A key to continuous learning: Keep a decision log

A while back I shared my experience recording observations on events I'd like to have done differently (Some thoughts from tracking "lessons learned" for a year). Here I want to tell you about a corresponding idea, tracking the decisions you make. The connection? Writing what you decide, including the reasons and expected outcome, strengthens the process of learning, and should ultimately teach you something about yourself.

This idea is expressed elegantly in a terrific 1997 Inc.com article by Peter Drucker: My Life as a Knowledge Worker. In it he shares seven major experiences he'd learned from his teachers:

1. Strive for perfection throughout life (even though it would surely elude)...
   
2. ... and do it "even if only the gods notice."
   
3. Study deeply one new subject every three or four years.
   
4. Set aside two weeks every summer to review the preceding year's work (things done well, poorly, or not at all).
   
5. With new work ask "What do I need to do, now that I have a new assignment, to be effective?"
   
6. Keep a decision log and after nine months trace the results back.
   
7. Ask yourself what you want to be remembered for, allow that to change, and value making a difference in the lives of people.

From #6 (THE SIXTH EXPERIENCE - Taught by the Jesuits and the Calvinists):

Whenever a Jesuit priest or a Calvinist pastor does anything of significance--making a key decision, for instance--he is expected to write down what results he anticipates. Nine months later he traces back from the actual results to those anticipations. That very soon shows him what he did well and what his strengths are. It also shows him what he has to learn and what habits he has to change. Finally, it shows him what he has no gift for and cannot do well.

Drucker used this method for most of his life, and said it 1) exposed his strengths, 2) indicated areas for improvement, 3) suggested which improvements to make, and 4) highlighted what is not possible to do.

He summarizes:

To know one's strengths, to know how to improve them, and to know what one cannot do--they are the keys to continuous learning.

Wow.

I've been tracking them for the last month or so, and I think it'll be valuable. Like the lessons learned, it helps to defuse difficult or emotional decisions, and changes my attitude about them from fear to curiosity. In other words, makes living more of a lab for experimentation and growth, rather than a dangerous jungle.

I also love the continuous improvement angle. I'm reading a great little book on Kaizen: One Small Step Can Change Your Life: The Kaizen Way. I'm especially excited about the implications for my clients adopting the work I do - for some, the "big push" approach either isn't feasible, or doesn't sustain.

I'd like to hear from anyone who's tried this. What did you learn about yourself?

What a difference a framework can make

I admit it: I love a good mental framework. While partly due to genetic anomalies that drove me toward engineering, computers, and personal productivity, having a good framework is also fundamental to being human. By "framework" I mean what Answers.com calls "A set of assumptions, concepts, values, and practices that constitutes a way of viewing reality." To that I'd add the framework needs to be applied by providing processes, practices, and/or tools to adopt it.

This comes up because I'm creating version 2.0 of my full-day workshop in preparation for summer seminars (including one for NASA employees at the Kennedy Space Center - woo hoo!) and as usual I was having a terrible time facing the task. I've committed to moving to PowerPoint for many good reasons (especially better connection with the audience and more effective adoption of the ideas), but I think putting together a good one is hard. This leads to my procrastinating on the preparation, avoiding it until the last few weeks and making the process extremely unpleasant. This is not an example of "enjoying the ride" [1].

Thankfully, Ricky Spears recommended Cliff Atkinson's book Beyond Bullet Points: Using Microsoft PowerPoint to Create Presentations That Inform, Motivate, and Inspire. Wow. I've heard mixed opinions about the book from people I greatly admire, but I found that so far Atkinson's framework (based on presentation = story) really resonates. It's also given me a whack on the head by realizing that my prior lack of a framework (including a process) has been a major problem.

And that's one huge benefit of a framework: Without one, I felt lost. Yes, structure brings constraint, but it can also provide freedom to give your creativity an outlet. In the case of my workshop, it's also making me face the hard questions around goals, clarifying the essential ideas, and coming up with a compelling story and theme. (All the while developing my own brand and identity.) As a result, the process is feeling more fun, and is giving me some solid anti-procrastination direction.

Some of the other frameworks I've found helpful:

• Programming: Extreme Programming. See chromatic's Extreme Programming Pocket Guide and Productivity for Programmers, #2: Efficient vs. Effective
  
• Self-management: Getting Things Done
  
• Establishing rapport: See How to Make People Like You in 90 Seconds or Less and A review of "How to make people like you in 90 seconds or less"
  
• Reading: See Steve Leveen's book The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life and A reading workflow based on Leveen's "Little Guide"

We'll see how it works out for my presentation, but what about you? What frameworks gave you an "aha!" and how did they help? How'd you find out about them? And did they turn you into a saint, prophet, or evangelist?

References

• [1] A maxim from Improv Wisdom: Don't Prepare, Just Show Up (see Great time management ideas from the world of improv wisdom for more).
  

A reading workflow based on Leveen's "Little Guide"

The best of a book is not the thought which it contains, but the thought which it suggests. -- Oliver Wendell Holmes

Many of my subscribers are active readers and book lovers. My post How to read a lot of books in a short time is my most popular, and I've even had the pleasure of receiving surprise copies in the mail! Along those lines, Steve Leveen's book The Little Guide to Your Well-Read Life is a great meta book, and one of those "I have to give copies to friends" works that leaves a lasting impact.

There's a lot to the diminutive tome, but here I'd like to share his suggested workfow, an example of a specialized system [1] (unlike Getting Things Done, which is a general one).

Overall Flow

Here's the staging Leveen recommends (a "shelf flow," if you will [2]). The basic idea is repeated reviews over time (including during reading and after) help strengthen recall. (Note: "*" indicates my additions.)

1. Pre-candidates list* (desired books, i.e., your wish list)
   
2. Candidates library (acquired books - a Someday/Maybe list)
   
3. Currently reading stack
   • Castaways*
4. Après reading 1 shelf
   
5. Après reading 2 shelf
   
6. Après reading 3 shelf
   
7. Living library

Briefly, you have three concurrent phases happening: Collecting (managing your pre-candidates list, and buying from it - steps 1 & 2 above), Reading ("activating" one or more of your candidates - step 3), and Reviewing (steps 4-6). Finally, you continue to return to your living library over time, re-reading favorites, or using it for reference or inspiration (step 7). Of course if the book doesn't pass the 50 page test (see ), it gets rejected as a castaway [3].

In addition to these phases, Leveen suggests keeping a reader's journal or annotated bookography [4], which I've generalized to include tracking your candidates (including who recommended each one (and why), the books you've read (just the ones you're really glad you read), and your notes from them. (He recommends writing in the book itself, but I prefer a voice-dictation-to-electronic-storage model. I use a simple text file, but a wiki or something like stikkit would work as well.)


I think most stages are straightforward, but let's look a bit more carefully at reading (step 3) and the Après reading shelves.

Reading

Leveen has us approach reading with two things in mind. First, read actively: Ask questions of yourself and the author. Engage in a dialog by asking:

• Why am I going to read now?
  
• What do I want to get out of it?

(For more see the SQ3R method - Survey, Question, Read, Recite, Review. I like the Mind Tools summary.)

Second, he has us read the book at a high level (skimming), and gradually come in closer, i.e., starting with superficial reading then zooming into analytical reading.

The stages:

1. First tour: In this cursory inventory you preview the book by asking questions about the author, her background, the index, table of contents, and bibliography. Spend a few minutes looking at the overall book and thinking about what that means - what you know about the subject, what you expect to learn. This stage should only take a few minutes.
   
2. Second tour: Read the front and back matter, think about intended audience, scan the major index headings, and look at reprint/revise info.
   
3. Third tour: Read a few introductory and concluding paragraphs from each chapter, where Leveen says most writers sum up their major points. This allows you to create a customized outline in your head, and to better target where the book's meaning lies for you (often the real meat of the book is somewhere in the center).
   
4. Finally: Fully read the book. This may be the entire work, or just the parts that looked useful to you from previous scans. Importantly, don't be afraid to give up on the book. Leveen reminds us there are so many other great books awaiting, so why spend time on ones that don't speak to us?

Note: You should pause between each stage to reflect on what you learned, and to sharpen your focus/questions. Note-taking is highly recommended.

Après Reading Shelves

I'd not seen the term après before (my education's been very technical up to this point), but basically it means stages of review after you've read a book. Leveen says this is important - it's where we cement our understanding and make the ideas relevant (and applied) to our lives. He recommends three shelves:

1. This shelf holds books that you've just finished reading and awaiting your first review. Note: They should only sit there a few days before you review them.
   
2. The second shelf is for second-round reviews (they should sit maybe a week or so).
   
3. The third shelf is for six-month or later reviews.

After these stages, your books go into your living library.

My Status and Comments

Right now I have:

• Pre-candidates: about 500 (they're here, FYI).
  
• Candidates: about 80.
  
• Après: haven't set it up yet!
  
• Living library: about 50.

Applying Leveen's workflow takes discipline, as does keeping up with reading. In my case, I read while exercising in the morning, which gives me a guaranteed 1/2 hour a day on either books or articles. However, my flow is slowed down when it comes time to notes processing. And I've not tried the review at all, except when (like here) I blog about a book, or include ideas from it in related posts.

I'll wrap up with this wonderful notion from Leveen: "Instead set out to always being able to answer yes to the following simple question: Are you reading something great right now?)"

So how do you manage your reading workflow? Do you use Leveen's ideas? Any tips or tricks you'd like to share?

References

• [1] Another typical one is financial flow - many clients already have a working system, which I do not mess with.
  
• [2] Adapted from the idea of a "folder flow," which I found in Practice your personal Kaizen over at http:Lifehacker.
  
• [3] The castaways term is from Orange Crate Art: Tools for serious readers?

Resources

• The Forum | Steve Leveen in Readerville | June 13-17, 2005
  
• In the same thread Leveen shares some permissions he gives out on a sheet to workshop participants, including permission to...:
  • ...make my own reading plan to the extent that feels right to me. (Just as you are free to have no plans, you are also free to develop lists of candidate books and better yet, a growing library of candidates.)
    
  • ...acquire books without the requirement of reading them.
    
  • ...define being well-read as a journey rather than a destination.
    
  • ...love, or not love, any book whatsoever.
    
  • ...read more than one book at a time.
    
  • ...give up on a book and abandon the "clean-your-plate" mentality.
    
  • ...debate, argue with, agree with, and write to an author.
    
  • ...write in my books.
    
  • ...listen to books, knowing that listening is just as good, and sometimes better, than silent reading with my eyes.
    
  • ...share my reading experiences with others.
    
  • ...read a classic, for the first time, much later in life.
    
  • ...improve at reading my whole life long.
    
  • ...linger in a library even if I prefer to buy books.
    
  • ...spend as much on books as I do on other great passions of my life.
    
  • ...make my own reading rules. (Seize your own well-read life as only you can and you will likely be an inspiration to others.)
• Leveen's detail on après reading is found here.
  
• Here's someone who has a short bookography on-line.
  

Report on a little experiment: Daily random entries from my personal log

I want to share the results of a little experiment I did over the last few months using my My Big-Arse Text File. I've been using this semi-structured text file to track my consulting activities for the past two years, and it contains a mixture of things like:

• consulting activities,
• networking connections [1],
• lessons learned (see Some thoughts from tracking "lessons learned" for a year),
• contact information,
• idea capture (see Pickle jars, text files, and creative idea capture),
• book notes (see How to read a lot of books in a short time),
• blog topics,
• GTD tips and holes,
• interesting news articles and reports,
• tips on blogging and writing,
• marketing and workshop ideas,
• tool tips and how-tos for clients,
• ...

Having all this information is very useful when I search for something specific, but I wondered whether it'd be helpful to get a random entry emailed to me daily. So I wrote short BASH script that sends me a random entry every night, kind of a mental "blast from the past" in my inbox. The results? After a few months of these, I have to say the results have been mixed, mostly negative.

What I liked about it: I'd occasionally get something cool I'd forgotten about, like the idea of embedding due date in names of time-sensitive projects (e.g., ending them with "DUE XX-YY"), or an equation from my self-help formuarly (e.g., Brian Tracy's success attitude formula: SA = D + D * PA + P [desire, direction, proper action, persistence]).

However, it's clear that selecting random entries isn't principled enough. What would be more useful is something that fits into a structure that's congruent with my goals/systems. Three important ones come to mind:

• book notes (so I can review the big idea, go deeper, and apply it to my life),
• lessons (so I can actually learn from them by changing behavior), and
• client/prospect contacts (so I can reconnect and be thinking of how I can help them).

(For the latter I strongly suspect I should be using a specialized tool - any recommendations?)

Final conclusion: Good idea, didn't work out, but gave me ideas for the next step.

I still pine for an integrated program that easily supports reminding like this, with structured fields (e.g., "this is a book review", "this was a client contact", etc.) yet has the flexibility to capture unstructured text, combined with the ability to link anything together, regardless of type (see Where's the IDE (Integrated Development Environment) for personal information?). I've looked at a number of them [2], but amazingly my text file plus simple macros remains a sweet spot for simplicity, portability, and power.

As always, your suggestions and comments are always welcome.


References

• [1] Two great books related to networking are Never Eat Alone and Love Is the Killer App. Additionally you might enjoy these posts on the topic:
  • A geek "gets" networking: The strange magic of connecting with others
  • A simple and useful networking gift that anyone can give for free
  • My Business Networking Advice article is up, FYI
  • Networking surprises - Some recent unexpected (but successful) outcomes
  • The most important networking question (although I'm changing my mind on that - the most important one might be "Who are you?" or "How can I help you?")
  • On the goal of meeting three new people a week - A ten week retrospective
• [2] E.g., Omea, Jot, and Dabble DB.

My Life Coaches Blog interview is up

I'm very pleased that Alvin Soon's email interview with me is up at Life Coaches Blog. The article is 10 Questions With The Productivity Expert: Matt Cornell, and I have to say Alvin asked some great questions.

Alvin and his fellow bloggers create a steady stream of very useful and deep articles on personal development, including NLP 101, Your Brain: A Guide to Fine-Tuned Performance, 9 Keys to Overcoming Difficult Times, and The Most Important Thing to Do: Stretch (he lists 13 of his favorites here).

Thanks very much, Alvin!