Find the Right Time Management Tool to get the Job Done
Do you notice that certain people are cool and relaxed while others are really tired? These relaxed people have their time management under control. They've found out that letting a time management tool work for them brings big benefits.
Finding the right time management tool can make your life work smoothly and easily. These tools come in all manner of forms. They range from paper based form systems to complex computer software. Picking the right one can make a big difference.
The tool I'll discuss in this article is the calendar. It comes in all shapes and sizes from paper based to full blown, all connected, computer based software. The type of system you choose depends a lot on what you expect from it.
If you're an employee you'll probably find that in terms of a time management tool for a calendar there is a corporate choice. If your company hasn't made a choice then you might be able to get them to buy the system for you. Often the systems are pretty cheap compared to the productivity gains that'll be achieved.
If you only get a few appointments every week then you probably only need a paper based system. No matter what the software sales blurb tells you it isn't going to make your time scheduling easier.
On the other hand if you have a lot of appointments in a week it is easy to quickly gain the benefits from a computer based scheduler. This is especially true if the system connects together your calendar with the calendars of other people you know.
If you are able to automatically schedule appointments and reschedule them, then this can be a great way to save time. The other advantage of great software is the ability of others to look into your calendar and make appointments. They can see at a glance when you are busy and so can arrange appointments for a more suitable time.
However hold on before rushing to buy that software. Don't forget that it's worth considering whether you really need this time management tool. You can find that it ends up taking up more of your time rather than adding to it. I'm sure, like me you've spent countless hours fiddling with software settings that add little value to your day to day work.
It's always easy to get caught up in the "technology is the cleanest solution" idea. This isn't always the case. Often the best time management tool is a bit of paper and a pen. Or in the case of a calendar, a paper based pocket book.
But if you're determined that software is the right approach there are two packages that I'd recommend evaluating: Outlook and Thunderbird.
Outlook is Microsoft's offering and it is well integrated with the office suite. Not surprisingly it has great support and it pretty intuitive to use.
Thunderbird is the Mozilla foundation offering. It's free and comes (like Outlook) as part of an email solution. Thunderbird offers basically all the same functionality as outlook although it can be a bit tougher to set up.
You can download and try these products for free and generally put them through their paces. I'd recommend that you give them each a trial for a week.
If you want to get the fullest idea of their capability as a time management tool make sure you try out all the features.
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