An Interesting Twist On The To Do List

I recently read that Arianna Huffington created a list of things that she NEVER wanted to do again on her 40th birthday. That's something I can relate too! As a matter of fact, I think that it's a great idea for any kind of milestone birthday - or if you're just in a reflective, assessing-your-life mood.

I have of course heard this advice before but it was always in the context of doing something bigger (like designing your 'ideal' life). For some reason, I never thought of this as a 'standalone' exercise for personal development until Arianna mentioned it.

I imagine that this idea will appeal more to older people than younger ones. After all, with age comes the realization:

that the time that we have on this planet really is very fleeting;

most of us have frittered away much of the time that has been given to us in ways that hold no value for us;

it is might costly (in terms of your happiness) to spend what little time you do have on activities that you actively dislike.

In terms of being happy, NOT doing what you dislike seems like it might be ALMOST as important as doing what you like.

Eliminating just a few of the disagreeable things that you do on a regular basis probably isn't going to leave you blissfully fulfilled! :-) However, eliminating a few of those things probably WILL improve your general outlook on life.

All of us have to do things that we don't particularly like. That's life. However, having acknowledged that, it is also true that it is VERY easy to fall into patterns of behavior, where we consistently act in a conditioned way.

We do things simply because we've done them that way in the past.

A great example is doing just about any kind of 'work'. I'm defining "work" very loosely here. An example might be doing errands or working in or outside of your home.

Perhaps you chose at one time to clean your house yourself because you couldn't afford a maid. If so, you made the right decision - THEN. However, has your financial situation significantly changed since then?

The bottom line is that routines ARE to a large degree what our lives consist of - and it is very easy to become trapped in routines that we don't examine consciously.

There are many tools and exercises that can be used to gain clarity about one's life. Each has it's own strengths and weaknesses and can provide a slightly different perspective which can be valuable.

The brilliance of this idea is in its SIMPLICITY. This is an exercise that could literally be done by anyone - which isn't true for many personal development exercises.

Many of us, at different points in our lives, have been unsure about the exact nature of what we may want for ourselves, while at the same time, being CRYSTAL CLEAR about what is NOT working in our lives. I know that I've been there! LOL

Knowing what we don't like about our lives is not the opposite of knowing what we do want. Consequently, knowing what we don't like - and being very conscious of it - is a positive step in terms of creating the kind of life that you will find fulfilling.

As for myself, I plan to do the exercise and create as big a list as I can of very specific things that I don't like doing. I will identify one or two things that should be very easy to change, as well as something that is more difficult but that will give me a big bang-for-the-buck if I am able to make that change.

And after doing the above, I will repeat the process.

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If you found this article interesting, be sure to explore Gregg Terry's blog: Funny, Useful, Interesting Or Beautiful

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