I’ve find that Microsoft Outlook is a very effective time management tool and reminder for you to perform your task. Traditionally used as an email facility, Microsoft Outlook has a lot of unexplored options that you can consider. If you cannot afford all the expensive sophisticated tools, you can make use of what is readily available in most PCs. Here’s how the program has helped me- and I want to share with you:
- give you reminders of important tasks at a glance
- set recurring birthday or monthly reminders- for instance, you can set to be reminded on the same time of every month when your bills are due
- jot down minutes of meetings under Task
- flexibility of rescheduling and moving tasks to another date/time.
Overall, it relieves you of having to remember tasks. I find that writing down in pieces of paper or in a book is quite ineffective and I tend to forget. The only disadvantage though, is that it operates on the same computer- it will be useful if you use the same PC/laptop often.
How to use:
1. First, open your Microsoft Outlook program and click on Mail (see the Orange box below). Here’s how it will look like if you have keyed in tasks to be reminded:
At a glance, you will be able to see your to-do lists.
2. When you click on the Calendar tab, you will see the tasks for the day:
You can see the time bar- you can click on any of the yellow lines to add new tasks or things to be done. If you would like to input tasks on a future date, all you need to do is to click on the date on the calendar (see the calendar on the top left) and input tasks.
3. When the time comes, for instance, if you have set to be reminded of a task at 10am, there will be a reminder pop up:
If you have any past undone tasks, this pop up will appear. It will tell you how long the task has been overdue. To open the task, just double click on the task.
5. After you completed the task, you can uncheck the “Reminder” box so that the reminder no longer appear.
Alternatively, if you find that you are unable to complete the task and would like to forward the date, click on the “Start time” to amend the date to a future date/time.
6. You can also make use of the “Task” function to record down minutes of meeting:
Setting Birthday or Recurring Events Reminder:
You can arrange to be reminded of the same task/event the same time every month or date. For instance, if your bill is due on the same day every month, you can set the reminder. Or in the example below, you can set to be reminded of your friend’s birthday on the same date every year:
