Genuine Curiosity

Author Dwayne Melancon is always on the lookout for new things to learn. An ecclectic collection of postings on personal productivity, travel, good books, gadgets, leadership & management, and many other things.

 

Keeping a running tab of what you’ve done

Some people are "score keepers" and others are not. I'm not. What I mean by this is that I am not very good at keeping track of all the specific things I've done, helped with, written, etc. - it's something about the way I'm wired (I also don't easily hold grudges, either, so there is an upside to not being a "score keeper").

However, this tendency can make it difficult when it's time to write a monthly status report / recap - I often find myself having a difficult time retracing my steps and creating a list of the things I've done for the past month, quarter, etc.

Archaeology is not easy

In the past when I sat down to hammer out a status report, I relied on my "Sent Items" in Outlook, a scan of completed items on my Task list, and other artifacts of my work. However, I often engage in things that aren't on my Task list, or don't involve email.

Recently, I've adopted a new technique (and am on my way to developing a new habit) that makes the bookkeeping a bit easier.

Note to self...

Now, when I do something significant (a phone conversation, a meeting, completing a project, making a significant contribution to a project, etc.) I send myself an email to create an artifact of that activity or milestone. I almost always have the means to send myself a note, either via my Blackberry or through Outlook.

When I process my Inbox, I file them in a time-labeled Status subfolder. For example, I do monthly status reports so I have folders under status called Apr07, May07, etc.

As I process my inbox, I can use ClearContext to file it by assigning "Status/Apr07" as the message's topic, or simply hit [Ctrl]+[Shift]+V, and typing "Apr07" and letting Speedfiler drop it into the appropriate folder.

Then, when I sit down to write my status report, I simply go to that folder and use the data there to complete my status report.

I can imagine variations on this theme that would be helpful, as well - you could create subfolders under Status for Projects, Clients, or other target audiences to help create an easy recap.

A nuance when dealing with support material

One subtelty about this is you sometimes have "support material" in your email inbox - do you file the support material in your Status folder, or do you just send a note?

As a die-hard GTD'er I favor leaving the support material in a Topic-based reference folder (Articles/Change Management), and sending yourself a note that you've completed something ("Completed article on Change Management for IT Auditor Magazine").

The hardest part

The hardest part of this (as with any system-based trick) is to develop the habit of sending these status notes. You can remind yourself by putting a calendar entry or a reminder into your system to say "Hey - did you do anything worthy of a status note today?"

Got any tricks that work for you? Let me know.

Related items:

Read More

Resources for the curious

Life's been busy this past week (include a complete rebuild of my laptop due to a bad memory chip, of all things), but I wanted to share a couple of useful resources I've been introduced to recently. Both are research-related, and definitely worth sampling.

  • The first is a Squidoo lens on internet research. I do a lot of internet research in the course of work and life, and I found some tremendous tidbits of wisdom here. You'll also find a list of "11 Search Tips" - I already knew some from the list, and learned some new things. One of my favorites is on there:
    • "Take advantage of "type of document" searches. For opinions search for PDF and Word Docs and for statistics look for XLS documents (include chart or graph in your search terms)."
I do this all the time, to great benefit - for example, you can do a search for '<person's name> ppt' to get any posted presentations they've done. You can find out a lot about what business people are up to by doing this - tremendously valuable for networking.
  • The next is a gadget/service called Clipmarks. Clipmarks is a great (free) way to catalog tidbits from your research. Plenty of other tools let you bookmark pages - this one is different. Sure, you can save a whole page, but the coolest thing is it allows you to grab portions of a web page so you can keep only the parts you care about. You can create public or private collections, and there are some built-in features to facilitate sharing.
You can use the Clipmarks web site, but I recommend installing the Clipmarks browser integration for maximum effect (IE and Firefox plugins are available, and the social browser Flock is supported).

Coming soon - I'm beta testing a site that will be an awesome resource to get good prices on airfare. More to come when it emerges from beta.

Read More

GTD and ClearContext guidance

In the past, I've posted quite a bit on how I use ClearContext as a lever to become more effective with Getting Things Done.


If you'd like to benefit from some best practice documentation for using ClearContext with GTD, check out this awesome resource provided by Brad and the team at ClearContext. I was privileged to have the chance to review this before it went live, and I am very impressed with this clear, concise guide they've created.


The guide applies to both new (Outlook 2007) and older versions of Outlook (I use Outlook 2003) and is a must-have for any GTD'er that is using or considering ClearContext.



My newest little black book

I've been reading Jeffrey Gitomer's "Little Black Book of Connections - 6.5 Assets for Networking Your Way to Rich Relationships" and I think it's a great resource for increasing your ability to make connections with others. The book (which is, of course, small and black) has a ribbon bookmark so you can easily keep track of where you are as you move through it. It's great having a built-in bookmark.

No swimming upstream

This book has lots of tips and tricks in it, but it definitely isn't gimmicky. I've read other networking books that were good, but this one actually feels like I could apply its principles without having to try to go against my nature. For example, I really enjoyed reading Keith Ferrazzi's "Never Eat Alone," but I don't have the right "wiring" to replicate Ferazzi's way of networking.

In this book, Gitomer doesn't force you to do superhuman things that you can't sustain. Rather, Gitomer's tips are designed to help you shift your philosophy of networking and get you to develop new, small-scale habits that add up to make you better at connecting and building relationships with others.

What can you expect to find? This little black book is filled with lots of tips to help you develop a habits for helping others before you ever ask them for help, for developing a long-term strategy for maintaining better relationships with various types of contacts, and how to consistently be yourself in your interactions with your contacts. There are also tips for how to promote yourself without being "schmoozy" and regularly touch your contacts along the way.

Tap into companion resources

In addition to the book, the author does a lot online to help enhance the book, and feed you tidbits and reminders. In fact, he provides very useful "Git Bits" (which, I imagine, is quite amusing to my British friends) via his site a www.gitomer.com. Want to sample a Git Bit? Go to his site and enter "Lifelong Learning" in the Git Bit Search field.

To actually get any of the articles, you'll need to register. If you do register, I suggest that you also sign up for his "Sales Caffeine" newsletter - it's applicable to more than Sales people.

By the way, there are a bunch of keywords in the book to help you select specific "Git Bits" for key areas of skill development.

A little something for everyone

Whether you're new to the networking game, or an accomplished connector, you're likely to find something in this book to help you improve - there are even tips on how to find and utilize a mentor in here. Many of the tips are similar to other great tips I've seen in other networking books, but this book has all of them (and more) in one place.

Think of it as a collection of "best known methods" for networking. And, by the way, Gitomer's writing style is very conversational, making this an easy read.

Oh - and that ribbon I mentioned? Now that I've finished the book, I think I'll use the ribbon for another purpose: I'll pick one area I want to focus on for developing my networking and relationship building skills, and use the ribbon to make it easy to refer back to it when I need a refresher.

So - check it out and uplevel your networking skills.

Technorati: , , ,

Read More

[Updated] Breakthroughs - go get some

My review of Lisa Haneberg's "Two Weeks to a Breakthrough: How to Zoom Toward Your Goal in 14 Days or Less" is now live at Joyful Jubilant Learning. Go check it out - I looove this book!

By the way - there is a review per day over there all month long, as part of the annual "Love Affair With Books" - some great finds await you.

[Update]

I just found out that Lisa's on YouTube (with all the cool kids - and Chad Vader) with a great song and video compilation associated with "Two Weeks to a Breakthrough." Very catchy, and includes some video effects that I liked a lot, like that one with the eye - yet another reason to go check it out [link].

Read More