Take Back Your Life: Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to Get Organized and Stay Organized by Sally McGhee, John Wittry

Acknowledgments     xi
Who Is This Book For?     xiii
Laying the Foundation for Productivity-Using an Integrated Management System
Changing Your Approach Changes Your Results     2
10 Beliefs That Limit Productivity     5
There's Too Much Information Coming at Me Too Fast, and I Can't Keep Up     9
I Get Interrupted Too Many Times     11
I Don't Have the Discipline to Be Organized     12
I Have to Keep Everything     13
It Takes Too Much Time to Get Productive     15
I Can't Find What I Need When I Need It     16
Organization Cramps My Freedom and Creativity     17
I'm No Good with Technology!     18
There's Not Enough Time in the Day!     20
I'm Not Organized by Nature     21
Making Changes Involves Letting Go     22
Defining Productivity     24
What Is Productivity?     25
Meaningful Objectives     27
Strategic Next Actions     29
Work/Life Balance     30
The MPS Cycle of Productivity     31
Identifying Meaningful Objectives...with Execution Plans     33
Creating Strategic Next Actions...Without Dependencies     34
Scheduling and Completing StrategicNext Actions...Creating Integrity     35
Reviewing and Course Correcting...Being Accountable     36
Introducing the MPS Action Hierarchy Model     37
What Gets in the Way of Productivity?     39
Introducing the Integrated Management System     40
Collecting System     41
The Reference System     42
The Action System     42
Introducing ControlPanel     42
Introducing the ControlPanel with the MPS Cycle of Productivity     44
Bringing It All Together     45
Creating an Integrated Management System     46
Collecting     48
Setting Up a Collecting System     48
Managing Interruptions     49
Clearing the Mind Exercise     49
Processing and Organizing     50
Setting Up Your Action and Reference Systems     50
Introducing the MPS Workflow Model     51
Prioritizing and Planning     53
Prioritizing and Planning Activities onto the Calendar     54
Introducing the Weekly Review     54
Integrating Personal and Business into One System     56
Integrating Your Personal Life into Your System     56
Technology     57
Company Policies     57
Keeping Your Personal Life Separate     58
Small Things Make a Big Impact     58
Tools You Need to Get Started     59
Creating an Integrated Management System-The Collecting Phase
Setting Up Your Collecting System     62
Identifying Your Current Collecting Points     63
Where Are You Currently Capturing Your Commitments and Agreements?     64
Deciding to Consolidate Your Collecting Points     66
Setting Up Your Approved Collecting Points     66
You Are Not a Collecting Point     80
Implementing Your Collecting System     81
What Changes Are You Going Make?     82
Successfully Managing Interruptions     86
Are Interruptions Necessary?     88
Are You Training Your Staff to Interrupt You?     89
Scheduling Uninterrupted Work Time     90
Using 1:1 Agendas     90
Using Staff Meetings     91
Using E-Mail     91
Creating Solutions, Not Problems     91
Are You Using Technology to Help or Hinder Your Focus?     92
Turning Off E-Mail Alerts, Cell Phones, and Landlines During Work Appointments     94
Clarifying Response Times     94
Resetting Expectations and Holding People Accountable     95
Managing E-Mail Response Times     96
Managing Drive-By Interruptions     99
Managing Cell Phones, Pagers, and Instant Messaging     100
What Changes Are You Going to Make?     101
Clearing the Mind     102
Are You Using Your Mind As a Collecting Point?     103
Understanding the Conscious and Unconscious Mind     105
Are You Carrying a Heavy Load?     107
Clearing the Mind and Lightening the Load     107
Doing the "Clearing the Mind" Exercise     108
Awarenesses     116
Using Categories: (none) as a Collecting Point     117
Keeping Your Agreements and Maintaining Your Integrity     118
Being Discerning     120
Keeping Agreements with Yourself First     121
Renegotiating Agreements     122
Disengaging from Agreements     123
Learning to Say "No" to Agreements     124
What Changes Will You Make?     126
Keeping Track of the Changes You're Going to Make     126
Success Factors for the Collecting Phase     127
Creating an Integrated Management System-The Collecting Phase
Setting Up Your Action System     130
Introducing the Planning and Action Categories     132
Defining Planning and Action Categories     134
Meaningful Objectives     135
Supporting Projects     136
1:1 Meetings     136
Strategic Next Actions     138
Someday Maybe     140
Setting Up the Planning and Action Categories     140
Creating Meaningful Objectives     144
Five Steps to Creating Personal and Professional Objectives     146
Integrating Professional and Personal-Creating Balance     147
Creating Alignment and Accountability-The Action Hierarchy Model     148
Establishing Your Meaningful Objectives     150
Being in Alignment and Being Accountable     166
Organizing Your Meaningful Objectives in Your IMS     168
What Changes Will You Make?     170
Processing and Organizing Categories: (none)     172
Using the MPS Workflow Model     175
What Is It?     176
Is It Actionable?     177
Does It Relate to a Meaningful Objective?     179
Organizing and Planning Your Meaningful Objectives     181
Organizing and Planning Your Supporting Projects     189
What's the Strategic Next Action Without a Dependency?      196
The Strategic Next Action Story     197
Do It?     203
Delegate It?     203
Defer It?     208
Examples of How Clients Use the MPS Workflow Model     210
Frequently Asked Questions     212
Why Separate Strategic Next Actions from Supporting Projects and Meaningful Objectives?     212
Can I Still Associate My SNAs with My Supporting Projects?     213
Can I Customize My SNA Categories?     214
Can I Have More Than One Strategic Next Action per Project?     215
When Do I Transfer a Strategic Next Action into the Calendar?     216
How Do I Insert E-Mail Messages and Documents into Tasks?     216
Does Every Task Require a Due Date?     217
Can I Choose Multiple Categories?     217
How Do I Track Both Personal and Work Items?     218
Awarenesses     220
What Changes Will You Make?     220
Success Factors for Processing and Organizing Categories: (none)     222
Improving Your Reference System     224
The Difference Between Action and Reference Information     225
Using Search Functions to Find Information     226
How to Improve Your Reference System     228
Identifying Existing Reference Locations     229
Reviewing the Six Reference Locations We Recommend     230
Consolidation     238
Creating a Folder Hierarchy That Works     238
Setting Up Your Reference System     241
Stop Using Your Inbox as a Reference System!     242
Determine What to Keep and What to Delete     243
Keep Your Folder List Current     244
Keep Your System Simple     245
Ensuring your E-Mail Reference System is Set Up     245
What Changes Will You Make?     246
Success Factors for Improving Your Reference System     248
Processing and Organizing Your E-Mail     250
E-Mail Is a Communication Tool     252
Introducing the MPS E-Mail PASS Model     253
Creating Meaningful E-Mail Using the MPS PASS Model     253
What Is the Purpose of Your Communication?     253
What Action Is Involved and Does It Have a Due Date?     254
Have You Effectively Summarized Your Message in the Subject Line?     257
Did you Use the To, Cc and Bcc lines Effectively?     259
Questions To Ask Before Sending E-Mail Messages     262
Preparing to Process and Organize Your Inbox     265
Setting Up the To-Do Bar      266
Dragging E-Mail to the To-Do Bar or Calendar     270
Inserting an E-Mail Message or Document into an Existing Task     273
Inserting an E-Mail Message or Document into an Existing Calendar Appointment     274
Flagging     276
Using the MPS Workflow Model to Process and Organize E-Mail     280
What Is It?     281
Is It Actionable?     281
Does It Relate to a Meaningful Objective?     281
What Is the Strategic Next Action Without a Dependency?     282
Using The Four Ds for Decision Making     283
Delete It     283
Do It     284
Delegate It     285
Defer It     287
Processing and Organizing Your E-Mail for 30 Minutes     288
Awarenesses     289
Frequently Asked Questions     291
When's the Best Time to Process E-Mail?     291
What's an Appropriate Amount of E-Mail to Receive?     292
How Do I Reduce the Volume of E-Mail I Receive?     293
Can I Customize My Own Subject Lines?     293
Didn't I Only Move E-Mail from the Inbox to the To-Do Bar?     294
How Will I Remember to View the To-Do List?     294
When Do I Put E-Mail Messages onto the Calendar versus onto the To-Do List?     295
Can I Use the E-Mail Notification Options?     295
When Can I Use Flagging Effectively?     296
Can I Organize My E-Mail in the Inbox and Not Use the To-Do Bar?     297
Emptying the Inbox and Getting to Zero     297
What Changes Will You Make?     298
Success Factors for Processing and Organizing E-Mail     300
Creating an Integrated Management System-The Prioritizing and Planning Phase
The Prioritizing and Planning Phase     304
Are You Planning from Your Calendar or Your To-Do List?     306
Using Your Calendar to Prioritize and Plan     308
Setting Up Your BaselineCalendar     309
BaselineCalendar Activities     310
Including Travel Time     312
Including "Catch-Up Time" After Travel     313
Using Out of Office Replies     313
Including 9-1-1 Interruptions     314
Keeping Appointments with Yourself Is a Priority     314
Using Colors on the Calendar to Create Differentiation     315
Handling Meeting Requests     319
What Is It and Is It Actionable?     321
Does It Relate to a Meaningful Objective?     321
Do You Have All the Information You Need?     321
Can You Delegate It?     322
Can You Add It to an Existing Meeting or Agenda?     322
Schedule It     322
Three Stages to Completing a Weekly Review     324
Making the ControlPanel Your Default View     335
Scheduling Your Weekly Review     336
Making Your Weekly Review a Priority     336
What to Do When You Fall Off the Wagon?     337
Coming Full Circle     337
Success Factors for Prioritizing and Planning     339
Afterword     341
Index     343