March 1, 2011
I gave a talk today (interview really) on the show “Morning Meetings” with Lynn Cohen, and it led to a very nice overview of my Workday Mastery material, including a discussion about how to set goals and how to become passionate about your work. Take a listen here.
Michael
Feb 24, 2011
A friend of mine recommended this book called Stop Workplace Drama, and just the title got me thinking. I recall many years ago when working in several very large organizations how much time, energy, and focus was lost day by day when office politics and turf battles captured so much attention. I remember spending hours writing carefully crafted e-mails to defend my case on some internal conflict tossed my way. It’s a huge productivity sink. This book claims to show how to create a culture that avoids that. Tell me if you find the book useful.
The other book in this space I highly recommend is The Speed of Trust by Stephen M.R. Covey (the son of the 7-Habits author). Stephen does a fantastic job of showing the incredible degree of efficiency you can gain if your organization uses trust as a common currency for business interactions, and how to achieve that.
If you find hours per week are lost on senseless office drama and politics, find a solution.
Michael
Feb 19, 2011
As you know, I recommend using Outlook Categories, instead of multiple folders, if you want to file mail by topic. Once used, you would normally view groups of categorized mail in your Inbox or Processed Mail folder by clicking on the Category column header.
But you can also use Outlook’s Search Folders to view category-filed mail. Search Folders are a Windows Outlook feature that allows creation of virtual folders in your folder list. Search Folders can be used to create category folders right in your Navigation Pane. They appear within and under the Search Folder group.
For example, see the figure at left. In this sample, eight Search Folders are shown, and they are all based on category name.
Using Search folders is purely optional, but often useful. Search Folders are virtual folders that populate with an entry for every mail item that matches certain search criteria that are defined at the time the particular Search Folder is created. You create one folder for each set of search criteria. For our purposes, collecting mail that has a given Outlook Category assigned works best; but many other search approaches are also possible. Once created, clicking the folder opens a view of all matching mail in a folder view, as if it were a real Outlook folder.
So, consider using Search Folders as your way to view the mail you tag with Outlook Categories.
Features of Search Folders
The advantage of using Search Folders to view categorized mail is this: they look and act nearly identical to regular Outlook folders. If you are accustomed to using a folder view in the Navigation Pane for manipulating saved mail, Search Folders create a very similar view for your collection of category-assigned mail. When you double-click a Search Folder, it opens just like any other folder, displaying the mail contained within. So there is a familiarity factor at work here which many find comforting.
There are, however, two disadvantages.
Feb 15, 2011
We’ve all had this experience. We’ve been heads down on an important project with a deadline looming. We are so focused that we are ignoring all but the most desperate e-mails and voice mails. Then we finish the project, take a deep breath and ask ourselves “Okay, how do I dig out of the backlog of things I have been putting off?” The same situation occurs when we get back from a vacation.
This is another place the MYN system works very well, you can dig out quickly, and it’s so easy. Just sort the things you have to do into the three MYN urgency zones. Identify what absolutely must be done today (your Critical Now list), what should be attended to soon, say tomorrow or up to 10 days out (your Opportunity Now list) and what can be put off 10 days or much much longer (your Over the Horizon list). Then jump on the Critical Now list and start working. Simple.
Ideally you do this sorting in one of the many MYN task list tools offered in this blog and in my books. Here’s how to start quickly: Continue reading
Feb 14, 2011
Here is a Blackberry (BB) App for creating your MYN Tasks List that will synchronize with your Exchange server. The App is called ToDoMatrix. It’s a bit pricey, but you can download a free trial using Blackberry App World, and then config it per instructions below to see if you like it.
[Nov 2013 Update: as of this writing, it does not appear that this ToDoMatrix app has been updated for Blackberry 10. It only appears to work on the older devices. Contact the ToDoMatrix folks for more info]
[Mar 4, 2014 Update: a new app for BlackBerry 10 has come out that works with MYN, but it only works with Toodledo, not Exchange. See this article]
I’ve been mentioning ToDoMatrix (TDM) as a possible Blackberry solution for years, but I never bothered to write up config instructions. Well, here they are.
TDM is a very rich and full-featured task app. It may take a bit to understand the full app, but you can get by with using only a few features. We’re mainly going to be using the Dimensions view in TDM (the 4th icon in the menu at the top of the TDM main view), and viewing tasks in the Priority folders there. So you’ll use the High, Medium, and Low priority folders in that section to see the three MYN urgency zones. Continue reading
Feb 14, 2011
You know by now I recommend ToodleDo as the MYN tasks system for anyone who cannot use Outlook for tasks. One feature of ToodleDo is this: when you convert an e-mail to a task using ToodleDo, if you have the paid version, the task picks up any attachments in the e-mail, which is nice. And you can attach files to tasks you create manually.
However, you should be aware of the way ToodleDo saves these files—it has a side effect. On ToodleDo’s servers, all attachments for your account, across all tasks, are stored in one directory (folder) assigned to you; they are then linked back to each task so you can get at the attachments from the task. The unfortunate side effect of doing it that way is that, like any computer folder, you cannot have more than one file with the same name in the same folder. So, if you add a task with an attachment and the attachment has the same name as the attachment from some older existing task, the new file will overwrite the old file—with no warning. Both tasks now point to the new file. Not a great outcome; not horrible since it may be rare that you run into this, but not a good design, in my opinion. I am told the programmers there are working on a better approach, but in the meantime, be aware as you use attachments.
Michael
Feb 10, 2011 (Updated Feb 19, 2017)
I know you may be eager to obtain a sexy new smartphone or tablet so you can take your appointments and tasks on the road, but if the extent of your mobility is inside an office building, say between your desk and a conference room, you can often get by with much less. When I worked in a large corporate office environment years ago, I found I was quite successful with merely printing out my Outlook MYN task list and appointments for the day on one page and taking that to meetings. In my experience, it trumped the complications of fiddling with a handheld device. I found using a full-sized sheet of paper preferable to navigating through the tiny screens on a mobile device during a meeting.
If you want to do this, you may wonder how to print your calendar and MYN task list together on one page. Outlook lets you do this. It’s especially easy in Outlook 2003, but a bit harder to set up in Outlook 2007, 2010, 2013/16. Unfortunately there is not an easy way to do it Outlook 2011/16 for Mac. Here are the steps for Windows. Continue reading
Feb 10, 2011
What Are Recurring Tasks?
Recurring tasks are a type of task in Outlook that allows you to create a task once, and then have it recreated automatically after a designated time interval. You can make any existing task into a recurring task by simply using the Recurrence button at the top of the task window.
An example of why you would create them might be a Monday status report that is due each week. You can cause that task to recreate itself every Monday morning in your Outlook tasks list. Unlike repeating appointments, however, future instances of recurring tasks are not placed in your task list until the previous one is marked complete or deleted. So they are a convenient way to keep a repeating task on track without burdening your task list with a long list of future tasks. Outlook’s implementation of recurring tasks is quite well done. It provides a lot of flexibility and power.
Using Recurring Tasks with MYN
Recurring tasks in Outlook work perfectly with the MYN system. In fact, I think they work even better in the MYN-configured Outlook task list than in the out-of-box Outlook task setting. In the MYN list, when you mark them complete, they disappear (they don’t in normal Outlook). And they only reappear when they are next needed; they then pop into the top of the MYN task list at just the right time. Perfect.
There is one thing to be aware of, however, if Continue reading
Feb 8, 2010
I have been a fan of GTD® for some time. Its focus on next actions is something I applaud (I recommend that all tasks written on the MYN-Tasks list be written as next actions). Of course, GTD did not invent the next action concept, it’s been around for decades. But it did bring it to recent focus.
My strong encouragement to use next actions in your MYN Now-Tasks list (see Lesson 6 in my Outlook book) is about the extent of the obvious overlap between MYN and GTD. MYN’s unique approach to task management is otherwise a quite different system. But they can easily be used together and so you can get the best of both. If you are a GTD user and are looking for more ways to integrate MYN with GTD, here are some ideas on how to do that. Let me know in comments section if you see more ways.
Feb 1, 2011
ToodleDo is my recommended task management software for MYN if you cannot use Outlook.
If you have read my books, you probably know I believe strongly in converting e-mails to tasks. Doing that is THE way to get control of an out-of-control in-box. If you try to use your in-box as a task management system, you will fail miserably. For more on this topic, see chapter 7 in the book Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook. Or see page 104 in the book Master Your Workday Now!
One reason I selected ToodleDo (over many other choices) as my web and iPad/iPhone task system of choice for those that cannot use Outlook is that it’s method of converting e-mails to tasks is easy and versatile, and it works with any e-mail system. And while that method is similar to other web-based task managers like Remember the Milk, I think ToodleDo’s is much simpler.
