I received an e-mail from a "seat-mate" flying back from the east coast a while back, and that prompted me to put this entry together. Here's what she said,
"Jason...enjoyed talking with you. I really liked those tools you talked about using Outlook...any way to share how to do that?"
What she was talking about was/is my "Outlook dashboard." Below you'll find the view I looked at today, 26 July. Notice the days on the left, and the "tasks" on the right. This kind of action management/prioritization really keeps me on track.
I've talked for years about the series of steps to go through to maximize work, workflow and productivity.
In a nutshell, here they are:
Perception:
Behaviors:
Decision Making Model:
Systems:
Action:
Contribution:
For now, I've left the blanks blank...I'll come back and write about how I see each level, and how they facilitate workplace productivity AND prioritization.
Here are those directions to creating the Outlook Dashboard:
Open Outlook, and go to your CALENDAR.
Choose DAY.
Left-click VIEW and choose: DAY/WEEK/MONTH VIEW WITH AUTOPREVIEW.
(If necessary, move the right margin over by hovering with the cursor, right-clicking, and dragging to the left. You should see a month or two, and the grey TASKPAD bar.)
RIGHT-click the grey TASKPAD bar
Choose Customize Current View
Click on Fields
Choose: Subject
Complete
Notes
Group By
Categories
Choose the "All Collapsed" in Expand/collapse defaults
Sort By
Subject
Filter
Advanced tab
Fields
Frequently used fields
Complete
(Then Add to list "Complete equals No")
Click OK until you get back to your calendar
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