A practical guide to getting organized, beating procrastination, and working more efficiently The Fourth Edition of The Personal Efficiency Program continues the book's long tradition of helping overwhelmed professionals get their work lives organized to become more effective and efficient. Readers will learn how to stop procrastinating, stop feeling overwhelmed, and start feeling good about their work lives. This new edition contains new chapters on e-mail and meetings, as well as new content on portable communications and how best to utilize tools like cell phones and Blackberries. As always, this edition features Kerry Gleeson's proven, effective program for helping anyone get organized and become far more productive.
Table of Contents:
WORLDWIDE OPPORTUNITIES WITH PEPWORLDWIDE XV
PREFACE XVII
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS XIX
INTRODUCTION 1
Origin of the Personal Efficiency Program 2
How to Work 4
CHAPTER 1 Executive Summary 5
Get Organized 7
Habits and Routines 10
Batching Work 11
Planning 12
Continuous Improvement of the Process (Kaizen) 13
CHAPTER 2 Do It Now! 15
Why the Personal Efficiency Program Works 17
Start with Your Desk or Work Space 19
Overcoming Procrastination 21
Not Everything Can or Should Be Done Now 30
Build Decisiveness into Your Work Habits 31
Establish Do It Now Work Habits 32
Perfection 33
Discipline 34
Follow-Up for Chapter 2 35
CHAPTER 3 Organize It Now! 37
A Soldier’s Story 39
Cleaning Out the Clutter 39
Where Does Clutter Come From? 40
Why Clutter Stays There 41
Out of Sight? 42
Don’t Overlook the Obvious 42
Start with the Basics 44
Your Office Toolbox 44
Become Familiar with Tools as They Come on the Market 46
Organizing Files—Beginning with Paper 47
Working Files 48
Tickler System 50
Setting Up Your Personal Working Files 51
Your Personal Reference Files: Note Things to Do as You
Come across Them 52
Archive Files 54
Tips—What to Keep, Where to Keep It, and What to Throw Away 55
Tips for Improving Your Paper Filing System 56
Filing and Labeling 56
Organizing Electronic Files 58
Where to Begin—The Computer’s Operating System 59
Back Up Your Hard Drive 60
Naming Electronic Files 60
Let the Computer Find Your Documents for You 63
Organizing E-Mail 64
Steps to Organize E-Mail 65
Creating and Organizing Your E-Mail Address Book 65
Organizing Bookmarks—Web Pages You May Wish to Access in the Future 66
Organizing the Computer Desktop to Access Applications and
Files Easily 67
Using Search Functions 67
Organizing Other Media 68
Summary 69
Follow-Up for Chapter 3 70
CHAPTER 4 Do It Routinely 73
Keep a Time Log 75
Electronic Time Log 76
Overcome Information Overload 76
Beyond the In Basket 80
Batch the Routine Work 81
Schedule and Avoid Having to Decide 82
Parkinson’s Law and the Allocation of Time 83
Blocks of Time 84
Batching Telephone Calls 84
One More Thing! 86
Batching E-Mail 86
Paper Mail/Memos 87
Reading 89
Weekly One-on-One Meetings 89
Daily Meeting with Administrative Assistant 90
Dealing with Interruptions 91
Respect Other People’s Time 92
Making It Work 92
Pitfalls 94
Follow-Up for Chapter 4 95
CHAPTER 5 Plan It Now! 97
Purpose of Planning 99
Planning Principles 101
Prioritizing—Task Management 101
Time Management 102
The Time It Takes to Plan: Is It Worth It? 103
PEP Planning Process 103
Daily Planning 104
Weekly Planning 104
One More Reason to Schedule a WRAP (Weekly Review and Action Plan) 106
Shaping the Diary—A Monthly Planning Process for Senior
Executives 110
Project Implementation Planning 111
Criteria for Project Planning 113
Implementation Mapping 113
Planning in Microsoft Outlook/Lotus Notes 115
Planning on a Computer 116
Microsoft Outlook/Lotus Notes Calendaring 117
Strategic Planning 117
Goals 118
Personal Goals 119
Values 120
Values on a Personal Level 121
Visualization—What You See Is What You Get 122
Follow-Up for Chapter 5 123
CHAPTER 6 Dealing with E-mail Now! The Single Biggest Challenge for Most People 127
Part One: Take Control of What You Get 130
The More E-Mail You Send, the More You Will Receive 131
Push to Pull 131
If You Have Administrative Support 131
Technical Solutions 132
Change E-Mail Address 133
You DecideWhen to Handle Your E-Mail 133
CCs and “Reply All” 134
Part Two: Managing and Processing Information Efficiently 134
Add-In Applications for E-Mail Programs—Organize Information 134
Setting Standards 135
More Standards 136
Processing Information 136
The Four Ds 137
Turn Off Notifications 138
Instant Messages 138
Pending Folder 138
Setting Reminders 138
Read Faster! 139
E-Mail Rules of Thumb 139
It Is No Easy Task! 141
Follow-Up for Chapter 6 141
CHAPTER 7 Follow-Up and Follow-Through! 143
Persistence 145
Persistence, Routines, and Habits—Doing What You Don’t Like to Do 146
Forget Remembering 148
Preoccupation and Time 149
Organize Efficient Follow-Up Systems 150
Paper Follow-Up 150
Logbook 151
Electronic Solutions to a Logbook 153
Calendar Systems 153
Electronic Solutions to Follow-Up and Follow-Through 154
Combination Paper and Electronic Calendaring Systems 156
Work Groups 156
Follow-Up and Delegation 157
Delegation—Using Your Electronic Tools 159
Exceptions to the Rule 159
Make Follow-Up Part of the Work Process 160
Follow-Up for Chapter 7 161
CHAPTER 8 Do It Right, Now! 163
Apply This One Principle, and That Is All You Need to Do 165
Why Quality? 166
Kaizen 166
PEP—A Practical Tool for Quality Improvement 167
6S 168
Identifying Your Customers and Their Needs 169
Workplace Kaizen 170
Benchmarking 171
Focus on Prevention 171
Project-by-Project Improvement 172
Continuous Change 172
Summary 172
Follow-Up for Chapter 8 173
CHAPTER 9 Do It Now! —FromWherever You Are! 175
Evolving Work Environments 177
Why Now? 177
What Is a “Mobile Work Environment”? 178
Working Out of a Home Office 178
Common Denominators 179
The Proper Work Tools for the MWE 180
Work Issues in the MWE Home Office 181
Common Issues FacedWorking in the MWE 182
Work Issues in the MWE 184
Follow-Up for Chapter 9 184
CHAPTER 10 Be a Do It Now Manager! 187
Management by Walkabout 189
Examples of PEP Walk 192
Why PEP Walk Works 193
Had I Known! 194
Face-to-Face Communication 195
Follow-Up Method 196
Delegation 196
What Does a Do It Now Manager Do? 197
Concentrate on the Process of Work 197
Don’t Be Tied to the Desk 198
Start with Yourself 199
Electronic Tools to Enhance Your PEP Walks 199
MBWA in an Alternative Office 200
Summary 201
Follow-Up for Chapter 10 202
CHAPTER 11 Making Meetings Effective 203
Part One: Cutting Down on the Number of Meetings 207
Meeting Analysis 207
Go. See. Confirm. 208
Part Two: If You’re Going to Call a Meeting, Run It Right 210
Well-Run Meetings 211
During Meetings 213
After the Meeting 215
Summary 215
Follow-Up for Chapter 11 215
CHAPTER 12 Maintain It Now 217
Entropy 219
Maintenance and the Work Cycle 220
Make It Easy 222
Should You Be Maintaining It in the First Place? 222
Preventive Maintenance 223
Maintenance and Do It Now 223
Make Maintenance a Habit 224
The 21-Day Challenge 224
Maintenance of Common Files 226
Maintenance and Travel 226
Maintenance and Continuous Improvement 228
Periodic Catch-Up 229
Minimum Maintenance 229
What to Do When It All Goes to Pot 229
Follow-Up for Chapter 12 231
EPILOGUE
Just One New Habit 233
RECOMMENDED READING 235
INDEX 237
ABOUT PEPWORLDWIDE 247
About the Author :
Kerry Gleeson is founder and CEO of the Institute for Business Technology (IBT) International, which has offices in twenty-five countries on five continents. IBT has worked with many Fortune 500 companies, as well as thousands of other companies around the world. An expert on white-collar productivity, Gleeson has advised executives from such corporations as PricewaterhouseCoopers, Unilever, IBM, and Ernst & Young.
