Eleven Areas in Your Life That Can Benefit From More Structure

Adding structure to everything that you do each day will help you achieve more, feel better, and have more time for the important things.

One of my principles is Bring Order to Chaos. I believe that by adding structure to most of the important things that you do, you can become more efficient and productive. I believe that the more organization and self-organization you add to your life the better and more predictable results you can achieve.

In this article I have listed several areas which can benefit from adding more structure. I have concentrated on everyday things that you would not normally consider, because you usually have always been doing them this way. Each of these paragraphs is a conversation-starter and I have listed further articles, or books that can help you to actually self-organize.

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How to Approach a New Direct Manager

Approach changes in leadership, like having a new direct manager, with anticipation and excitement, learn to see the opportunities, and prepare for the best possible outcome.

Getting a new direct manager is a situation that all of you have experienced, or will experience in the future. It can be intimidating and even scary but it does not have to be that way. Actually, it is an opportunity for a fresh start and to change or reinvent some of the processes that did not work well in the past.

This article describes a toolbox for approaching a change in leadership with excitement, anticipation, and deliberation. It can be used in various situations, for example when you start a new job, when you move to a new organization within your current employer, or when you get a new direct manager after organizational changes. It is based on my experience over the years facing numerous such occasions.

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Efficient Meeting – How to Get the Most of a Meeting

Learn how to organize and host an efficient meeting in order to build your personal brand, lower costs and drive success in your organization.

Efficient meeting means a meeting on which the organizer is prepared, the participants know what is expected of them, there is a designated note taker. An efficient meeting saves time, money and energy and produces results, action items and drives the success of the organizations.

The average corporate employee spends between 35% and 50% of their time in meetings. Even more, they spend more and more time in meetings every year, compared to the previous. Unproductive meetings are estimated to waste a whopping $37 billion in the US alone.

The key to having productive, efficient meetings is in preparation, execution and follow-up. When you will host a meeting, you should spend time thinking about the format, participants and the topics that will be covered. During the meeting, you should steer the discussion towards the topics discussed and not let it slip. After the meeting, you should publish the outcome and follow up on the action items.

As simple as it may sound, the reality is not that easy. It takes a lot of experience, tools and discipline to organize and host a productive meeting. This article is going to give you high-level advice that comes from best practices in fortune 500 companies.

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