Forget the To-Do List: Create a Fall Syllabus Instead

A to-do list is simply a list of things that need to be accomplished.

A syllabus, on the other hand, allows you to think bigger and focus on what you want to learn, explore, practice and experience.

In other words, what you want your life to be like.

Here are five assignments for your personal syllabus.

First up, learn something simply because you're interested in it.

We can become very identified by our careers, so much so that we can sometimes forget we are more than just lawyers.

Clients value our knowledge and expertise, so it can feel uncomfortable to be in environments where we aren't really sure what we're doing.

But there is value in temporarily stepping outside our expertise to experience something different, even if we aren't very good at it.

In fact, since many of us spend our work days being the person who is supposed to know the answer, it can be restorative to not be that person for a change.

Being a beginner also puts us in a different mental space where we can be curious and ask questions.

Where we have to tolerate not knowing.

Where we allow ourselves to make mistakes without treating them as evidence that we aren't capable.

The point isn't to become good at something.

It isn't about earning a credential or adding another skill to the resume.

The point is to enjoy something totally different than the usual.

Put something on your fall syllabus that has no professional payoff.

Take a cooking class.

Learn photography.

Try improv.

Study astronomy.

Take a dance class.

Learn a new language.

Finally, learn to play the saxophone.

Anything you have thought of trying or getting back to but kept saying, later, make later now.

Assignment number two, identify one unnecessary demand and remove it.