Michael Linenberger's Blog

Sept 14, 2011

In the last blog post I showed you some simple rules that help keep your MYN task list well managed. In particular, I focused on how to keep the Critical Now and Opportunity Now tasks list well under control and at an appropriately small size.

But what about the Over-the-Horizon section? That’s the low priority tasks section in Outlook and ToodleDo, and it quickly becomes a dumping ground for all your extra tasks. There is an easy solution however. I teach a simple yet very powerful process called Defer to Review—it keeps the Over-the-Horizon section small and meaningful, and it works great. Defer to Review is written up thoroughly in Lesson 9 of the Outlook book, as well as starting on page 73 of the book Master Your Workday Now! but here’s a quick overview. Continue reading →

September 5, 2011

Sometimes in all the details and minutia of work we drift away from the core lessons of the Master Your Now task system. So let’s quickly review how to use MYN and get you back to the key principles.

Success with MYN is based on segmenting all your tasks into three main “Urgency Zones”: Critical Now, Opportunity Now, and Over-the-Horizon. The way you control them is this:

Urgent tasks that must be completed today are put in the Critical Now section; that’s the High priority section in ToodleDo and Outlook. Tasks that you would like to do today or this week but that can wait up to ten days are placed in the Opportunity Now section; that’s the Medium priority section in ToodleDo and the Normal priority section in Outlook. And tasks that can wait ten days or longer, perhaps much longer, are placed in the Over-the-Horizon section; this is the Low priority section in ToodleDo and Outlook.

To keep the size of this list well controlled, you should have no more than five items in the Critical Now list, and likely much fewer. You should have no more than 20 items in the Opportunity Now list. And you’ll place all other items in the Over-the-Horizon section.

You will review the Critical Now section approximately once per hour. You review the Opportunity Now section at least once per day. And you review the Over-the-Horizon section once per week. And to keep the size of the Over-the-Horizon section under control, you’ll use the Defer-to-Review process for setting future start dates at reasonable review cycles for each task; for a reminder of how Defer to Review works, see Lesson 9 in the Outlook book or page 73 in the book Master Your Workday Now!

That’s it, that’s a quick overview of the MYN task system “rules.” For a slightly longer review, reread Lesson 4 in the Outlook book. It’s the best single chapter to use as a refresher.

Good luck!

Michael

Aug 27, 2011

Some recent graduates of my Outlook MYN training or recent readers of my Outlook books ask me “how come you hide future tasks? I want to be able to see tasks that are coming up and get ready for them.”

In MYN we hide future tasks so that you can keep your list focused on what needs current attention. With MYN settings, tasks with future start dates are hidden. Now, both Outlook and ToodleDo have ways to show future tasks temporarily, if you really want to glance ahead. But you shouldn’t need to do that. Rather, you should use the start date field in a smart way.

What do I mean by that? For example, if you have a task with a deadline in the future, but want to see it a few days before its due, just set the start date a few days ahead. Remember, the start date is the day that you want to first see the task, and it may be well ahead of the deadline. It is the start date that controls the visibility of the task; if the start date is set to the future, the task is not visible. If the start date is set to today or earlier, then you can see the task.

So again, if you want to keep your eye on a task before it comes due, just set the start date some day well ahead of the deadline. That way you can keep your eye on tasks that you think you need forward attention on. And don’t forget, the best way to set the deadline in Outlook is to put it right in front of the subject line.

So here’s an example task: “DUE April 15 Submit Taxes.” In this example you would probably make the start date April 10 or earlier so that the item would be visible on your list for a while before the deadline, so you can get ready for the event.

Yes, smart use of the start date field is the way you can get the visibility you need of upcoming actions and deadlines in MYN. This works in both Outlook and ToodleDo.

Michael

August 27, 2011

There’s nothing worse than an overloaded task list. It makes it unusable. The MYN system offers a lot of solutions to that. But one main reason people are putting too many tasks there is because they’re putting systematic tasks in their list. What do I mean by that? If you have an invoice processing job and you process 50 invoices a day, do not put all 50 invoices in your task list. Use a separate list of invoices and then put one entry in in your task list that says Complete Invoices.

Same if you are say a sales person who is making cold calls. If you are required to make 10 calls today, don’t list each one individually on the Critical Now list; instead make one entry and keep the 10 items in a separate list.

The point is that the purpose of your MYN task list is to give you a way to organize loose and scattered to-dos, allowing you to make sense of a chaotic work life. It allows you to clearly identify the urgency of those scattered items. The MYN list does not take the place of other tools you may use for systematic work processing. Any repetitive tasks which are part of a well-defined process you do routinely—keep those separate, in their own lists or systems.

Michael

Aug 11, 2011

The next public webinar dates have been posted. They are October 25-28, 2011. More information here:

www.michaellinenberger.com/WebinarContents4Part.html

Michael

Aug 9, 2011

If you’ve been following my newsletters you know that I recommend you use ToodleDo as your task server software if you cannot use Outlook with Microsoft Exchange Server. The beauty of ToodleDo is that you can use it with a web browser, an iPad or iPhone, or with android. All of these platforms have good MYN-compatible software solutions.

The software I’ve been recommending for Android is called Pocket Informant Android. I have a blog entry about it here.

Well, I just released a new video on how to configure Pocket Informant Android f or MYN. You can watch that video by going to this page. There you’ll find detailed instructions for how to set up Pocket Informant Android, showing videos of all the settings screens and so on. Check it out.

Michael

July 30, 2011

Have you made use of the Quick-Click Category feature in Outlook yet? If you haven’t, you should.

What is it? You have probably noticed in Windows Outlook (only in Outlook 2007 and 2010) that if you click in the Categories column next to an e-mail item, it places a Red category in there. This is a normal left-click and in pops in instantly—it’s very easy and very quick.

So what you ask?

Well, you should use this instead of using the red flag for most items you want to “flag.” Why?  Because starting in 2007, the red flag is now intended only for action items. And, to reinforce that intention, Outlook puts a copy of the flagged mail in your To-Do Bar to remind you to take the action later. (As an aside don’t forget this: per my MYN teachings, the only actions you should flag this way are deferred replies—e-mails you intend to reply to in a day or two—otherwise, if it’s a longer-term action, you should create a true task for it by dragging the e-mail to the Tasks banner button or icon in the left corner of your Outlook window; see Lesson 7 in my Outlook books for more info on this).

So what about e-mails you just want to mark as “important”? Continue reading →

July 29, 2011

Hi All. In recent blogs I announced the brand new ToodleDo version (a complete makeover!) and what browser to use on Android with it (Opera).

Today I want to announce that I’ve created a new ToodleDo getting started video.  Use it if you want to get started with ToodleDo and MYN. And it is a great way to see the new changes in ToodleDo.

Remember, ToodleDo is the best software out there for managing tasks on nearly any platform, and it allows tasks to sync across all your computers, phones, and tablets. It works great with MYN.

To see the new video, just go to my ToodleDo page: michaellinenberger.com/ToodleDo.html and run the video on the left side of the screen.

Send this link to anyone that you think needs to get started with a simple and powerful automated to-do system.

Michael

[Feb 23, 2014 Update: these instructions are for older app versions. Updated instructions can be found in two places: 1) in our paid Toodledo video class: http://www.michaellinenberger.com/FullTD-MYN.html and 2) on the 1MTD “extras” page, Video 5b: http://www.michaellinenberger.com/extras/index.php]

July 28, 2011

Some time ago, in a white paper, I published the instructions for configuring the ToodleDo iPhone and iPad apps for MYN. Now, I want to get those same instructions into my blog so readers can find them more easily. Here they are again, copied almost verbatim. Enjoy!

Michael

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Continue reading →

July 26, 2011

As I mentioned in my earlier post today, ToodledDo today just released a major upgrade for their browser-based task management software. It’s really good. One thing they did was use more Ajax coding in the interface so you get speedier screen interaction results.

Of course, when you change the coding on a site, some things may get affected. Here’s one: Android-based Dolphin Browser no longer works well with ToodleDo. I had recommended Dolphin earlier since the built-in browser on my Android phone (a Droid X by the way) never worked with ToodleDo (and still does not with the new version of TD). But Dolphin did, but now it does not with the new TD. The problem is about a quarter of the buttons don’t get pressed properly.

The solution? Switch to Opera Mobile. It works great on my Android phone with the ToodleDo browser mode.

Of course, you are probably using Pocket Informant to get at ToodleDo on the Android, so this all may be moot for you. But I still like to go into the browser version of ToodleDo on my Droid X, and so getting the right browser is key. Opera Mobile is the way to go.

By the way, Safari on the iPad works great with ToodleDo. And the browser on my BlackBerry Torch works tolerably well too.

Michael