- [Scott] Are you tired of switching apps and tabs just to see your to-do list? Do you wish you could easily see your calendar events and tasks on the same screen? In this video, I'm going to show you a secret way to use Outlook Calendar so you can turn it into the ultimate productivity tool. (electronic whirring) (graphics whooshing) This video is sponsored by SaneBox, the email inbox lifesaver.
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To get started, click the link in the description to get your free 14-day trial. If you're a Microsoft Outlook user, you're familiar with the Tasks area, where you can manage all of your tasks if you want to use some kind of archaic system.
You can also upgrade and take advantage of Microsoft To Do, which is a much more user friendly, and also comes with a nice mobile app, but there is still a problem here. We still have to switch back and forth from either of these locations back to our Outlook Calendar.
So instead of switching back and forth from different areas, or if you manage your to-dos in some other application outside of Outlook, why don't we manage them right here within our calendar?
Why? Because you're already spending an awful lot of time here, managing all of your events and checking in as to where you need to be.
Well, here at the very top of our calendar is a section which I feel is underused, the all-day event area.
Now, you may be familiar with this area if you need to block off time for vacation, or maybe you are going to be busy for the entire day, but this area can be so much more valuable than just presenting stat holidays and days that we are going to be out of office.
This is also a space where you can create your own customized to-do list and never, ever forget what you need to accomplish today.
One of the best things about the all-day event area is that they never go away.
Let me click on here and add a few tasks. Maybe I need to send an email to Karen
regarding the Friday meeting. I'm going to hit Enter there. I also need to review the Q3 budget report, I'm going to hit Enter, and maybe on Wednesday, I need to prepare for my travel to conference.
Okay, so I've got a number of different tasks waiting for me here at the top of the screen. And as you can see, no matter how far up or down I scroll, they will always remain visible.
Even if I come in here, and let's take a look at a different view, such as my daily view, doesn't matter where I go, those tasks will always be visible.
Something that we can't get with other to-do list managers, because we tend to have to hop back and forth between those areas.
But it gets even better. Not only will my tasks never be hidden from me from a screen that I'm already using regularly, but I can see the relationship between these tasks and what else is going on within my schedule.
When we are dealing with other to-do list managers, far too often, we change our due dates and defer them to tomorrow or next week without much thinking, because we can't really see what is going on other than the other tasks in front of us. But with our all-day event method, we can see exactly what is going on with the rest of the week.
So for example, maybe I'm having a fairly busy Tuesday, and I can't get to everything. I'm going to say, you know what?
I'll email Karen a little later in the week. But wait a minute, I've got a very hectic Thursday, including a bunch of travel, and this reminder has to do with this meeting on Friday. I better make sure I get that done on Tuesday or Wednesday.
I can't simply just defer it by two days or four days without looking at what else is going on. The same goes for preparing for my travel to this conference, and this is another benefit of using this method.
If I want to see a deeper connection between my tasks up here and what is going on below, I can color code them appropriately. So for example, let's say that reviewing this budget report is directly tied to my upcoming client consultation. Well, all I need to do here is come to my categories and I'm going to list it as client work.
Now I can see that relationship between this task and what is actually happening on my calendar as well. And keep in mind, by default, all of your all-day event tasks up here will not block out time, so people can't book you if you have a scheduling app.
Here, you can see if I open up this app by default, it will be set to Free. You can always change that if you want to, but don't be afraid that you are going to block out the entire day. But here, within the dialogue view, you might say that things get even better, because as opposed to many other to-do list managers
and to-do list apps, we have all of this space to create and add as much information as we want, including the ability to attach files, include a table, include pictures and screenshots.
In fact, we can do everything that we've come used to doing here within Outlook all within our task. So if I want to list out all of my subtasks, if I want to capture some meeting notes, I can have it here all waiting for me when it comes for me to actually execute and work on this particular task.
And speaking of added convenience, it is so easy to be able to drag and move your task to a particular day,
push something forward, push something back again depending on what else is going on within your schedule. Now, a common question is how do I show that something is completed if I'm using this all-day event task method?
Well, there's a couple of things that you can consider. Number one, you could simply just delete the task if you don't need a running record of all of the things that you've completed.
In this case, this is a simple email, so I'm probably safe in just saying Delete. But what if you would like to keep a record and have a distinction between what you've yet to do
and what you have completed? Well, in this case, I would again recommend that you use categories. So I've selected a category here. I've chosen the color yellow where I'm going to identify what is completed.
So when this task is done, when I'm finished preparing for my conference, I'm going to choose that category. Now I can easily see that that has been done or completed, but I still need to work on this particular task.
And then moving forward, I can see if there's anything left behind. Lastly, I want to address the single biggest con with this method, which I also feel might be its single biggest benefit.
Unlike our traditional to-do list apps, which clearly show things that are overdue, things that we left over from yesterday. In this case, you can see this red font telling me it was overdue, and it was due yesterday.
And just like many other to-do list apps, if we sort them, they will always appear at the top of the list. But with this all-day event method, you're probably saying to yourself, "Scott, if you don't accomplish these tasks and move on to tomorrow, they will not automatically move ahead.
They will be left behind." And you are absolutely right. And I think that is very, very important.
This method forces you to really engage with your to-do list. How often have we looked at a number of things that are overdue and we don't treat them seriously, because we know they'll never be left behind, and we can very easily, in just a few clicks, bring them up to today.
But with this method, it forces you to engage with your task list, to do a quick review at the end of each day. And if I haven't accomplished this particular task, I need to come over here and drag it forward.
I think that this is key, and is actually a benefit rather than a consequence. Far too often, we don't engage with our tasks, and things become stale, and we simply defer things to the next day or the next week.
With this method, it forces you to look at everything on your schedule, all of your meetings, all of your events, and decide carefully what should you accomplish today, or what should you accomplish next week? And if you're wanting to get even more out of your task list, then I'd love to send you this free guide.
Inside, I show you a simple method for creating a more focused to-do list. To get your copy, click the link on the screen now.
Thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you in the next video.
