This works for me, I give it cult status!
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If you want to get better at managing your time and keep on top of the things that really matter whilst maintaining balance between your life and work, this is the book to help you do it. Sally McGhee's principles and guidelines, centered around MS Outlook, deserve a cult following!
Working through this book has helped me to gain clarity about the most important things in my life, identify the actions that will create these, plan them into my schedule and then act on them. McGhee recommends using the calendar to plan the day, and although I was initially sceptical, it has revolutionised the results I am achieving. The weekly review supports me to course correct and keep on track.
I have two jobs and a hectic personal life. I have studied countless other systems, methodologies and ideas. This one has really worked consistently for me over time, and McGhee's is practical, whilst underpinned by research that supports the principles espoused. For fans of GTD, there are similarities, McGhee and Allen having worked together in the past. However, this approach has given me the tools to create real change. If you want to use Outlook, or a similar application, McGhee has the answer.
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Good but corny American style
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Take Back Your Life is a genuinely useful book on how to use Outlook 2007 to improve time-management. I am using it at work and it has improved things so that it the litmus test.
But it does have irritating flaws.
The style is Americian corporate over-enthusiastic, and it keeps putting in corny dialogue as in ,
"We said, 'Great......Now what about profit and revenue'
Susan replied, 'Now you're really pinning me down!'
We responded, "That's exactly right..."
I say, "If you don't mind that style, well, great!"
But then I asked, "Doesn't it start to grate after a while?"
Then I said, "Just kidding! Ged it? Great and Grate!"
Then I responded, "Now, I'm starting to write in that unfocused way myself."
My fundamental point: It is a book about time-management but it takes far more words than is necessary to get its point across. Us busy, busy people don't have time for that.
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United States | 
United Kingdom | 
Canada