#23 - The Company of You Has Divisions, Too

Embracing a "personal organizational structure" can bring greater focus and harmony to a many-threaded life

If “being the CEO of your own life” is a saying that resonates with you, then remember that (many) CEOs run organizations that have divisions within them. So, if you’re CEO of Adam Inc., then it follows that Adam Inc. has divisions that include things like:

Divisions of the Company of You

1. Family (Duties — doodies if you have young kids)

2. Wellness (of the mind and body)

3. Time with Friends

4. Fun & Hobbies

5. Core Work Responsibilities (getting work done)

6. Secondary Work Responsibilities (going above and beyond)

7. Skills Development & Maintenance

8. Volunteering & Social Impact

Embracing a "personal organizational structure" like the one above can bring greater focus and harmony to a many-threaded life

OK, I mentioned Adam above… Adam is me. This is generally how I’ve tried to bring some structure to my life, by ensuring that I’m never losing sight of the things that matter greatly to me. Each of these above Divisions have sub-divisions and sub-sub-divisions. Some quarters and years, I actually chart all of this out in Notion or a spreadsheet or in a notebook (Leuchtturn1917 is my go-to notebook).

I have found this particularly helpful whenever I am stretching at work or in life in any way. If you’re waking up feeling overwhelmed more than 50% of your days, embracing a personal management structure like the above could be helpful.

Having this visualized also allows you to adjust your life focus over time.

Example: if within the Fun & Hobbies division, there’s a sub-division called “Reading” and a sub-sub-division called “Sci-Fi”, but I’m feeling burned out of science fiction reading (pshhh I’m never burned out of sci-fi reading…), then I would simply write, "Revisit this division later.” Sometimes, I’ll even temporarily remove divisions or sub-divisions to enable me to hyper focus on specific areas of life.

I personally find that by investing the time to chart all of this out, I have more harmony in my life, because I have less of a fear that I’m dropping the ball on something really important. Additionally, you should avoid a mistake I made early on in starting this practice: thinking you have to make progress in every category, every day. You don’t have to make progress on everything, every day, in fact that’s why I suggest adding themes to your days (see letter #9) so that you know, in advance, that you’ll invest more heavily in a specific area at a specific time.

I will absolutely be returning to this topic at some point in the future, likely meshed up with the letter I’ve been meaning to write for a long time on energy management…Because I think managing your energy first means defining the categories to which your energy goes.