Microsoft Outlook has all the ingredients to be a powerful planning system.

The key is to know what to use and what to ignore.

I’ve typed some key points to remember below.

Questions? Just contact us. We’ll get you the answers you need.

Outlook serves 3 functions

1. Organizes action reminders using calendar and tasks

2. Organizes information in notes, contacts, email subfolders

3. Sends and receives email

Principles that make Outlook a “trusted system”

1. Don’t leave anything in your head or in unprocessed stacks

2. Make crystal-clear decisions about the next physical action

3. Keep the system clear, current, and complete

Do’s and Don’ts

• Do continue to use paper to “capture” ideas, notes, etc - but always put the action reminders in Outlook
• Do clear your email inbox by converting email into tasks and projects and filing email in subfolders
• Do add all of your active projects to your @Projects list (big, small, personal, professional)
• Do use the notes area in a project to outline the successful outcome and next actions
• Do make clear action decisions when new stuff shows up, don’t wait until it blows up
• Do share tasks with other Outlook users using the “assign task” feature
• Do print or sync your lists to make them portable

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• Don’t rely on an email for an action reminder or project reminder
• Don’t hold back, everything has a place in your system, if it doesn’t create a new list by using categories
• Don’t just create the lists, look at them often, and use them to guide your moment by moment actions
• Don’t expect everything to clear up instantly, we’re on a productivity path and daily progress is key