Take Back Your Life!: Using Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 to Get Organized and Stay Organized

by Sally McGhee

Take control of the unrelenting e-mail, conflicting commitments, and endless interruptions—and take back your life! In this popular book updated for Microsoft Office Outlook 2007, productivity experts Sally McGhee and John Wittry show you how to reclaim what you thought you’d lost forever—your work-life balance. Now you can benefit from McGhee Productivity Solutions’ highly-regarded corporate education programs, learning simple but powerful techniques for rebalancing your personal and professional commitments using Outlook 2007.
Empower yourself

Genres: Productivity, Business, Nonfiction, Reference

368 pages, Paperback

First published June 1, 2007

Reviews

[Timothy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Terrible, terrible read. The only redeeming value is for the tips on how to customize Outlook 2007 so that you can actually use it in a functional manner. Sally McGhee is so redundant, and the pop psychology scattered throughout the books feels elementary and cumbersome. What is over 300 pages could easily be 150 pages and a quick one-weekend read. But Sally drags it out. I've been in this book for two weeks, and I found reading it like trying to discover the depths of any Microsoft product: clumsy and un-elegant.

If she focused on providing insight solely on Microsoft Outlook, and not on guiding one on a journey of internal reflection (which she's bad company for), this book would have kicked some productivity ass.

[Kerry · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is actually one that is living up to its name. It took a while to implement (let's see, I started reading and implementing around New Year's Day and it's now the 18th and I feel like I'm "done" setting it up) but it is the "missing piece" I've been looking for between the high minded platitudes of Seven Habits and actually implementing a system that helps me feel more in control, more like I am spending my time in the right way. I encourage a try! But please don't ask to borrow my copy because I am still referring to it.

[Subbu Chandrasekaran · Rating 5 out of 5]

Take control of your time and life with this book.. like any other habit, this book by itself will not change your life.. following the system and making it a habit will..

Like exercising, I did find that when I followed, it brought bliss to my life,,, when i let it off, of course , I find myself in the same rut of information overload and cognitive overload..

I would say .. if you are willing to put in the effort to follow a system on taking control of your time, this is a must read ..

if you are in it as a quick read.. dont bother ..

[Gina Sanchez]

I am not going to rate the book because I haven't read it, but I attended productivity training at work based on this which was led by an instructor from the author's consulting firm. Great insights shared in the training and many helpful tips to help organize outlook to be more productive and strategic during the work day. Key takeaway: stop living in your inbox.

[Jac · Rating 3 out of 5]

aimed at people who haven't learned the gtd system before, I think. A couple of interesting implementation ideas, but in general it feels very slow if you're already familiar with the system.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

Presents a good system for making sure the time you spend organizing yourself helps you make progress toward your goals. It relied on many concepts from David Allan' Getting Things Done publication's (without citations) but did a much better job with the tactical work of implementing the concepts.

It was a little out of date, which only be a problem if you're focused on the tools portion of the concepts.

[Doncho Angelov · Rating 5 out of 5]

Highly recommended for people, who want to put order to their daily work!

I read this book in 2008, as part of consultant's productivity training.

The Zero Inbox rule, combined with all the tips how to quickly keep yourself organized was a lifesaver for me. Although it's written for some Outlook versions back, the book tips and most of the screens are still up to date and can help you, if you struggle with e-mails and tasks all day long.

[E · Rating 5 out of 5]

Savvy guide on using Microsoft Outlook

To be productive, you need a good organizational system. Here, productivity experts Sally McGhee and John Wittry detail their time- and workflow-management system, which is based on Microsoft Outlook 2007. They offer precise, step-by-step instructions on mastering this software to organize your work and personal life. Their book presents numerous detailed organizational steps and screenshots with precise instructions. getAbstract finds that this solid software manual does a fine job of showing you how to plan, prioritize and manage your activities by maximizing Outlook’s productivity-boosting capabilities.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

So I took this all day workshop and it was really fantastic. They give you the book and so I've been steadily working through it. The book on its on is okay and to me a good follow up to the workshop but I'm not sure if I would have been motivated to make these changes if I hadn't attended. In any case, if you have the opportunity to take this workshop, I highly recommend it. It is already changing my life in very positive ways.

[Ryan Whitehurst · Rating 3 out of 5]

I think the overall goal of the book is to help seekers of a better method of organization, to find a better way of keeping up with their day to day work and life tasks.

I think the method taught is good. I have implemented it. I feel that the method has been well thought out and has helped me stay on top of my tasks. It has certainly been helpful for me as a manager to create a system of following up with others.

I'd recommend this book and method.

[Angi Foreshaw]

I found this book very helpful and interesting, I am always fascinated by the MS mix of productivity tools and marketing ... check out my full review and how I applied these principles on my blog: http://collabotools.blogspot.com/2007...

[Ken · Rating 4 out of 5]

TBYL is more about Outlook AND time management. Readers in a corporate environment with busy schedules will benefit the most from TBYL which is not to say that there's not a lot here for anyone concerned with making better use of Outlook and their time.

[Kevin · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great concepts, boring reading. This book was the 'manual' for a training I took at work. The training is awesome, but the book without the training would be very difficult to implement and boring to read.

[cj · Rating 1 out of 5]

Getting Things Done for email (ie. you set up your GTD system in your email), only a lot more wordy and with screenshots that are so small you can't see them clearly. Assumed that you had people to delegate to, and strongly recommends combining your work and personal email.

[Leslie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Amazing!

[Andrey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Много воды, но есть полезные советы, Книга Глеба Архангельского лучше

[Samer Chidiac · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book changed my life and my degree of productivity... Recommended!