Using outliner program and working from a project list - pros and cons?

[andersons]

Andersons,

Do you mind sharing with us what your upper-level goals (or whatever they are called in LifeBalance) are?

If you don't mind, please share them.

Weeeeell. I don't know if there's anything to be learned from them. And I compromise my anonymity. But you asked so nicely. Be forewarned there is nothing special, creative, or cool about them. It is very tempting with LB to try to create a perfect, elegant outline. And some users have imagined incredibly creative ones. But what works best for me are top-level items (TLIs) for the divisions I naturally think about in my life.

I am currently experimenting with the idea that there is power in expressing something like "wild success" in the wording of these things. And using verbs. But I will first give the boring noun I usually use, followed by [the description I'm currently testing], and an explanation.

> INBOX [no special name here] - obvious to GTDers what this is for. It's at the top and configured for rapid entry of items. I move them to appropriate places in the outline when convenient.
> Research [Create new knowledge] - This is my primary occupation, doing scientific research.
> Spouse [Support spouse] - couldn't think of a good description for what my goal is here, though I do know what it is. Spouse likes the description, though. And being near the top of the list.
> Finances [Maximize our money] - all those horrible financial chores, investments, etc. go here. This is one TLI where the [description] I came up with makes a difference in how I feel about it. "Finances" are boring, yucky chores I don't want to do. "Maximize our money" is something I want to do.
> Home [Create and maintain a beautiful home] - obvious for homeowners. Sucks up incredible amounts of time.
> Health [Maintain health and appearance] - another big time-sucking one!
> Music [Direct inspiring music] - I am a church music director, my part-time occupation. Project planning and Life Balance scheduling features are so incredibly useful in this huge outline section.
> Friends & Family [Build bonds that last a lifetime] - stole that description from ratz, a member here and on LB forum. Definitely the nicest description I have; he's good at that kind of thing! This is such an important outline section for me because I tend to focus on work and forget about birthdays, anniversaries, etc. (including my own) of my friends and family who mostly live far away.
> Teaching [Teach] - Couldn't think of a good description, obviously, though I did convert the noun to a verb. This is part of my job only at times during the year. When it's not, like right now, I delete the whole section altogether.
> Toastmasters [Communicate powerfully] - This is a self-improvement area. The original "Toastmasters" term no longer applies since I have broadened the area to include writing projects, consulting projects, and voice lessons.
> Relaxation [Enjoy life] - Something like this came with the default LifeBalance outline. For the longest time, I had no items under it. My attitude has gradually changed toward having fun; I now have items here and use them as rewards regularly. And I really am enjoying life much more - it's amazing!

As you can see, these are the big, broad "areas of focus" that do not change very often. They are sort of like Covey "roles." The next level down has much more concrete projects.

Since levels 2, 3, and sometimes beyond contain both Projects/subprojects as well as conceptual containers -- and both are useful -- I borrowed an idea from another LB user for creating a semi-GTD-style Projects list. I say semi because I don't want "Dry cleaning" on my Projects list. The functionality of LB takes care of those multi-step but easy projects beautifully. I want a project list with only the bigger, more important ones that require more effort and thought, the ones that get neglected easily. I create a Project in the outline (e.g., "Proposal is submitted") with the context ("Places" in LB) ">PROJECTS." Selecting the >PROJECTS place shows me just those things, helping me plan during Weekly Reviews and otherwise. Of course, the subprojects and actions show up in concrete contexts like "@Office."

I've never used these outliner programs. It seems to me that I might have as a self-development goal, Improve Memory. And I might have as a job goal, order widget assortment. So I might have as a next action, memorize widget prices. Does it go under self-development or job?

I think there are always a few of these actions that could support several high-level goals. This is always a problem with any hierarchy, whether it be physical filing, computer filing, or outlines like this.

Some LifeBalance users want to be able to put items in more than one area, but that would considerably complicate the prioritization algorithm (which is awesome, by the way). Plus, it doesn't really matter. I just ask myself which goal the action most supports and put it there. In the example you gave, I would definitely say self-development, unless for some strange reason memorizing widget prices would make a big difference in your job performance. I doubt it, right?

Speaking of the Improve Memory goal. I do research in cognitive science, which includes the study of memory and skilled performance. "Memory" is not a single, unitary skill. There are many different memory skills which in fact can be highly specific. So if you practice memorizing widget prices, you may get somewhat better at memorizing widget prices, but your memory in general will not get better. I don't recommend memorizing anything you can easily look up. That's what PDAs and computers are for.

Incidentally, there are 2 things that have been shown to have large effects on improving memory: caffeine and sleep. I try to get plenty of both.

 

[moises]

andersons,

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

Do you track how you actually consume your time and compare that to your goal of how you would like to consume your time?

 

[jkgrossi]

I've tried this in the past, and it turned out for me that the cost/benefit wasn't worth the effort. Simply put, it became too much work to maintain. I find it much simpler to make the NA/Project connection during my weekly review than trying to maintain the relationship via my system.

 

[tonester]

I use Bonsai as well.

One thing that is useful is that Bonsai can link to items in the Palm todo app. Once I complete the task I use the unlink function (which deletes it from the Palm list) and link the next action in the project plan. By setting the categories up in Bonsai when I link an item it is created in the appropriate context list.

So the project plans are in Bonsai and the next actions are in context in the todo app.

Tony

 

[andersons]

andersons,

Thanks for the thoughtful reply.

Do you track how you actually consume your time and compare that to your goal of how you would like to consume your time?

moises, you're welcome. Yes, I have tracked my time because I wanted to use the balance pies effectively. It was a bit of overhead first to get used to noticing the time spent on each thing I did. I used a little timer app for Palm (BigClock?) quite a bit. I then set the "effort" (time) for each task before checking it off, so the pies showed me approximately where my time was going. After awhile, I didn't need to use a time and became more automatically aware of how much time things take. (A side benefit of this habit is that I am now pretty good at estimating how much time many actions will take.) This is exactly the same kind of activity advised for gaining control over one's finances by developing a budget. In fact, the pies remind me of Quicken (distant memories, alas. . .)

It takes a lot more time to describe than to do. Using Life Balance is not time-consuming for me. There was definitely a period of learning overhead at the beginning, but I imagine this would be true for just about any system that handles the complexities of GTD. Data entry on the Palm is a pain, but I avoid it as much as possible using the Palm Desktop and importing from the ToDo list. The other time sink to avoid is constantly tweaking the outline. It doesn't need to be elegant to work. In fact, elegance can get in your way. I do clean it up a bit when I have little odd bits of time with nothing else to do, like while waiting. Since my PDA is always with me, I can pull it out and review. I whip it out at talks and meetings that I am forced to attend but that turn out to be boring. Sometimes I hardly need a weekly review.

 

[moises]

andersons,

I am very impressed with your high level of discipline. It's quite inspiring.

I have avoided global tracking. I do track time spent when there are either activities I want to spend less time on or activities that I want to spend more time on.

Your analogy with personal finances is quite apt. I remember very clearly when I first started entering all my financial transactions into the computer program. Now I can't conceive doing otherwise.

You make a strong case.

Thanks,
moises

 

[andersons]

I am very impressed with your high level of discipline. It's quite inspiring.

moises, it would be an honor to inspire someone, but I don't want to leave you with a wrong impression. I don't think I have a high level of discipline; it's just that I had a lot of problems, so I had to look for ways to solve them. GTD solved some, LB solved others, organizing books solved still different ones, and The Now Habit solved some resistant ones. I had to get all that help for all my problems.

About the time tracking, trust your intuition. I'm not sure everyone needs to do it. I had some big problems to solve, neglecting important things and burning out. Time tracking and balancing helped me with those things. Good luck!