Exploring Patterns

Back in the fall, I started the journey of updating Outlook to better reflect the principles and methods I had learned in Priority Management. As the fall passed, so did my ability to better organize my time using the Priority Management System. I’ve still deep in the learning curve. Yet, I’ve learned three important lessons.

1. You can change Outlook from a Mail Machine to a power time management and client management system
2. You can see just where you are wasting time each and every day
3. You can get about 90 minute back per day when you stick with the system

For me, the above three lessons are invaluable.

The concept of being able to think through work, personal time and a social life really does lead to an organized day.

I’ll keep you posted as I move through the journey.

Jerry

I was and always will be a big fan of the Priority Management Paper based system.

For me, it was a great way to organize my day, my projects and frankly, my life. I enjoyed mapping out the days with my trusty pencil each night and then seeing how the next day would unfold. I like the idea of keeping track of important notes using the Communication Planners as well as have a record or important notes in my A-Z directory. I just liked how it looked and worked.

I migrated to my first Palm Pilot back in the late 90’s. Why, too much stuff to carry. Between a lap top, cell phone, pager and Palm, I felt I was carrying a small office on my back.

Yet, I missed by Priority Management Binder. For as much I tried to make things look and work on my computer in the Priority Management style, it was never quite right.

Let’s see, I tried Time and Chaos software. It worked for a while until the upgrades cased system problems. I overlaid, Agendus from Iambic on Outlook to make it work. That worked until Agendus crashed my main computer on a regular basis. But the final straw was realizing that I was not keeping up on my work and the software fixes did not do what I needed done.

So, I pulled out my old friend, my Priority Management Binder and made a phone call.

This week I had the opportunity sit down with the folks at Priority Management. We made some “adjustments” in Microsoft Outlook and within a short period of time, I had an electronic version of Priority Management Binder.

Now, I’m in the process of getting things organized electronically just like used to do with paper and pencil.

The good news is I continue to use The Bat for my e-mail client and Outlook for Tasks, Meetings and the A-Z directory. In short, I have a great way to make Outlook look and feeling like my Priority Management Binder.

And that, is a good thing.

I’ll keep you posted on my journey.