103 Examples of a To-Not-Do List

John Spacey, November 25, 2022

A to-not-do list is a list of things that you have prohibited yourself from doing. These can be considered goals, objectives or intentions of inaction. A to-not-do list can resemble a list of principles or can simply be a list of habits or mistakes that you would like to avoid. The following are illustrative examples of to-not-do items.

Addiction / Habits that can lead to addiction.	Addressing symptoms of a problem without fixing its cause.
Allowing a problem to consume all your time.	Arrogance / Behaviors that may be perceived as arrogant.
Avoiding risk / Failing to take opportunities.	Avoiding tough decisions.
Becoming overly emotional in difficult situations.	Being cold / Not showing feelings.
Being fake	Being hesitant to ask for help when you need it.
Being inflexible / impractical	Being late
Being mean	Being self-absorbed
Being selfish	Being too concerned with money.
Being too concerned with social status.	Being too concerned with what others think.
Being too easy on yourself.	Being too hard on yourself.
Being too political	Being unrealistic
Biases	Blaming
Borrowing for unnecessary spending.	Complacency / Mediocrity
Conforming to groupthink.	Cramming at the last moment before a test.
Cynicism	Dishonesty
Eating certain food items.	Eating while cooking.
Excessive media consumption	Failing to keep in touch with loved ones.
Failing to listen to others.	Failing to meet commitments.
Failures of gratitude.	Getting distracted when working / studying.
Getting stressed out about minor annoyances and problems.	Getting stressed out about minor insults and slights.
Getting sunburns	Gossiping
High sugar foods	Impatience
Impolite behaviors	Insincerity
Interrupting others	Jealousy / Envy
Judging others too soon without really knowing them.	Judging situations too soon without an open mind.
Lack of diligence - doing things in a sloppy or unprofessional way.	Looking at screens in social situations or during meals.
Looking back in anger / bitterness.	Low quality foods
Low quality time - e.g. wasting time on low quality media consumption.	Making excuses
Making unjustified assumptions.	Negative behaviors
Negative sarcasm	Not being honest with yourself.
Obsessing over negative things / Forgetting the positive side of things.	Obsessing over things that are beyond your control.
Overeating / Under-eating	Overplanning
Overrelying on others	Overspending
Overthinking	Passive aggressive behaviors
Paying high interest.	Poor hygiene habits
Poor listening habits	Poor safety habits such as not wearing appropriate safety gear.
Procrastination	Rash decisions - quick decisions that aren't properly considered.
Repeating painful mistakes that are avoidable.	Replaying negative events in your head.
Saying things you don't mean.	Schadenfreude - joy at the misery of others.
Sharing too much personal information.	Shopping habits
Skipping exercise	Skipping hygiene routines
Smoking	Social media apps
Social media behaviors	Speaking without thinking in important situations.
Spending time with people who aren't on your side or who are overly negative.	Staying up too late.
Swearing	Taking uncalculated / foolish risks.
Tasks that you can outsource / delegate.	Thinking small
Thinking too big	Thinking too much about the past / future.
Underplanning	Unnecessary perfectionism
Unproductive, thankless and meaningless tasks.	Unprofessional behavior
Using cliches / Buzzwords	Video game habits
Violating reasonable norms - e.g. making noise late at night	Wasting time
Working excessively late

Some of the items above can be difficult to achieve and measure. These can be viewed as intentions or principles as opposed to goals. For example, you may want to avoid overthinking but the line between overthinking and under-thinking is often unclear. As such, not overthinking things is not really measurable as a goal but is potentially useful as a principle.

103 Examples of a To-Not-Do List

Goals

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