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.

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Published 11 February 07 06:14 by J.D. Meier

Comments

# Christoffer said on February 23, 2007 7:34 AM:

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

# J.D. Meier's Blog said on February 25, 2007 7:56 PM:

Some readers asked to hear more on how I use my Scannable Outcome Lists in conjunction with My Personal

# J.D. Meier said on February 25, 2007 7:59 PM:

Hey Christoffer - Thanks for the kind words!  I wrote a new post to help explain the flow.  Enjoy!

# J.D. Meier's Blog said on March 25, 2007 7:21 PM:

How do I efficiently and effectively prioritize my day ... my week ... my life? In an earlier post, I

# J.D. Meier's Blog said on March 25, 2007 9:13 PM:

Why 30 Day Improvement Sprints ? I get asked this often enough that I think I should distll the keys:

# J.D. Meier's Blog said on June 6, 2007 10:09 PM:

Today I helped a colleague clear their inbox. I've kept a zero mail inbox for a few years. I forgot this

# J.D. Meier's Blog said on June 12, 2007 12:07 AM:

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

# imxkbpsptz said on June 21, 2007 10:19 PM:

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# J.D. Meier's Blog said on October 4, 2007 11:07 AM:

How do you store your notes and reference information in a way that’s low overhead and easy to find?

# Noticias externas said on October 4, 2007 11:49 AM:

How do you store your notes and reference information in a way that’s low overhead and easy to find?

# J.D. Meier's Blog said on October 6, 2007 7:58 PM:

A few readers asked me to show some screens of my approach in Outlook. (I haven't used images in my blog

# Noticias externas said on October 6, 2007 8:26 PM:

A few readers asked me to show some screens of my approach in Outlook. (I haven't used images in

# J.D. Meier's Blog said on October 13, 2008 1:38 AM:

At Microsoft, I regularly mentor some fellow softies.   It can be tough to navigate the waters,

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