The Don’t/Do System
Donald Roos
A six-week live course on how limitations can improve your time management, entrepreneurship, and save the world.
Course starts 6 February 2026.
The course is limited to 15 participants.
What happens if you don’t do something instead of doing it?
In Western society, we live in a system built on the desire for more and bigger. We need to do more. We need to be more productive. We have to make more money. We need to be more successful. We need more likes, more views. We need more products. This system is not only killing our planet but also our local communities and, last but not least, ourselves. The world is overexploited, big companies dominate local economies, and we find ourselves lost and stressed by the pressure to be productive. Everyone knows this, yet it appears we are all stuck in this system.
Can we change this? Yes!
Humans also design this system. If humans design this system, we can change it by creating an alternative system. And that’s where the ToDon’tList-Method comes in. What happens if you don’t do something instead of doing it? What happens if you challenge yourself with limitations instead of endless options? Everything is connected. Deciding not to do something small can have an enormous impact. It can have a substantial and positive impact on you as a person and as a creator. But also on your community. And even the world. Wouldn’t it be great if you could improve yourself as a creative person and, at the same time, have a positive impact? Just by not doing. This is what we will explore in the course: The Don’t/Do System.
Structure
- 6 weeks
- 1 live session per week, 2 hours each, Interactive, not pre-recorded
- Small cohort (10-15 participants) for real dialogue and feedback
- Language: English
- Tools: Google Meet + shared materials
- Assignments between sessions
Recordings are generally not available.
We believe learning happens through presence and interaction, not passive watching.
Donald approaches creative work in three circles
You → Local → Global
moving from the personal,
to the entrepreneurial,
to the systems we all live within.
Each circle expands your view;
each circle sharpens your decisions.
By the end of the course, you will understand how doing less can help you create more meaningful work and be more focused, more intentional, more resilient.
Dates
Module 1
YOU: Time Management
6 February 2026, 17–19hrs CET
The ToDon’tList Method (for you as a person)
13 February 2026, 17–19hrs CET
Sketch, Don’t Talk (ToDon’tList Method for your work) / Limitations
Module 2
LOCAL: Entrepreneurship
20 February 2026, 17–19hrs CET
Test Your Ideas
27 February 2026, 17–19hrs CET
Grow, Own Your Impact
Module 3
GLOBAL: Economics/Saving the World
6 March 2026, 17–19hrs CET
Understanding Our Society
13 March 2026, 17–19hrs CET
Saving the World by Doing Nothing
Price
799 € + VAT
Includes all live sessions, exercises, and digital course materials.
If you have any questions about the course, feel free to email us at franziska@schoolofsystems.org.
What the course is about
You will learn to use the Power of Not-Doing.
How limitations stimulate creativity. And how you can use the ToDon’tList-method on different levels of your creative life.
We will work in circles: You -> Local -> Global.
Starting at a personal level (managing your workflow). We will then take this to the local level. Running your studio. Then sell your ideas, projects, products and/or services. Making an impact and owning your impact.
Lastly, we will explore how you can contribute to saving the world.
Own your impact. What’s your responsibility? In short, we go from your Time Management to Saving the World.
What will you do?
Donald will guide you through smaller exercises and larger assignments to improve your design process, stay focused, and step out of your comfort zone. You will learn how to get your projects to see the light of day. And last but not least: how to make a positive impact.
During the sessions, we will work together as a group, individually, and in small, separate groups.
In between the weekly courses, you will get some experimental challenges as “homework”. You can complete all the exercises and assignments during the sessions, but it may be helpful to set aside time during the week to review, refine, and work on your tasks to get the most out of the sessions.
This is for you, if…
You have a lack of focus
Because you’ve got too many ideas, tasks, and todos, everything gets overwhelming. And in the end, none of your ideas ever sees the light of day.
You feel stuck in your creative process
All your projects follow the same routine, and you never surprise yourself anymore. You feel stuck behind your screen. You want to take your projects to a new/other level. Make them stand out from the crowd.
You want to make a bigger positive impact
You want your projects to have a bigger positive impact and make the world a better place. But there are so many things going on, so much turmoil, that you don’t know where or how to start.
Who will be your teacher?
Donald Roos is a creative entrepreneur based in Amsterdam (the Netherlands). Trained as a (typo-)graphic designer at the Royal Academy of Art, The Hague, he sets up and runs projects with other professionals from different fields. Like many creatives, he has too much to do and too many ideas, so he came up with the ToDontList method.
Together with co-writer Anne de Bruijn, he previously published Don’t Read This Book — Time Management for Creative People (30.000 copies, translated into seven languages) and Don’t Buy This Book — Entrepreneurship for Creative People. Their latest book is If You Don’t — Economics for Creative People / Saving the World by Doing Nothing. They also developed the thought experiment game called Don’t/Do This.
Based on his ToDon’tList philosophy, Donald strongly believes that limitations stimulate creativity. Whether it is time management or saving the world, making choices not to do something can be very effective. Deciding not to do everything, but making choices about what is really essential, defines your identity and your projects. It makes you stand out from the crowd. This is what you will learn in the course.
For whom is the course:
Creative People — While the course focuses on professional creatives, it is open to everyone who considers themselves creative and wants to work more effectively.
For those who always have too many ideas, but never get them to live.
For those who want to set up a creative business but don’t know where to start.
For the people who want to make a change.
What is required:
Paper and pencils, materials to create prototypes. You will receive a digital worksheet for every session.
What will you learn:
You will learn the power of not doing. You will learn simple yet effective methods to help you stay focused and remain open to experimentation. How setting limitations can help you manage your time more effectively, come up with unexpected solutions, create projects, products or services that stand out from the crowd, and even save the world as a positive side effect. All by not doing. Limitations Stimulate Creativity.
Photos: Wesley Scheggetman and Ilja Meefout (portrait)