A "to-don't list"?

Whether written out somewhere or merely a list in the back of your mind (like I do), you likely have a to-do list of things you want to get done. After all, life is busy and there often isn’t time to do everything we would like.

But do you have a to-don’t list? List of things that you’re planning not to do.

I really liked a recent article in the?Financial Times about often-neglected importance of the art of not doing. In the desire to be productive and accomplish goals, it’s easy to always focus your attention on what to do, rather than on what you know you want to avoid.

The author provides few ideas as inspiration: "try not to procrastinate; not to spend too much time on social media; not to get to bed too late; not to invest rashly; not to tell lies ...".?As the author points out, however, “sometimes the absence of bad is more important than the presence of good." Our culture is focused on doing and pays little attention to the benefit of being effortlessly present in the moment. Our history provides so many examples in which the feeling that something must be done has won out over the patient wariness of avoiding doing something wrong to disastrous effect.

There are few areas in which the wisdom of knowing what not to do is more useful than in managing your investments. Instead of constantly reacting to the inevitable ups and downs of the markets, sticking with a long-range plan, based on decades of accumulated knowledge, has the best chance of allowing you to realize your financial goals.

We need to bring back the art of not doing stuff