Top 14 'Commitment-Culling' Productivity Hacks to master for professionals who need to do less, but better in 2025 - Goh Ling Yong
The modern workplace has a dirty little secret: we praise burnout. We wear our 60-hour workweeks and back-to-back meetings like badges of honor. The busier you are, the more important you must be, right? But what if this entire premise is flawed? What if true productivity, the kind that leads to meaningful results and career advancement, isn't about adding more to your plate, but about strategically taking things off?
This isn't about being lazy. It's about being ruthless with your time and intentional with your energy. It's a philosophy I call 'Commitment-Culling'—the active, deliberate process of pruning your obligations to make space for what truly matters. As we look towards 2025, the professionals who thrive won't be the ones who can juggle the most, but the ones who know which balls to drop. The goal is to do less, but to do it better.
If you've ever ended a frantic day feeling like you were busy but not productive, this is for you. If your calendar looks like a game of Tetris gone wrong, this is for you. It's time to trade the illusion of productivity for the reality of impact. Here are 14 commitment-culling hacks to help you reclaim your focus, master your craft, and build a more sustainable career in the year ahead.
1. The "Hell Yeah! or No" Rule
Coined by entrepreneur Derek Sivers, this is the ultimate litmus test for new commitments. When faced with a new opportunity, project, or request, ask yourself if your gut reaction is an enthusiastic "Hell Yeah!" If it's anything less—a "Hmm, maybe," a "Well, I guess I should," or a lukewarm "Sure"—the answer should be a firm "no."
This binary approach forces you to abandon the middle ground of mediocrity where most of our time gets wasted. We say "yes" to things out of obligation, politeness, or a vague sense of opportunity, only to find our schedule clogged with tasks that drain our energy and don't align with our core goals. Following this rule protects your most valuable assets: your time and your enthusiasm.
How to use it: A colleague asks you to join a new "innovation task force" that meets weekly. It sounds interesting, but does it make you jump out of your seat with excitement? Does it directly contribute to your most important professional goals? If you have to talk yourself into it, it's not a "Hell Yeah!" Thank them for the offer and respectfully decline.
2. Conduct a Quarterly Commitment Audit
You can't cull what you can't see. Most of us are carrying around dozens of legacy commitments we've forgotten we even agreed to. A commitment audit is the process of laying everything out on the table so you can see exactly where your time and energy are going.
Once a quarter, open a spreadsheet and list every single recurring professional commitment you have. This includes weekly team meetings, committees you sit on, reports you generate, mentorship roles, and even informal obligations like "always being the one to review the intern's work." For each item, create columns for "Time per Week," "Energy Impact (1-5, 5 being a major drain)," and "Alignment with 2025 Goals (1-5, 5 being perfect alignment)."
The results will be shocking. You'll immediately spot the low-alignment, high-drain commitments that are ripe for culling. This audit isn't a one-time fix; it's a recurring system for keeping your professional life lean and focused.
3. Reverse the Two-Minute Rule
You probably know David Allen's famous "two-minute rule": if a task takes less than two minutes, do it immediately. To cull commitments, we need to reverse it for new requests. When a colleague asks for something, if you cannot fully complete and satisfy their request in less than two minutes, do not do it right then and there.
Why? Because the "quick question" that turns into a 15-minute impromptu meeting is a primary source of commitment creep. Reversing the rule acts as a filter. If it's a genuine two-minute task (e.g., "Where is the final version of the deck saved?"), you answer it. If it's more complex ("Can you give me some quick feedback on this draft?"), your response should be, "I can't look at this right now, but I can schedule 15 minutes to review it tomorrow afternoon. Please send me a calendar invite."
This simple habit stops you from impulsively accepting new, undefined commitments and forces them into a structured, scheduled process that you control.
4. Embrace the 'Joy of Missing Out' (JOMO)
Our culture is dominated by the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO). We join every committee and attend every optional webinar because we're afraid of being left out of the loop. But the most focused and effective professionals operate on a different principle: the Joy of Missing Out.
JOMO is the quiet satisfaction that comes from declining an invitation to a chaotic meeting, knowing you're using that hour for deep, focused work on your most important project. It's the peace of mind you get from not being on ten different email threads, trusting that the truly important information will find you.
Cultivating JOMO requires a mindset shift. You must start valuing the output of focused work more than the appearance of being involved. Every time you say "no" to something, consciously acknowledge what you're saying "yes" to instead—be it finishing a report, thinking strategically, or simply avoiding burnout.
5. Master the Art of the Graceful 'No'
Saying "no" is a skill, and like any skill, it can be learned and practiced. Many of us avoid it because we fear appearing unhelpful, difficult, or not a "team player." The key is to be clear, concise, and gracious, without over-explaining or making excuses.
A powerful 'no' is direct but respectful. It often acknowledges the other person's request while clearly stating your own limitations. Avoid wishy-washy phrases like "I'll try" or "I'm not sure," which just delay the inevitable and create false hope.
Example scripts:
- The 'Full Plate' No: "Thank you so much for thinking of me for this project. It sounds like a fantastic initiative, but my plate is currently full with [Your Priority Project], and I wouldn't be able to give this the attention it deserves."
- The 'Not a Fit' No: "I appreciate you sending this my way. After reviewing it, this falls a bit outside my area of expertise. Have you considered asking [Relevant Colleague]? They would be a great fit."
- The 'Priorities' No: "Thanks for the invitation. Unfortunately, I'm dedicating all my focus to hitting my Q3 goals right now and need to decline any new commitments until then."
6. Schedule 'Do Not Disturb' Blocks
Your calendar is a fortress, and you are the gatekeeper. If your days are open and available, they will be filled by other people's priorities. The most effective way to prevent this is to proactively schedule 'Do Not Disturb' (DND) or 'Deep Work' blocks.
These are not just "maybe I'll work on this" placeholders. Treat them as unbreakable appointments with your most important client: yourself. Schedule 90-minute to 2-hour blocks for your highest-priority tasks. Mark yourself as "Busy" and turn off notifications on your phone and desktop.
This practice is a pre-emptive "no." It sends a clear signal to your colleagues (and to yourself) that this time is reserved. It protects you from the endless stream of meeting invites and "quick chat" requests that derail a productive day, ensuring you have the space to do the work that actually moves the needle.
7. Implement a 'One In, One Out' Policy
Think of your commitments like a minimalist's wardrobe. To prevent clutter, every time you bring a new item in, an old one has to go out. The same principle can be applied to your professional life to maintain a sustainable workload.
Before you say "yes" to a significant new commitment—like joining a new committee, taking on a major project, or starting a mentorship—you must identify an existing commitment of equal or greater time/energy investment to delegate, automate, or eliminate.
This forces a conscious trade-off. Is this new opportunity valuable enough to justify dropping something else? This simple rule prevents the slow, insidious creep of responsibilities that leads to overload. It ensures that your commitment level remains stable, and that every new "yes" is an intentional upgrade, not just an addition.
8. Define Your 'Essential Intent'
If you don't know what's truly important, everything seems important. Drawing from Greg McKeown's concept of "Essentialism," you need to define your "Essential Intent"—a single, clear, and inspirational goal for a given period (e.g., the quarter or the year). It's the one thing that, if you achieve it, would make the biggest impact.
Your Essential Intent for the quarter might be: "Launch the beta version of our new software to 1,000 users to gather critical feedback for the V1 release." This becomes your ultimate filter. When a new request comes in, you can ask a simple question: "Will this help me achieve my Essential Intent?"
If the answer is a clear "yes," it's worth considering. If it's a "no" or a "maybe," it's an immediate candidate for culling. This provides a powerful, objective framework for your decisions, moving them away from people-pleasing and towards strategic execution.
9. Use 'Decision Fatigue' To Your Advantage
Decision fatigue is the psychological phenomenon where the quality of your decisions deteriorates after a long session of decision-making. We have a finite amount of good decision-making energy each day, and it's typically highest in the morning.
Use this to your advantage. Schedule 15 minutes at the very start of your day to handle your most important "culling" decisions. This is the time to review your to-do list and ask, "What can I cut?" It's the time to draft those graceful 'no' emails. It's the time to decide which meetings you're going to decline for the week.
By tackling these tough choices when your willpower is at its peak, you're far more likely to make the right call for your long-term focus. Don't wait until 4 PM, when you're tired and more likely to just say "yes" to get something off your plate.
10. The 'Rocks, Pebbles, or Sand?' Filter
You may have heard the analogy: if you fill a jar with sand first, you can't fit in the big rocks. But if you put the big rocks in first, the pebbles and sand can fill the space around them. Your "Rocks" are your major, high-impact projects. "Pebbles" are the necessary daily tasks. "Sand" is the distracting minutiae—low-value emails, pointless meetings, etc.
Before accepting any new task or commitment, mentally filter it: Is this a rock, a pebble, or a grain of sand? Your job is to protect the time for your rocks at all costs. Most professionals let their day be dictated by the endless flow of sand pouring into their inbox.
Commitment-culling means actively rejecting or minimizing the sand. It means questioning if that meeting is really a pebble or just more sand in disguise. When you prioritize the rocks, you'll find that much of the sand wasn't as important as it seemed.
11. Automate or Delegate Ruthlessly
Many recurring commitments aren't one-off projects but ongoing processes that slowly siphon your time. The key to culling these is to ask two questions in order: "Can this be automated?" and if not, "Can this be delegated?"
Automation isn't just for tech wizards. It can be as simple as setting up email filters to automatically sort newsletters and low-priority CC's out of your main inbox. It could be using a scheduling tool like Calendly to eliminate the back-and-forth of setting up meetings.
Delegation is about trusting your team. Are you still approving minor expenses that a direct report could handle? Are you compiling a weekly report from data your team already has? Letting go of these tasks not only frees you up but also empowers your colleagues.
12. Set a Strict 'Meeting Quota'
Meetings are one of the biggest sources of professional bloat. An easy way to combat this is to set a personal quota for the number of meetings you're willing to attend each week. This forces you to be incredibly selective.
For example, you might set a quota of "no more than 8 hours of scheduled meetings per week." When a new invite arrives and you're at your limit, it forces a choice. Is this new meeting more important than one I've already accepted? Can I get the information I need from an email summary instead?
This strategy shifts the default from "accept" to "question." You'll start asking for agendas in advance, declining meetings where your role is unclear, and suggesting asynchronous updates (like a quick video or shared doc) instead of a 30-minute sync.
13. Practice 'Strategic Quitting'
Quitting has a negative connotation, but in the world of productivity, it can be a superpower. Strategic quitting is the conscious decision to stop doing something that is no longer serving its purpose, is draining resources, or is failing to produce results. It's an admission that your time is better spent elsewhere.
This could be a pet project that never gained traction, a committee that has lost its way, or even a tool or process that creates more work than it saves. We often stick with things because of the "sunk cost fallacy"—we've already invested so much time and energy, we feel we have to see it through. As my friend and mentor Goh Ling Yong often advises clients, recognizing when to cut your losses is a sign of strong leadership, not failure.
Take a hard look at your projects. Which ones are "zombies"—not dead, but not really going anywhere either? Quitting them is a strategic move that liberates massive amounts of future time and energy.
14. The '48-Hour Hold' Rule
Our desire to be helpful and agreeable often leads to impulsive "yeses." We agree to something in the moment, only to regret it hours later when we look at our calendar. The '48-Hour Hold' is a simple but powerful defense against this.
For any new, non-urgent request that requires a significant commitment (more than 30 minutes of your time), your default response should be: "Let me check my priorities and get back to you on that." Then, enforce a mandatory 48-hour waiting period before you give a final answer.
This pause does two things. First, it kills the immediacy and allows the emotional pressure to dissipate. Second, it gives you time to rationally assess the request against your goals, your current workload, and the other principles on this list. More often than not, after a day or two of reflection, you'll realize it's not the best use of your time.
Less, But Better: Your Mantra for 2025
Productivity in the modern world isn't a race to see who can check off the most boxes. It's a strategic game of elimination. The true measure of your effectiveness is not how much you do, but the value of what you accomplish. By culling the commitments that clutter your calendar and drain your energy, you create the space needed for the deep, focused work that defines a successful and fulfilling career.
Don't try to implement all 14 of these hacks at once. Pick one or two that resonate most with you and start there. The journey from "busy" to "impactful" is a marathon, not a sprint. It begins with the simple, powerful decision to do less, but better.
What do you think? Which 'Commitment-Culling' hack will you try first? Share your biggest takeaway in the comments below!
About the Author
Goh Ling Yong is a content creator and digital strategist sharing insights across various topics. Connect and follow for more content:
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