Take Back Your Life: Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to Get Organized and Stay Organized

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Author: Sally McGhee

ISBN-10: 0735623430

ISBN-13: 9780735623439

Category: Email & Communications Software

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...

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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\ \ \