A tool for focusing your energy

✅ Today’s tip: Make an anti-bucket list.

Keeping a list of goals can be motivating, sure, but it can also quickly start to feel like a list of obligations — something that weighs you down instead of pushing you forward. For example, the writer Kristin Wong used to have “become a millionaire” on her bucket list, she writes, but “chasing money has led me to take on work that made me miserable.” And her goal of visiting every continent “kept me from truly enjoying travel, because travel is not a series of places to be checked off a list.”

One antidote: Create an anti-bucket list, “a list of things you no longer want lingering on your to-do list — a collection of activities, habits, or pursuits that, when you think about it, actually make you feel kind of shitty,” Wong explains. Think of the things you think you should want, but that don’t actually enrich your life: Those are the things pulling you away from spending time on more meaningful goals. Put them all in one place, feel the weight lifting off, and start redirecting your energy.

📚 More from Forge on knowing what you want:

The Crucial Difference Between Intentions and Goals
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To Discover Your Goals, Imagine Your Perfect Day
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You’ll Never Get What You Want If You’re Too Scared to Ask for It
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