Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook is a book for the over-extended office worker whose workday feels out of control. It shows how to regain command of an over-committed workday and an overflowing, unmanaged e-mail in box. It does this by teaching the author's system of time, task, and e-mail management, and it shows how to implement the system in Microsoft Outlook.

Customer Rating:
Summary: Well thought out and effective approach
Comment: I'd been tinkering with Outlook for a while trying to use it to manage my email and scheduling, but it just seemed too complicated. Mr. Linenberger presents a well thought out, efficient and effective method for using Outlook that I easily adapted to my own needs.
The day I first started reading the book I set about cleaning out the 2000+ emails in my inbox, and after a day and a half my inbox was empty. More importantly, I have been able to maintain an empty inbox each day for the past three weeks so I am sold.
Although I bought the book thinking it would help me to tame Outlook, as Mr. Linenberger alludes to in his book the benefits of having an empy inbox and control over my schedule are much, much larger than that. I was having serious stress issues with the number of projects that I handle simultaneously, and using this system I have eliminated about 75% of this stress.
This book has allowed me, more and more, to leave my work behind at the end of the day (which is still well into the evening but not quite as late as before). I can actually be "present" at home now instead of thinking about what I MAY have forgotten or missed.
Mr. Linenberger has done me an invaluable service by writing this book and it is worth every penny.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: One of the Best Email Solutions
Comment: I bought both Total Workday Control by Michael Linenberger and Take Back Your Life by Sally McGhee. They are both excellent. I prefer Total Workday Control. Like many people, I have too many top priority emails and tasks to ever complete. Michael's book provides a simple framework for quickly processing email and prioritizing the resulting tasks. He then describes his system for handling a high volume of tasks, so regardless of how many you complete, you always know what needs attention so you can avoid surprises!

I also recommend Outlook users get very familiar with using the Activities tab in Contacts to track tasks. It's very effective for tracking all current tasks by contact. And a great program to extend Outlook functionality for Treo and Palm users is Keysuites software, www.chapura.com.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: A good update to the original
Comment: I found this update version easier to used than the original. I use the ClearContext plug-in for Outlook.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: The system actually works!
Comment: It took me about 3 hours of reading the philosphy behind the system (this is important - don't skip it) and another 2 hours of setting up and tweaking Outlook. The first day or two afterwards were strange as I tried to get accustomed to the system, but now, after a few weeks, I couldn't live without it. It's not all about email management (that's a minor concern for me, although having a perfectly empty inbox is wonderful for your stress level) - it's really a great tool for managing the dozens of tasks that pop in and out of your head all day long along with the medium and long-term projects that have been staring at you from your task list for the last year or so.

Before this book, I really, really, really tried to like and use GTD, but I could never internalize the methodolgy and use it effectively. In contrast, TWC/Manage-your-NOW just makes sense to me.

Bottom line - it's a good book with a good system - definitely worth your time to try it.

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Customer Rating:
Summary: Good System for Handling Large Volumes of E-Mail
Comment: The system covered in this book works well, in my experience, for handling large volumes of e-mail. One of the central premises of this system involves transforming e-mails into tasks. This approach is action-oriented and keeps one focused on execution and deliverables.

A number of Chapters in this book may not be applicable for all users (e.g. the Chapter on "Topic-Based E-Mail Filing"), but the book is worth reading.

I have found the system covered in this book to work only if one puts the time and effort into implementing it as advised by the author.

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