Clarify your structure to make it last longer
Datum: 2025-01-15 08:15
As you improve your personal structure, you obtain new tools and think of new even more organized ways of doing things. The new habits can be challenging to remember since they are, well, new. The moment you decide to do something differently from now it is crystal clear what you intend to do, but what is the status of the new habit after a few weeks?
If you are trying to adopt more than a handful of new habits and methods simultaneously, you might simply not remember what you had set your mind to do — even if it felt inspired, clear, and obvious at the moment you decided to adopt them.
For you who prefer listening to reading, this post is also available as an episode of the “Done!” podcast:
Back to square one?
After a while, you might just vaguely remember that you wanted to work with more structure in one way or another, but you seem to have fallen back into your old ways.
Does this sound familiar? If it does, you are far from alone in having had the experience.
”In sight”, means ”in mind”
Luckily, there is a way to make it easier to get back on the structure track if this should ever happen again. Since habits are fickle things, you will be wise to make them very clear to yourself, especially when you are just about to establish them and when what you intend to do feels very clear and obvious.
This is why you should document your newly found habits to make reminding yourself of what you have decided and want to continue doing easy.
Do this
Help yourself to establish new and constructive habits by:
- Take a minute right now to think of a habit you recently decided you wanted to establish to improve your structure. Could it perhaps be something you will do regarding meetings? Concerning all the interruptions? The morning routine? Your email inbox? The chat messages? The calendar? Or does it concern something completely different?
- One way to describe a habit is by expressing it in the format ”When…, then…, since…”.
To show you a few examples, here are three of my own structure habits:- When I need to be on time for something, then I set the alarm on my phone for 10 minutes before I need to leave since I often need a few minutes to pack up.
- When I have a full day of work at the office ahead of me, I then choose to do the tasks which I absolutely need to be in the office to complete out of all my important and potentially urgent tasks, since I will not be back in a week.
- When I am about to register receipts that will not be re-invoiced to any of my clients, I then scan them with the same app as I write notes in, since the app I used to use has turned out to be unreliable in terms of uploading them to the accountant.
- Gather all your documented habits of structure in a single location where they are easily accessible so that you can remind yourself of exactly what you have in mind whenever you feel hesitant or forget in the future. It can be a text document, a note-taking app, or wherever feels like an obvious place to keep them.
Quickly back on (structure-)track again
If you document your newfound habits of structure in this way, it will be easier to get back on the wagon should you fall off since you have made it quite clear to yourself what course of action to take. You do not even have to remember the habit, just do what the note says. Follow your own instructions and you will be better off (- at least better than you were).
How do you get back on the horse?
How do you remind yourself or make it easy to remember the new working methods you want to improve your workday by using? Feel free to email me!
(By the way, have you found out what you can do to make sure structure becomes a facilitator rather than an inhibitor?)
Want more?
If you want more tips on how to create good structure at work, there are many ways to get that from me - in podcasts, videos, books, talks and other formats.
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