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Overcoming Chaos

Description

Multiple demands, conflicting priorities, and impossible deadlines are a way of life for many professionals. It doesn't have to be that way! This course will help you refocus your energy and regain control over your workday and your life. Focus begins within as you explore your personal preferences for organizing and thinking. You will develop a personal mission statement to guide you as you improve your skills to prioritize and focus. Worksheets and questionnaires provide tangible tools to help you plan, manage, and track responsibilities while managing multiple priorities. You'll complete this course with renewed energy and personalized tools that will help you get results!

Objectives

You will explore your needs, preferences, principles and endowments as you prepare to put first things first.
You will use a variety of tools and concepts to develop and maintain focus on your mission and priorities.
You will explore ways to organize space, paperwork and systems.
You will identify strategies for working with and through others to overcome chaos as you develop a practical plan for implementation.

Book

First Things First: To Live, to Love, to Learn, to Leave a Legacy

Author: Stephen R. Covey, A. Roger Merrill, Rebecca R. Merrill

ISBN: 0684802031

Additional resources (not required but good references)

Organizing for the Creative Person by Dorothy Lehmkuhl and Dolores Cotter Lamping

The Path by Laurie Beth Jones

Conquering the Paper Pile-Up by Stephanie Culp

Organizing from the Inside Out by Julie Morgenstern

Looking Within

Chapter 2: The Urgency Addiction

Chapter 3: To Live, To Love, To Leave a Legacy

Chapter 4: Quadrant II Organizing: The Process of Putting First Things First

Gaining Focus

Chapter 5: The Passion of Vision

Chapter 6: The Balance of Roles

Chapter 7: The Power of Goals

Chapter 8: The Perspective of the Week

Again, please don't be overwhelmed with the reading assignments. If you're pressed for time, page through each chapter and read the headings and bold print. That will get you the main points. When you need more detail, read a little deeper. This is a conceptual lesson and it requires some thinking. Let me know if you get stuck!

Get Organized!

Chapter 4: Quadrant II Organizing: The Process of Putting First Things First. You previewed this chapter in the last lesson. Now it's time to dig deeper if you choose to work on organizing your time.

There are no other reading assignments for this lesson. I'm pulling from a lot of different sources. If you want to read more, there are more references in the course syllabus. Let me know if you have questions!

The Human Side of Chaos

Section 3 of your text is entitled "The Synergy of Interdependence." It will enhance the thinking we'll be doing in this lesson. Read it if you have the time and it appeals to you; page through it and look for interesting points if your time is more limited. There's no pressure to do this reading. At this point you need to begin focusing on turning your learning into results.