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