In my second post marking the tenth anniversary of my first book, Living in More Than One World: How Peter Drucker’s Wisdom Can Inspire and Transform Your Life, (Berrett-Koehler), I’m focusing on a running device contained in the book, the Total Life List. It is part of a framework for self-management based on Drucker’s ideas for living a diversified, holistic life.
A major theme in the book is the benefits of living a multi-dimensional life, yet recognizing how difficult it can be. An area of importance is knowing what your current reality is, so you can start where you are in building a life of living in more than one world. And it’s even more important than it was ten years ago, as the world has only gotten more hectic and time demands have increased.
In addition, similar devices have become quite popular in recent years, as evidenced by Ryder Carroll’s The Bullet Journal Method, and Rachel Wilkerson Miller’s Dot Journaling—A Practical Guide.
Besides describing the total life list in detail throughout my book, I also wrote about it in a post for LexisNexis Government Info Pro, Creating Your Total Life List for 2014. It includes the following: “The list is simple to set up and use. It can be done on computer, or with pen and paper. The idea is to have a framework for a visual representation of where your life stands now, including identifying the people in your various activities and responsibilities; and what you envision for the future.” Vern Burkhardt interviewed me about the list in a post for IdeaConnection. I further discussed it in the context of the book’s message in Living in More Than One World: Peter Drucker on Work/Life, a post for AMA/American Management Association.
Below is an extended version of the list, with subdivisions that do not appear in the book, (People, Professional, and Personal). The focus is on how to find and develop, through a blend of self-reflection and action, meaning and fulfillment in these key areas:
• People (Friends, Family, Professional Colleagues, Clients)
• Professional (Workplace, Professional Affiliations, Teaching and Learning)
• Personal (Mentoring, Volunteering, Outside activities Including Leisure and Personal Expressions of Creativity)
Your Total Life List
People
- Immediate family (current and future)
- Extended family (current and future)
- Closer work colleagues (people you interact with most often in the workplace)
- Friends (current and future goals)
- People in your various professional networks (current and future goals)
Professional - Various places of current employment and (briefly) what your work entails (current and future goals)
- Professional affiliations and associations (current and future goals)
- Ongoing learning activities (current and future goals)
- Teaching (if any) (current and future goals)
Personal - Volunteer activities (current and future goals)
- Work with nonprofit organizations, or social entrepreneurship (current and future goals)
- Mentoring (current and future goals)
- Outside interests of all types, including areas such as sports leagues, amateur interest societies, religious/spiritual activities or study, book groups, or creative areas such as writing, art, journaling or playing music (current and future goals)
- Exercise and other mind-body activities (current and future goals)
To increase the power of the total life list, consider pairing it with the Creating the Future notebook, a running device in my second book, Create Your Future the Peter Drucker Way. I’d like to think that my creation of these two devices not only helps you organize your life more productively, but also extends your understanding and appreciation of Peter Drucker’s work, ideas, and concepts.
Creating the Future notebook
- Start by noting your current ideas and attitudes toward the future; along with some of your personal and professional goals. See how these change over time.
- Keep your notebook/computer file ready to capture ideas, articles, books and websites that contain valuable information about the future. Annotate as necessary.
- Start listing (and continue adding) names of people you either know personally or have read about that are particularly adept at navigating the future. What qualities do they have that you can learn from?
- Do the same for organizations (libraries or otherwise) and their navigation of the future.
- List at least three people, organizations or online sources you learned about today that you will contact or learn from in the next two weeks, to help realize your future goals.