| Seminars and Webinars |
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The tips in this newsletter are just that, small tips and lessons to make Outlook usage more productive. If instead you’d like to significantly transform your team or department by learning an over-arching e-mail and task management approach using Outlook, contact Michael Linenberger to schedule a hands-on seminar on-site, in your company (or a custom webinar). In those classes, the entire Manage Your Now! Outlook system can be learned, greatly boosting the productivity of your team. The material can be directed for any existing capability level. Call 1-888-216-7041 or check out the seminars page for more information. |
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Welcome to the February 11, 2010 Outlook Productivity Newsletter!
In this issue a reminder of how to use task dates and a few announcements
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| Using Date Fields on Tasks |
I get this question a lot: which date field should we populate in Outlook Tasks? I teach users these days to set a Start Date on all tasks. That essentially tells you when you want to do the task, or when you want to start thinking about the task. Future tasks are hidden until their start date arrives, keeping your list clear and shorter.
You might think you would also set the Due Date field for the deadline (if any). However these days I completely ignore the due date field—that’s because once you set a Start Date, in Outlook you cannot leave the Due Date blank, and then you do not know if it was set on purpose—it looks like all tasks have a deadline, and we know that is not true. So in the Outlook configurations I recommend you display the Start Date field and hide the Due Date field, and use other means to display deadlines.
See a full discussion of all this on pages 66, 68, and 76 of Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook 2nd Ed. |
As I announced in the last newsletter, I have a new book coming—Master Your Workday Now! It is releasing on March 8, (which is a week later than first announced). As a result of that newsletter I received a lot of questions asking me if that new book covered Outlook 2010. The answer is no, this is not an Outlook book, nor is it a technology book. It is a business productivity book with solutions for controlling out-of-control tasks (using any medium, even paper). It also has new solutions for setting goals, and for guiding your career. I think you will like the book, it is very powerful.
One note: if you haven’t pre-ordered it you may want to wait—on the week of release I will send out a newsletter with an offer—if you buy it that week I’ll give you access to a free download of some sort (still deciding). More details then.
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| New Training Coming—That You can Teach |
If you are a trainer you may like this: I will mostly likely be sending out an offer next week inviting people to purchase a training package, certifying them to teach the material in the new book. So look for a newsletter next week on that. This will be for the new book only—I do not yet offer anything for the Outlook material—that may be a while if ever. But do keep an eye out for more information on the new Master Your Workday Now! train-the-trainer material, most likely next week.
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