Manage Your Life with Outlook®: for Dummies®

Chapter 4. Defining Personal Productivity on Your Own Terms

Personal productivity isn't magic. It's simply a matter of breaking some very bad work habits and substituting them with some very good productivity practices. And by good, I mean practices that you can actually live with rather than those that would be just great if only you somehow had the time, energy, and inclination to actually follow them.

This chapter surveys the best productivity practices that I've been able to identify in all my research into the personal productivity field (and as part of my experience training and consulting with business folks in companies big and small). As part of this review, I also give you some valuable pointers about how to start cultivating and implementing these great productivity practices into your workday and home life.

Finally, you get the opportunity to assess which of these great productivity practices you need and can actually begin using to get your workday under control and your professional and personal lives into better balance.

Making the Most of Every Moment

You've heard it a thousand times and probably said it yourself almost as many: "There just isn't enough time in the day to get everything done!" So what would you say if I were to tell you that on this one you're right on the money and quite correct? Like it or not, in all but a few situations, there really is not enough time in the average workday to get everything you're responsible for done!

The bad news then is that ...