Last night my daughter and I went to see an NBA game here in Orlando. The Magic played the Milwaukee Bucks and it was an entertaining game, which the locals won 108-93. I was surprised at how few people were at the game; the arena was only half full.
My 25-year-old daughter loves sports and she is always fun to take to a game. She attends pro football and basketball games regularly, and will also go along to see baseball and hockey, although those aren't her favorites. She is good friends with many of the Baltimore Raven football players, much to the chagrin of her father who is a lifelong Pittsburgh Steeler fan.
I have always been a huge sports fan, but I've curtailed my interest over the last 10 years. I did this after I heard Jim Collins, the business author speak in New York City in 1997. He introduced me to the concept of a stop-to-do list. Collins said that every leader has a to-do list, but often we are only able to accomplish something we want to do when we make time to do it by eliminating something else. He used the example from his own life that he was able to increase how much he read only after he stopped watching so much television.
I was investing so much time and energy in watching and attending sports that I knew this was a way I could recapture time I needed to write and travel. So while I am still an avid fan, I have traded sports time for writing time and I've been much happier ever since.
Perhaps it would be a good idea if you had a stop-to-do list. As we close out this year, what can you stop doing in order to start doing something more important to you?
Technorati Tags: GTD, Jim Collins, Orlando Magic, stop-to-do list
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