Putting It Into Practice: Worked Examples
Theory is one thing; application is another. Let’s walk through two common scenarios to see how the Done List system works in the real world. We’ll examine a professional goal (a career pivot) and a personal development goal (learning a new skill), demonstrating how to translate a big vision into daily, trackable actions.
Example 1: The Career Pivot to Data Science
The Vision: Sarah, an analyst in a marketing department, has a vision to transition into a full-time Data Scientist role within 18 months.
Quarterly Theme (OKR): For her first quarter, Sarah sets an Objective: “Build foundational Python skills for data analysis.” Her Key Results are: 1) Complete the first three modules of an online Python for Data Science course, 2) Build a small project analyzing a public dataset, and 3) Network with three data scientists to understand the industry.
Weekly Focus (Input Goals): Sarah knows she can’t just “learn Python.” She needs to break it down. Looking at her schedule, she identifies 5 hours per week she can dedicate to this goal. Her weekly input goals become: “Spend 4 hours on course lessons and practice problems” and “Spend 1 hour on networking outreach or project work.” These are her leading indicators. Whether she fully understands every concept is less important for weekly tracking than whether she consistently puts in the time.
Daily Actions and the Done List: Sarah uses time blocking. She schedules one hour every weekday morning from 7 AM to 8 AM for her studies.
- On Monday, her Done List reads: “Completed course module 1, lesson 1 & 2 (1 hour).”
- On Tuesday, she struggled with a concept, so her entry is: “Re-watched lesson 2 and completed 3 practice problems (1 hour).” This is still a win; she put in the effort.
- On Wednesday, she works on networking: “Researched 5 local data scientists on LinkedIn and drafted connection request message (1 hour).”
- By the end of the week, her Done List shows five entries, totaling five hours of focused work. She met her input goal. She might not feel like an expert yet, but her Done List provides concrete evidence of her commitment and progress. At her weekly review, she can see this tangible effort, which motivates her to plan and execute the following week. After three months, these small, consistent actions will have added up, allowing her to tick off her Key Results.
Example 2: The Fitness Goal of Running a 5K
The Vision: Mark wants to improve his cardiovascular health and has a vision of comfortably running a 5K race in four months.
Quarterly Theme (OKR): Since the timeline is short, his 4-month goal is his main Objective: “Run a 5K without stopping.” His Key Results are progressive milestones: 1) Consistently run/walk three times per week, 2) Be able to run 1 mile without stopping by the end of Month 1, and 3) Be able to run 2 miles without stopping by the end of Month 2.
Weekly Focus (Input Goals): Mark’s focus is not on his race time (a lagging indicator he can’t fully control). His focus is on the actions he can control. He chooses a beginner running program that prescribes three workouts per week. His primary input goal is brutally simple: “Complete all 3 scheduled workouts for the week.” This is a pass/fail metric. He either did it or he didn’t. He also adds a secondary input goal: “Do 10 minutes of stretching after each run.”
Daily Actions and the Done List: Mark schedules his runs for Monday, Wednesday, and Friday evenings.
- On Monday, after his first workout, his Done List says: “Completed Day 1 of 5K training (6x 1-min run / 2-min walk).” And “Stretched for 10 minutes.”
- On Wednesday, he felt tired and almost skipped it, but he pushed through. His entry: “Fought off inertia and completed Day 2 of training. Felt great afterward.” He includes the emotional victory, as that reinforces the behavior.
- On Friday, he completes his third run. At his weekly review, he looks at his Done List. He sees three completed workouts. He met his input goal perfectly. He doesn’t worry about his pace or how hard it felt. He just focuses on the fact that he showed up. This builds an identity of “someone who is consistent with their training.” Week by week, this identity solidifies, and his running ability (the output) naturally improves as a result of his consistent inputs.
