Jaa


Scannable Outcome Lists

I realized another key for helping manage To Dos.  It's having scannable lists of outcomes.  I keep flat lists of outcomes chunked by area or project.  These aren't the next actions.  They're the results I want to accomplish.  They act as prompts to help me quickly identify next actions.

I keep lists for all my various areas for outcomes:

  • Continuous Improvement: mind, body, career, relationships, financial
  • Projects
  • Ideas
  • Goals and committments
  • Recurring items (such as backup, status reports)
  • Habbits or practices I'm developing
  • Training
  • Information sources (places or people that I routinely browse or pull information from)

In a single view, I can first scan all of my areas.  I can then quickly scan any particular area for outcomes.  What I like about this approach is that I get a bird's-eye view of all the areas that I'm working on.  Because I like to focus on a given area for results, I could easily neglect areas.  This approach keeps important things on my radar and helps keep me balanced.

I use my scannable outcome lists in conjunction with my personal approach for daily results.

Related Posts

Comments

  • Anonymous
    February 22, 2007
    I find your blog very interesting, instructive and among all inspiring. I have a question or rather a request; Could you make/illustrate in a more practical manner how you manage the work flow of this post and the “my personal approach for daily results” please? :-) Thanks in advance Regards /Christoffer

  • Anonymous
    February 25, 2007
    Some readers asked to hear more on how I use my Scannable Outcome Lists in conjunction with My Personal

  • Anonymous
    February 25, 2007
    Hey Christoffer - Thanks for the kind words!  I wrote a new post to help explain the flow.  Enjoy!

  • Anonymous
    March 25, 2007
    How do I efficiently and effectively prioritize my day ... my week ... my life? In an earlier post, I

  • Anonymous
    March 25, 2007
    Why 30 Day Improvement Sprints ? I get asked this often enough that I think I should distll the keys:

  • Anonymous
    June 06, 2007
    Today I helped a colleague clear their inbox. I've kept a zero mail inbox for a few years. I forgot this

  • Anonymous
    June 11, 2007
    If you're backlogged and you want to get out, here's a quick, low tech, brute force approach. On your

  • Anonymous
    June 21, 2007
    Hello! Good Site! Thanks you! xsqnlceouf

  • Anonymous
    October 04, 2007
    How do you store your notes and reference information in a way that’s low overhead and easy to find?

  • Anonymous
    October 04, 2007
    How do you store your notes and reference information in a way that’s low overhead and easy to find?

  • Anonymous
    October 06, 2007
    A few readers asked me to show some screens of my approach in Outlook. (I haven't used images in my blog

  • Anonymous
    October 06, 2007
    A few readers asked me to show some screens of my approach in Outlook. (I haven't used images in

  • Anonymous
    October 12, 2008
    At Microsoft, I regularly mentor some fellow softies.   It can be tough to navigate the waters,