# Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook ![rw-book-cover](https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/5162Dd1nK4L._SL200_.jpg) ## Metadata - Author: [[Michael Linenberger]] - Full Title: Total Workday Control Using Microsoft Outlook - Category: #books ## Highlights - You should list tasks here only if they are so critical for today that you would work late into the evening if they were not complete. You ([Location 354](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071DMSZLS&location=354)) - Place tasks here that you would work on today if you had the opportunity, but that you could let slide till tomorrow or later, some even up to ten days or so. Plan to review this complete list at least once a day to see if anything there has been elevated in importance and needs to be done today. Here’s the main rule: You should have no more than about 20 items in this list. If you have more than 20, drag the lowest-priority items to the third, or Low, zone. ([Location 360](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071DMSZLS&location=360)) - Place tasks here that you can ignore for longer than ten days; perhaps much longer. Then plan to review this list once a week. ([Location 365](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071DMSZLS&location=365)) - Immediately change the subject line to the task action and set the priority level as appropriate. ([Location 371](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071DMSZLS&location=371)) - The main problem with most of them is that they are overly based on guilt, and over time, positive-minded people like you and me give up on systems that overuse guilt. We become jaded when all our to-dos are colored red and appear overdue. ([Location 424](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071DMSZLS&location=424)) - Any System That Claims Everything Must Have a Due Date Will Ultimately Fail ([Location 459](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071DMSZLS&location=459)) - Somewhere in the range between tomorrow and two months is what I call your Workday Now Horizon, or Now Horizon for short. It is the date after which you stop feeling too busy, as you mentally gaze into the future. ([Location 678](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071DMSZLS&location=678)) - Similarly, your Now Horizon is that time edge of work beyond which you do not mentally see your future work clearly. Day by day it stays the same distance out (about ten days) because it is a rolling time frame—and that brings us to the next point. ([Location 690](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071DMSZLS&location=690)) - For most knowledge workers in most industries, this typical deadline is at the close of business (COB) each day, but it varies across industries. I call that time period, from the immediate now to the end of the typical deadline, the Critical Now. ([Location 721](https://readwise.io/to_kindle?action=open&asin=B071DMSZLS&location=721))