We all take on a variety of tasks in our lives. This can range from baking a cake, giving a presentation at work, to learning a new language.
Many of these types of tasks can be quite challenging (and intimidating!) if you have never done it before. How do I bake the cake? What should the presentation cover? How do I go about learning a new language?
What makes all these tasks tractable is having some structure. A cake recipe to follow. An overview of what the presentation should cover or an existing example. A strategy and plan for how and when to study and learn the language.
Giving structure can change a task from seeming impossible to accomplish, to giving you a path forward. It does not mean the activity will be easy, but we know how to spend our efforts.
Whenever we are struggling with a task, it’s important to make sure we have given ourselves enough structure to succeed. This is even more important when we delegate these tasks to someone else.
A little effort up front to provide structure can go a long way.