Just because I drink my kombucha from a Harvard mug while sitting in my Harvard sweats and waving a Harvard pennant, singing "Fair Harvard, we join in thy jubilee throng," people think I went to Harvard.

Can't imagine why.

The truth is that I didn't go to Harvard, but I did do the next best thing: I read an article in the online version of the Harvard Business Review. I read the whole article, too, no skipping around — or not much, anyway. How could I not? The article was all about me.

The article that inspired me to load up on Harvard merch was written by Kate Northrup. Its title is an expression of my personal business philosophy, "Want to Be More Productive? Try Doing Less."

The goal here is to stop obsessing on what we need to do and start obsessing about what we need to not do. "But," adds Northrup, "this determination can't be random." So, if your first thought about what not to do was "get out of bed in the morning," stop reading. You've already gotten it figured out.

Because she wants our process to be "methodical and evidence-based," Northrup has created a "surprisingly simple exercise to help individuals decide what activities on their to-do list bring them the most value, and which they can stop doing."

Surprisingly simple? I don't think so. To utilize the Northrup method, you need to know how to tell left from right. In other words, it's going to be a challenge, so take a break, and take a nap. Let's get busy.

Step 1 is to "draw a line down the middle of a piece of paper, lengthwise."

Here we go. We haven't even started, and you have to get a piece of paper. In our digital world, paper isn't easy to come by, especially when you're working at home. If you have children and don't mind working on colored construction paper, you might be able to use the backs of your kids' artwork from the refrigerator door, but that has problems of its own. "Mommy took down my dinosaur drawing," your little darling will scream. "Mommy doesn't love me anymore."

In Step 2, you decide on an area of your work where you'd like to have better results and less stress. "For example," she continues, "perhaps you want to expand your thought leadership." Or, in your case, expand the idea that you actually know how to think and are not stumbling through life like a drunken wombat.

Which brings us to Step 3, in which you "list the tasks or activities you do in that area of your work" and enter it on the left-hand side of the line. This step should take no time at all, since you do nothing at all, except wait for the title of thought leader to be bestowed on you. It could happen, too. "He just sits there, looking smug," a manager will say. "He must be a deep thinker."

Switching over to the right-hand side for Step 4 — I told you this wouldn't be easy — "Make a list of your biggest 'wins'" in that area. Again, a no-brainer. If you had any wins, you wouldn't need to do this dumb exercise in the first place.

In Step 5, you are instructed to "draw a line connecting each of your biggest wins to the activity or task that was most responsible for that result." This could be helpful. On the right-hand side, circle a major accomplishment, like "manager remembered my name." Draw a line to connect to the obvious left-hand factor, "had enchiladas for lunch." Now you've got a strategy. If you want to be noticed, always eat enchiladas. (Or, if you want to stay an anonymous, unnoticed cog in the machine, stick to mac 'n cheese.)

In Step 6, you "circle all the activities and tasks on the left side of your paper that have been responsible for your big wins." Focus on these activities. Anything else you can "stop doing completely, significantly minimize, or delegate if it absolutely must be done."

High on the list of activities to stop doing completely is spending time on surprisingly simple exercises from the Harvard Business Review. Reading this column is definitely an activity you can delegate. Assign the task to the child who is doing dinosaur drawings.

That child may be an unruly 6-year old to some, but to me, the kid is a thought leader.

Bob Goldman was an advertising executive at a Fortune 500 company. He offers a virtual shoulder to cry on at bob@bgplanning.com. To find out more about Bob Goldman and read features by other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit the Creators Syndicate website at www.creators.com.

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