Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook 5th Edition

Total Workday Control works extremely well on so many levels. I write to review two of them.First, the author's conceptual platform has brought order to the chaos of my busy practice. What do I HAVE TO DO today? How to prioritize the things I can realistic work on over the next two weeks? How do I track and manage the myriad of other challenges? Linenberger has compelling and workable answers to those questions.Second, receiving 200+ substantive emails a day prior to TWC resulted in a bloated in-box full of many land mines of embedded tasks. Stress levels spiked as the box (and deadlines) got larger and required more time to maintain. TWC provides an efficient method to drain that swamp each day, processing the Inbox to empty, placing to do items where they belong...both in Outlook and in my practice.Been following this system for 6 years.Bravo to the author for the excellent improvements in the 5th Edition. Each new edition has been a fantastic read.

This is the 3rd or 4th edition I've read of this book. Michael Linenberger continues to improve the system. With this edition, he adds helpful information for working the system with mobile devices and tablets. That's next on my list to implement.The Managing Your Now system is practical and realistic. Linenberger's system has you make easy modifications to the Outlook tasks system. Implement his methodologies, and you will see it work. I'm finding I'm using the big notes section in Tasks more than ever before. I can keep track of history. I've learned to start a task with one subject, and then change it as the task moves forward.Imagine I'll buy the next edition when it comes out.

This review is on the 5th edition, which I have read in its entirety.TL;DR: Linenberger presents a good, simple system to track tasks and get ahead of a cluttered Outlook inbox (primarily aimed at people using Outlook at work as title suggests) but uses 400 pages in what could be half that.As other reviewers have stated, this book presents a great system, using too much repeated language-- more than needed to emphasize a point. Although the book references potential updates, there are no updates to this 2017 book as of May 2023, per my contact with support. There is only one section where Outlook has substantially changed, so this is of little consequence to the average Outlook user.This book can be applied to those who use Outlook at home. Beware: although the configurations described in the book are not difficult, setting up Outlook to work with Outlook.com and Google and iCloud is neigh impossible. Without Microsoft MVP-level knowledge you actually can brick your Outlook. I did and had to go into the registry to repair Outlook-- even an uninstall/reinstall did not work!Also, if you use a Mac, I would not recommend this book. No fault of the author's; just Outlook on a Mac is too crappy.A 1 star ding for too much fluff. I am an all-in Microsoft 365 guy, so was glad to have this book help me use Outlook again instead of Gmail plus so many inadequate to-do apps.

This is definitely one of those “game changing” books that I will be handing out to colleagues for years to come. If you work in a leadership position (or any position for that matter) where you are overcome with emails on a daily basis...this will help you to reign in the chaos. Can’t recommend this book enough!

Michael Linenberger's book is simple to follow and a game changer. With this system, I reduced my email inbox messages to zero for the first time ever. I eliminated over 100 folders in my PST file and now utilize quick steps to quickly organize messages. Tracking tasks and calendar items are now efficient and I no longer miss important suspense dates.

I am a big fan of Michael's work. As a lawyer I am constantly under a barrage of emails and deadlines and MYN is the only system that handles urgency well. Now I am able to have clean inbox and a sensible Now tasks list instead to +100 projects list and +150 next actions list filled with unimportant, dead weight tasks with little value. For me GTD keeps you busy, MYN keeps me moving in the right direction.

Task. Which is fine. Killing me softly with your words. So long. GTD best book. Getting things done. Read it, and reread it. This world would be better off if David Allen was President.

This thing is nearly 500 pages long. Good editing to cut out the folksy rambling could bring that to 300 while retaining plenty of depth. Also, it could use a good technical writer/editor (maybe one of those now-unemployed people who used to write software instruction manuals) to handle the Outlook settings. Paragraphs are not the best structure for a sequence of computer settings.HOWEVER, I've found the system natural to adopt and immediately useful. So it's worth slogging through the mediocre delivery mechanism.I used GTD for many years until a new career path with a higher volume of work and constantly shifting prioritization broke my systems. I've been trying to find a suitable evolution and think this may be it. I used to avoid using Outlook for my systems, but my current IT environment is not friendly to non-core software. So it's Outlook or nothing. I'm actually glad because it forced me to use the software that's adjacent to my highest work-generating source--Outlook email. The efficiency of being able to task directly within the software, include attachments, and update/review my tasks is great. I'm now fine with splitting my work/home workflow management systems given the benefit of using Outlook for work.