Today—January 10—is Quitter’s Day. By now, most people have given up on their New Year’s Resolutions.
Not me. I love New Year’s Resolutions. Immediately after the holidays, I contemplate what I need to do to become a happier and more fulfilled person. In my resolution-making enthusiasm, this simple list becomes an outright strategic plan, with quarterly objectives and targeted metrics to achieve success. This year, my resolutions included both professional and personal aims. I itemized projects to launch, vacations to plan, social and volunteer opportunities to tackle. I felt a pleasant—no, exhilarating—buzz by considering how full and rich my life will be in 2025.
But the morning after I made my list, I woke up with a planner’s hangover. In the light of day, I realized that I already had a pretty full life and am committed to many existing projects. Could I afford to take on more? Will new hobbies and a heavier travel schedule threaten to derail what I have in the works?
Because I can’t quite break myself from this annual ritual, I’ve added another aspect to my planning: developing a list of anti-goals. I counterbalanced my ever-growing to-do list with a to-don’t list. Goals are great, but time is limited. If I resolved to enhance my life (for example, with more exercise and more blogging) than something’s got to give. And the best way of adding value to my life is by acknowledging what I don’t like to do and what isn’t serving me well. What goals, as writer Stephanie Vozza prompts, sap my energy or leave me feeling unfulfilled? I revisited my resolutions, this time scanning my daily landscape for habits or rituals to eliminate or, at least, to deprioritize. For me, this includes reducing my indulgently long lunch breaks, faithfully and immediately reading all email and text alerts, and “staying informed” by consuming too much media.
I encourage you to do the same. If you are already feeling discouraged about your resolutions, look at how you spend your time. Keep in mind that nearly half of your day is driven by habit. In other words, we do the same things on a repetitive loop, giving little thought about if we are, in fact, using are time wisely.
Ideally, one would chuck those activities that bring little joy or purpose. But realistically, this may not be practical, especially with work. Our professional lives are entwined with others, and we can’t ignore company culture, It would be nice, for instance, to announce to our boss that we no longer wish to engage in some aspect of our job because it bores us, but this declaration will likely come with some consequence. However, it is possible to unclutter your work life, which could improve your efficiency and happiness without ruffling corporate feathers. Here are a few aspects of your job that might benefit from anti-goals:
Meetings
This, to me, is arguably the biggest time and energy drain of work culture. According to one survey, the average employee spends 11.5 hours in meetings each week. That’s a full day (and then some) we lose to a questionably productive activity! And our meeting schedule is ever expanding: the amount of time workers spend in meetings has tripled since the onset of the pandemic.
To be clear, some meetings are necessary. If done well, gatherings can facilitate collaboration and provide opportunities for information exchange. But these gains are wiped out when meetings are excessive or pointless. Most insidiously, they strip us of the opportunity to engage in deep work, the ability to focus without distraction on meaningful or demanding tasks.
January is a great time to reclaim your schedule. Consider reducing or shortening your meetings. When evaluating your schedule, ask:
Can I learn something from attending this meeting? Or,
Can I contribute something to the conversation?
If you can’t learn or contribute, reconsider your attendance.
Eliminate. I know what you’re going to say: the meeting is mandatory and my boss will not take kindly to my absence. But you may be surprised. One study revealed that 71 percent of managers found meetings unproductive. Your boss may welcome the conversation. Here’s a way to get the discussion started:
- I’m reviewing my calendar and noticed that meeting X recurs on a weekly basis. Would you still like me to attend?
If the answer is yes, ask how you can best add value. (For instance, are you expected to problem-solve, note-take, information-gather?) If you’re lucky, though, your boss may take that meeting off your plate or reduce the number of times you’re expected to attend.
Also—and this is important—be prepared to explain what you will do with the spare time. For example, will you make more calls to prospective donors or focus on grant writing? Assure your supervisor that the newly acquired time will make you more productive.
Shorten. We are conditioned to schedule meetings for one-hour blocks and, consequently, Parkinson’s Law kicks in: our work expands to fill the allotted time. But do we really need one full hour?
Again, your boss may welcome a renegotiation of time. Your conversation might sound like this:
- Since it’s the beginning of the year, I thought we could review our meetings. They’ve been scheduled for one-hour, but would you like to meet instead for 30-minutes? I know you’re busy and I could provide an agenda to keep our meetings on track.
If the conversation goes well, explore reducing the number of times you meet. For instance, could that standing meeting be changed to twice a month rather than weekly? If there is some hesitation, offer to provide an interim email update.
Summarize. Dare to be the brave soul who busts Parkinson’s Law. When the meeting reaches a natural conclusion (often way ahead of the one-hour mark) or when it is no longer productive, simply ask this:
- What are our action items?
This will get the discussion on track or expedite its conclusion. In either case, it’s a win. And once you’ve established the action items, seal the deal by asking if everything has been covered. And then congenially exit. Others will be grateful for your lead.
Busywork
In his book, The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People, the brilliant efficiency expert Stephen R. Covey recommended the obvious: put first things first. Yet, as fundamental as this may seem, it gets lost in the daily shuffle.
Look closely at your life: Are you sacrificing the big stuff for the small stuff?
I confess: I do this all the time. I gravitate toward busywork because it’s soothing. But the time I spend on these tasks robs me of time to conquer what’s truly important.
Covey suggests you create a time-management quadrant that assesses how urgent and how important your activities are:
|
Quadrant 1: Urgent and Important
Examples: crises, pressing problems, project deadlines |
Quadrant II Important but Not Urgent
Examples: relationship-building, new opportunities, planning |
|
Quadrant III Urgent but Not Important
Examples: interruptions; certain meetings, some email or reports |
Quadrant IV Not Urgent and Not Important
Examples: trivia, busywork, some social media or emails, |
Where do you spend your time? If you find you’ve parked yourself in Quadrant IV, consider eliminating or reducing those activities so you can focus on the good (and sometimes hard) stuff—activities that build, create, or grow relationships.
Media Consumption
Last but not least: reducing our media consumption is an obvious choice as an anti-goal. If you’re like most people, you spend 2.5 hours each day on social media. Think about how much more life you’ll get back if you trim this. Media consumption is a habit and, like all habits, we can reshape it. Even a few simple tweaks may open up time for more productive activities.
So today—Quitter’s Day—I urge you to give up something that is no longer working for you. It may be the key to a more fulfilling future.
PS: I’d love to hear about your anti-goals. What have you given up that’s made you happier?