Take control of the unrelenting e-mail, conflicting commitments, and endless interruptions—and take back your life! In this popular book updated for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, productivity experts Sally McGhee and John Wittry show you how to reclaim what you thought you’d lost forever—your work-life balance. Now you can benefit from McGhee Productivity Solutions’ highly-regarded corporate education programs, learning simple but powerful techniques for rebalancing your personal and...
The ideal guide for creating your own personal productivity system by using Office Outlook 2007 Take control of the unrelenting e-mail, conflicting commitments, and endless interruptions and take back your life! In this popular book updated for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, productivity experts Sally McGhee and John Wittry show you how to reclaim what you thought you d lost forever your work-life balance. Now you can benefit from McGhee Productivity Solutions highly-regarded corporate education programs, learning simple but powerful techniques for rebalancing your personal and professional commitments using Outlook 2007.Empower yourself to: Clear away distractions, tie up loose ends, and focus on what s really important to you. Take charge of your productivity using techniques designed by McGhee Productivity Solutions and implemented by numerous Fortune 500 companies. Balance your home and work priorities by exploiting the enhanced productivity, organizational, and search capabilities in Outlook 2007. Go beyond just coping and surviving to taking charge of your time and transform your life today! PLUS Get a quick reference poster to McGhee Productivity Solutions proven methodology for managing workflow.
Acknowledgments xiWho Is This Book For? xiiiLaying the Foundation for Productivity-Using an Integrated Management SystemChanging Your Approach Changes Your Results 210 Beliefs That Limit Productivity 5There's Too Much Information Coming at Me Too Fast, and I Can't Keep Up 9I Get Interrupted Too Many Times 11I Don't Have the Discipline to Be Organized 12I Have to Keep Everything 13It Takes Too Much Time to Get Productive 15I Can't Find What I Need When I Need It 16Organization Cramps My Freedom and Creativity 17I'm No Good with Technology! 18There's Not Enough Time in the Day! 20I'm Not Organized by Nature 21Making Changes Involves Letting Go 22Defining Productivity 24What Is Productivity? 25Meaningful Objectives 27Strategic Next Actions 29Work/Life Balance 30The MPS Cycle of Productivity 31Identifying Meaningful Objectives...with Execution Plans 33Creating Strategic Next Actions...Without Dependencies 34Scheduling and Completing StrategicNext Actions...Creating Integrity 35Reviewing and Course Correcting...Being Accountable 36Introducing the MPS Action Hierarchy Model 37What Gets in the Way of Productivity? 39Introducing the Integrated Management System 40Collecting System 41The Reference System 42The Action System 42Introducing ControlPanel 42Introducing the ControlPanel with the MPS Cycle of Productivity 44Bringing It All Together 45Creating an Integrated Management System 46Collecting 48Setting Up a Collecting System 48Managing Interruptions 49Clearing the Mind Exercise 49Processing and Organizing 50Setting Up Your Action and Reference Systems 50Introducing the MPS Workflow Model 51Prioritizing and Planning 53Prioritizing and Planning Activities onto the Calendar 54Introducing the Weekly Review 54Integrating Personal and Business into One System 56Integrating Your Personal Life into Your System 56Technology 57Company Policies 57Keeping Your Personal Life Separate 58Small Things Make a Big Impact 58Tools You Need to Get Started 59Creating an Integrated Management System-The Collecting PhaseSetting Up Your Collecting System 62Identifying Your Current Collecting Points 63Where Are You Currently Capturing Your Commitments and Agreements? 64Deciding to Consolidate Your Collecting Points 66Setting Up Your Approved Collecting Points 66You Are Not a Collecting Point 80Implementing Your Collecting System 81What Changes Are You Going Make? 82Successfully Managing Interruptions 86Are Interruptions Necessary? 88Are You Training Your Staff to Interrupt You? 89Scheduling Uninterrupted Work Time 90Using 1:1 Agendas 90Using Staff Meetings 91Using E-Mail 91Creating Solutions, Not Problems 91Are You Using Technology to Help or Hinder Your Focus? 92Turning Off E-Mail Alerts, Cell Phones, and Landlines During Work Appointments 94Clarifying Response Times 94Resetting Expectations and Holding People Accountable 95Managing E-Mail Response Times 96Managing Drive-By Interruptions 99Managing Cell Phones, Pagers, and Instant Messaging 100What Changes Are You Going to Make? 101Clearing the Mind 102Are You Using Your Mind As a Collecting Point? 103Understanding the Conscious and Unconscious Mind 105Are You Carrying a Heavy Load? 107Clearing the Mind and Lightening the Load 107Doing the "Clearing the Mind" Exercise 108Awarenesses 116Using Categories: (none) as a Collecting Point 117Keeping Your Agreements and Maintaining Your Integrity 118Being Discerning 120Keeping Agreements with Yourself First 121Renegotiating Agreements 122Disengaging from Agreements 123Learning to Say "No" to Agreements 124What Changes Will You Make? 126Keeping Track of the Changes You're Going to Make 126Success Factors for the Collecting Phase 127Creating an Integrated Management System-The Collecting PhaseSetting Up Your Action System 130Introducing the Planning and Action Categories 132Defining Planning and Action Categories 134Meaningful Objectives 135Supporting Projects 1361:1 Meetings 136Strategic Next Actions 138Someday Maybe 140Setting Up the Planning and Action Categories 140Creating Meaningful Objectives 144Five Steps to Creating Personal and Professional Objectives 146Integrating Professional and Personal-Creating Balance 147Creating Alignment and Accountability-The Action Hierarchy Model 148Establishing Your Meaningful Objectives 150Being in Alignment and Being Accountable 166Organizing Your Meaningful Objectives in Your IMS 168What Changes Will You Make? 170Processing and Organizing Categories: (none) 172Using the MPS Workflow Model 175What Is It? 176Is It Actionable? 177Does It Relate to a Meaningful Objective? 179Organizing and Planning Your Meaningful Objectives 181Organizing and Planning Your Supporting Projects 189What's the Strategic Next Action Without a Dependency? 196The Strategic Next Action Story 197Do It? 203Delegate It? 203Defer It? 208Examples of How Clients Use the MPS Workflow Model 210Frequently Asked Questions 212Why Separate Strategic Next Actions from Supporting Projects and Meaningful Objectives? 212Can I Still Associate My SNAs with My Supporting Projects? 213Can I Customize My SNA Categories? 214Can I Have More Than One Strategic Next Action per Project? 215When Do I Transfer a Strategic Next Action into the Calendar? 216How Do I Insert E-Mail Messages and Documents into Tasks? 216Does Every Task Require a Due Date? 217Can I Choose Multiple Categories? 217How Do I Track Both Personal and Work Items? 218Awarenesses 220What Changes Will You Make? 220Success Factors for Processing and Organizing Categories: (none) 222Improving Your Reference System 224The Difference Between Action and Reference Information 225Using Search Functions to Find Information 226How to Improve Your Reference System 228Identifying Existing Reference Locations 229Reviewing the Six Reference Locations We Recommend 230Consolidation 238Creating a Folder Hierarchy That Works 238Setting Up Your Reference System 241Stop Using Your Inbox as a Reference System! 242Determine What to Keep and What to Delete 243Keep Your Folder List Current 244Keep Your System Simple 245Ensuring your E-Mail Reference System is Set Up 245What Changes Will You Make? 246Success Factors for Improving Your Reference System 248Processing and Organizing Your E-Mail 250E-Mail Is a Communication Tool 252Introducing the MPS E-Mail PASS Model 253Creating Meaningful E-Mail Using the MPS PASS Model 253What Is the Purpose of Your Communication? 253What Action Is Involved and Does It Have a Due Date? 254Have You Effectively Summarized Your Message in the Subject Line? 257Did you Use the To, Cc and Bcc lines Effectively? 259Questions To Ask Before Sending E-Mail Messages 262Preparing to Process and Organize Your Inbox 265Setting Up the To-Do Bar 266Dragging E-Mail to the To-Do Bar or Calendar 270Inserting an E-Mail Message or Document into an Existing Task 273Inserting an E-Mail Message or Document into an Existing Calendar Appointment 274Flagging 276Using the MPS Workflow Model to Process and Organize E-Mail 280What Is It? 281Is It Actionable? 281Does It Relate to a Meaningful Objective? 281What Is the Strategic Next Action Without a Dependency? 282Using The Four Ds for Decision Making 283Delete It 283Do It 284Delegate It 285Defer It 287Processing and Organizing Your E-Mail for 30 Minutes 288Awarenesses 289Frequently Asked Questions 291When's the Best Time to Process E-Mail? 291What's an Appropriate Amount of E-Mail to Receive? 292How Do I Reduce the Volume of E-Mail I Receive? 293Can I Customize My Own Subject Lines? 293Didn't I Only Move E-Mail from the Inbox to the To-Do Bar? 294How Will I Remember to View the To-Do List? 294When Do I Put E-Mail Messages onto the Calendar versus onto the To-Do List? 295Can I Use the E-Mail Notification Options? 295When Can I Use Flagging Effectively? 296Can I Organize My E-Mail in the Inbox and Not Use the To-Do Bar? 297Emptying the Inbox and Getting to Zero 297What Changes Will You Make? 298Success Factors for Processing and Organizing E-Mail 300Creating an Integrated Management System-The Prioritizing and Planning PhaseThe Prioritizing and Planning Phase 304Are You Planning from Your Calendar or Your To-Do List? 306Using Your Calendar to Prioritize and Plan 308Setting Up Your BaselineCalendar 309BaselineCalendar Activities 310Including Travel Time 312Including "Catch-Up Time" After Travel 313Using Out of Office Replies 313Including 9-1-1 Interruptions 314Keeping Appointments with Yourself Is a Priority 314Using Colors on the Calendar to Create Differentiation 315Handling Meeting Requests 319What Is It and Is It Actionable? 321Does It Relate to a Meaningful Objective? 321Do You Have All the Information You Need? 321Can You Delegate It? 322Can You Add It to an Existing Meeting or Agenda? 322Schedule It 322Three Stages to Completing a Weekly Review 324Making the ControlPanel Your Default View 335Scheduling Your Weekly Review 336Making Your Weekly Review a Priority 336What to Do When You Fall Off the Wagon? 337Coming Full Circle 337Success Factors for Prioritizing and Planning 339Afterword 341Index 343
\ From Barnes & NobleThe Barnes & Noble Review\ You can learn how to use Outlook. Or you can learn how to use Outlook to take back your life: to get really organized, without becoming one bit more obsessive-compulsive than necessary. If the latter sounds better, this is your book. \ Sally McGhee doesn't start with point-and-clicking: She starts by helping you root out "limiting beliefs" that stand in your way, define real productivity, and plan a simple way to manage your whole life. In so doing, she shares lessons she's taught (and learned) with thousands of executives.\ You'll learn how to use Outlook to minimize interruptions, reset others' expectations of you, and hold them more accountable. Next, using Outlook, you'll build an "action system" with truly meaningful objectives. McGhee helps you understand what objectives are truly meaningful for you; how to define projects and "strategic next actions" targeted at moving those objectives forward; and what to put in your "someday maybe" category of things to accomplish.\ McGhee demonstrates how to use Outlook to create a single, coherent "reference system" that helps you find what you're looking for without tearing your hair out. She offers a full chapter of guidance on processing email more efficiently: one that makes full use of everything from Subject to Cc and Bcc lines to Outlook flags (and finally organizes your Inbox).\ You'll learn why it makes better sense to use your Calendar for prioritizing and planning, not your to-do list (and how to set up your Calendar to do so as effectively as possible). There's guidance on reflecting travel and post-vacation "catch-up" time in your schedule; handling meeting requests more efficiently (including when to say no); and a whole lot more. Isn't this the way you've always wanted Outlook to work for you? Bill Camarda, from the August 2007 Read Only\ \ \