Good time management is a key factor in ensuring we are productive and efficient with the time we spend working. Outlook 2010 is a great business tool that can help you to manage your time by allowing you to control your email messages, calendar, contacts, and tasks.
To get the most out of your interaction with Outlook 2010, follow these tips for improving your time management.
- Try to decrease the number of locations where you read messages. Filter messages that you need to read into one place e.g. your Inbox by using a series of rules.
- Use rules to send the emails that you need to read into your Inbox, and then let the rest flow unread into your Contact Group, or distribution list folders (Contact Group folders). Only the important emails should go into your Inbox as you shouldn’t need to read every email sent to you, and in high volume situations there simply isn’t enough time to read every one. In the event that you become involved in an issue it is wise to keep the unread emails so you can review them later if needed.
- When reading your messages aim to process them by using the Four Ds. 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.
- Decrease the number of places where you manually file messages. Rely on searches to locate messages instead of having to file and then recall the files location later.
- Use categories to help you group similar tasks together. Try to work in batches to be more efficient.
- Use only one to-do list and a one calendar to manage tasks to complete.
- Review your calendar and tasks regularly to make changes and keep you on track.