Building Your Personal ‘Stop Doing’ List
Navigate the future of work, build skills that matter, and use AI practically
If you had to stop doing three things tomorrow, which ones would secretly feel like relief?
Most people can answer this immediately. The hard part isn’t identifying what to stop, it’s actually stopping. Because letting go feels like admitting you wasted time, lost direction, or aren’t the person you thought you were.
Earlier this year, the World Economic Forum identified “motivation and self-awareness” as the fifth most critical skill for 2025-2030. Not productivity. Not hustle. Self-awareness. The ability to honestly assess what’s working, what’s not, and what you’re only doing because you used to be the person who did that thing.
This isn’t about getting more done. It’s about getting honest about what deserves your energy in the first place.
Why We Can’t Let Go
The Identity Tax
We hold onto tasks, commitments, and roles long past their usefulness because they’re tied to who we think we are. You keep mentoring that person because you’re “someone who gives back.” You stay on that committee because you’re “collaborative.” You keep tweaking that side project because you’re “entrepreneurial.”
The problem: Identity is sticky. Utility is not.
What made sense three years ago—when you were in a different role, had different goals, or were building different skills—might now just be legacy drag. But walking away feels like betraying a version of yourself you’re not ready to release.
I see this constantly. Someone who built their reputation on being “the person who gets things done” can’t stop taking on extra projects even when their real impact has shifted to strategic thinking. Managers who pride themselves on being accessible can’t stop taking every meeting request, even when it’s killing their ability to do deep work.
The FOMO Trap
Then there’s optionality. We convince ourselves that keeping things going “just in case” is smart. Maybe that dormant LinkedIn group will be useful. Maybe that half-finished course will click. Maybe that networking event will finally pay off.
But optionality has a cost: attention debt.
Every open loop, half-finished project, or legacy commitment is a small cognitive tax you’re paying every week. Your brain knows these things exist. It’s tracking them. And that tracking takes energy, even when you’re not actively working on them.
The organizations that figure this out—both at the individual and team level—will leave the ones stuck in perpetual optionality behind. Because focus compounds. Diffusion doesn’t.
What This Looks Like in Practice
Let me show you three real examples before we get to the framework.
The Operations Manager stopped running quarterly town halls because she realized her real impact was in one-on-one strategic conversations with department heads, not group presentations. The town halls looked good on performance reviews and made her visible to senior leadership, but they were exhausting to produce and people’s feedback was always “interesting but not applicable to my role.”
When she shifted her energy to strategic conversations, department heads started specifically requesting to work with her on planning. Six months later, her CEO asked her to present at the company all-hands—not as the facilitator, but as a case study on operational excellence. Because she’d become known for the thing she was actually good at.
The Manager quit two Employee Resource Group leadership roles because he was spread so thin he wasn’t actually helping anyone, including himself. He’d joined both because he believed in the causes. But between managing his team, his actual job, and trying to show up meaningfully for both ERGs, he was doing everything at 60%.
When he stepped down, he felt guilty for exactly one week. Then he realized he could still attend ERG events as a participant, still advocate for the causes, and still make an impact—just without the administrative burden of leadership. His team noticed the difference immediately. He had energy again. He was present in their one-on-ones instead of mentally running through his ERG to-do list.
The Consultant stopped taking “exploratory calls” with people who had no budget or decision-making authority. For years, she’d said yes to everyone because she didn’t want to seem arrogant or difficult. These calls rarely led to work, but they took up hours every week and left her drained.
When she implemented a simple qualifier—”I’m happy to chat if you have budget and timeline for a project in the next quarter”—80% of requests disappeared. The other 20% became actual clients. She doubled her revenue in six months, not by working harder, but by protecting her time for people who were ready to buy.
The pattern: Each felt guilty at first. Then relieved. Then more effective.
Letting go isn’t quitting. It’s editing. And the people who master self-awareness in 2025 won’t be the ones doing the most—they’ll be the ones doing the right things, consistently, without burning out.
What’s Below the Paywall
The full framework includes:
The Still/Not/Never Audit (categorize everything you’re doing)
Identity vs. Utility analysis (spot what you’re keeping for the wrong reasons)
The Relief Test (your body knows before your brain does)
The Replacement Principle (protect what matters instead of creating a void)
My own Still/Not/Never audit with specific examples
Guided prompts to build your Stop Doing list for 2025
$10/month, $75/year. Many employers cover subscriptions to professional development resources—forward this to your manager or HR with a note about how it supports your growth in strategic thinking, self-awareness, or leadership. Most training budgets go unused. Use yours.