Apple, the world watched with bated breath. Jobs wasn’t just a CEO; he was a visionary, an icon, and a legend of innovative leadership. (more…)
Entrepreneurs
The Leadership Shift Every Company Needs in 2025
Struggling to keep your team engaged? Here’s how leaders can turn frustrated employees into loyal advocates.

In workplaces around the world, there’s a growing gap between employers and employees and between superiors and their teams. It’s a common refrain: “People don’t leave companies, they leave bad bosses.”
While there are, of course, cases where management could do better, this isn’t just a “bad boss” problem. The relationship between leaders and employees is complex. Instead of assigning blame, we should explore practical solutions to build stronger, healthier workplaces where everyone thrives.
Why This Gap Exists
Every workplace needs someone to guide, supervise, and provide feedback. That’s essential for productivity and performance. But because there are usually far more employees than managers, dissatisfaction, fair or not, spreads quickly.
What if, instead of focusing on blame, we focused on building trust, empathy, and communication? This is where modern leadership and human-centered management can make a difference.
Tools and Techniques to Bridge the Gap
Here are proven strategies leaders and employees can use to foster stronger relationships and create a workplace where people actually want to stay.
1. Practice Mutual Empathy
Both managers and employees need to recognize they are ultimately on the same team. Leaders have to balance people and performance, and often face intense pressure to hit targets. Employees who understand this reality are more likely to cooperate and problem-solve collaboratively.
2. Maintain Professional Boundaries
Superiors should separate personal issues from professional decision-making. Consistency, fairness, and integrity build trust, and trust is the foundation of a motivated team.
3. Follow the Golden Rule
Treat people how you would like to be treated. This simple principle encourages compassion and respect, two qualities every effective leader must demonstrate.
4. Avoid Micromanagement
Micromanaging stifles creativity and damages morale. Great leaders see themselves as partners, not just bosses, and treat their teams as collaborators working toward a shared goal.
5. Empower Employees to Grow
Empowerment means giving employees responsibility that matches their capacity, and then trusting them to deliver. Encourage them to take calculated risks, learn from mistakes, and problem-solve independently. If something goes wrong, turn it into a learning opportunity, not a reprimand.
6. Communicate in All Directions
Communication shouldn’t just be top-down. Invite feedback, create open channels for suggestions, and genuinely listen to what your people have to say. Healthy upward communication closes gaps before they become conflicts.
7. Overcome Insecurities
Many leaders secretly fear being outshone by younger, more tech-savvy employees. Instead of resisting, embrace the chance to learn from them. Humility earns respect and helps the team innovate faster.
8. Invest in Coaching and Mentorship
True leaders grow other leaders. Provide mentorship, career guidance, and stretch opportunities so employees can develop new skills. Leadership is learned through experience, but guided experience is even more powerful.
9. Eliminate Favoritism
Avoid cliques and office politics. Decisions should be based on facts and fairness, not gossip. Objective, transparent decision-making builds credibility.
10. Recognize Efforts Promptly
Recognition often matters more than rewards. Publicly appreciate employees’ contributions and do so consistently and fairly. A timely “thank you” can be more motivating than a quarterly bonus.
11. Conduct Thoughtful Exit Interviews
When employees leave, treat it as an opportunity to learn. Keep interviews confidential and use the insights to improve management practices and culture.
12. Provide Leadership Development
Train managers to lead, not just supervise. Leadership development programs help shift mindsets from “command and control” to “coach and empower.” This transformation has a direct impact on morale and retention.
13. Adopt Soft Leadership Principles
Today’s workforce, largely millennials and Gen Z, value collaboration over hierarchy. Soft leadership focuses on partnership, mutual respect, and shared purpose, rather than rigid top-down control.
The Bigger Picture: HR’s Role
Mercer’s global research highlights five key priorities for organizations:
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Build diverse talent pipelines
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Embrace flexible work models
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Design compelling career paths
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Simplify HR processes
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Redefine the value HR brings
The challenge? Employers and employees often view these priorities differently. Bridging that perception gap is just as important as bridging the relational gap between leaders and staff.
Treat Employees Like Associates, Not Just Staff
When you treat employees like partners, they bring their best selves to work. HR leaders must develop strategies to keep talent engaged, empowered, and prepared for the future.
Organizational success starts with people, always. Build the relationship with your team first, and the results will follow.
Entrepreneurs
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