Basic principles of good time management
Outlook 2010 is a tool to help you manage your email messages, calendar, contacts, and tasks. As such, it is at the center of not only your communications but also your time-management. To get the most out of Outlook 2010, we suggest a few basic principles:
- Reduce the number of places where you read messages. Filter all of the messages that you need to read into one place — your Inbox by using a series of rules.
- Let some messages pass by. Use rules to send the messages that you need to read into your Inbox, and then let the rest flow untouched into your Contact Group, or distribution list, folders (Contact Group folders). You don’t need — and in high volume situations probably can’t — read every message sent to you. Only the important ones should go to your Inbox. Remaining messages can be useful to keep — in case you become involved on an issue, for example.
- Reduce the number of places where you manually file messages. Reduce the mental tax of filing by relying on search to locate messages.
- Process your messages by using the Four Ds. When reading your messages, decide whether to:
- Delete it.
- Do it (respond or file for reference).
- Delegate it (forward).
- Defer it (using categories and flags) for a second review in your task list.
- Reduce your to-do list to one list. Use a single to-do list and a single calendar to manage what you need to do.
- Work in batches. Use categories to help you group similar tasks together.
- Use good judgment when sending messages. Follow the do’s and don’ts of writing great messages.
- Review your calendar and tasks regularly.
Even if you don't use all of the best practices described here, following only a few will improve your experience with Outlook 2010.
Top of PageSetting up Outlook 2010: The layout
The first step in following these best practices is to set up a system to optimize how you use Outlook 2010. It is considered best practice to have:
- The Navigation Pane open on the left.
- Your messages in Conversations view, with messages sent directly to you automatically formatted in blue.
- The Reading Pane on the right.
- The To-Do Bar open on the far right. If your screen resolution is less than 1024 by 768 pixels, the To-Do Bar can be minimized.
- Cached Exchange Mode turned on.
