March, 2015 | List Producer

Biz Coach Ali Brown Had Me on Her Podcast!

March 19, 2015/0 Comments/in Benefits of List Making, Fellow List Producers, Home, Increase Productivity, Learning With a List, List Making, Technology, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

Review Ali Brown I’ve mentioned before that I’m a huge fan I am of Ali Brown’s Glambition Radio podcast. I’ve actually listened to every single episode.

They’re great for keeping me company on the subway and teaching me a thing or two. So I’m very excited to reveal that I was fortunate enough to be a guest and chat with her about productivity, lists and how I got into the television business.

I first reached out to Ali when my book was still in the works because I thought it would be right up her alley. She revealed that she was a list maker in one of her podcasts or an interview I’d heard her give. So I thought she’d love it. Turns out — she did! And she was kind enough to endorse Listful Thinking.

I highly recommend you take a listen to the podcast . We talk about what got me started as a list maker and where I think the future of lists is headed. I also touch on the best way to structure your lists, and even how to pitch media if you ever find yourself in such a position.

Listen to it here!

How Productivity Pro Laura Vanderkam Does It All

March 17, 2015/0 Comments/in Fellow List Producers, Learning With a List, List Making/by Paula Rizzo

LauraNew

If you’re a productivity wisdom seeker like me — you’ve probably heard of Laura Vanderkam at some point. I’ve followed her for years and recently read her e-book What the Most Productive People Do Before Breakfast and wrote about it.

She’s written several other time-management and productivity books, including the forthcoming I Know How She Does It: How Successful Women Make The Most Of Their Time (Portfolio, June 9, 2015.)

She was kind enough to post a guest article I wrote for her audience on her own site LauraVanderkam.com about how to create the ultimate to-do list.

But I wanted to know more about her and highlight her as one of my featured List Producers!

Why do you call yourself a compulsive list producer?

I don’t know if I’m compulsive, but I do like my lists! I find lists to be a simple way to organize my thoughts and remember things that I would otherwise forget. That in turn makes life much smoother. With two working parents and four kids, there are a lot of moving parts around here.

What do you make lists about?

Priorities and goals, and then practical matters like what I’m supposed to get at the grocery store. Read more

Why You’re Not More Productive and How to Fix it

March 15, 2015/5 Comments/in Benefits of List Making, Happiness, Home, Increase Productivity, Learning With a List, List Making, People, Reduce Stress, Saving Time, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

Here’s something that might surprise you — all this productivity stuff doesn’t always come so easily to me. I’ve shared this at several of the signings for my book Listful Thinking and people have really been shocked.

The truth is I’m actually a big procrastinator.

I know that working in television under really strict deadlines, with serious time constraints has helped to pull me out of my procrastinator ways. The same rules for productivity applies for many businesses too, as well as personal goals.

I use systems all the time like list making, rewarding myself and making fake deadlines to get more accomplished.

That’s how this blog got started but I want you all to know that I work at it every single day.

Yes I do have an advantage because I like to organize shirts by color and write my to-do list on beautiful stationery. But I have to work at maintaining my lists, keeping my schedule in check and being more efficient with my free time.

I think it’s important to share our productivity struggles as well as our successes. Too often when I speak with people who are struggling they feel like they are the only one.

If this rings true with you — remember you’re not alone!

In fact, the more people I talk to, the more I realize how similar our stories are.

The same phrases always seem to come up:

“I’m too busy.”

“I don’t have time.”

“It’s too difficult.”

I’m Grateful for You…

March 12, 2015/0 Comments/in Happiness, List Making, People/by Paula Rizzo

It’s been just about four years since I started writing this blog. My goal has been to help you become more productive and learn to use lists to get more out of your lives. It may sound a bit simple, but when you write to tell me how much this blog or my book, Listful Thinking, helps you personally — I value it so much.

I’ve written about keeping a gratitude journal in the past. It’s something I really believe in. The act of writing a list of all that I’m thankful for can boost my mood and make me happier. So I’m taking this opportunity to let you all know that you’ve been on my gratitude list for quite some time. Thank you to the regular readers of this blog for all the help and support you’ve given me over the years.

Below are a few of the delightful messages I’ve received recently:
Read more

Track Your Time Challenge

March 10, 2015/1 Comment/in Increase Productivity, Saving Time/by Paula Rizzo

Are you wasting precious minutes of your day without even realizing it? Many complain there aren’t enough hours in a day to get things done but it turns out you could be the problem. Gasp! I know!

The issue may not be the amount of time you have but how you’re utilizing it. Staying focused is really important in order to have a productive day.

Distractions are what keep us from reaching our daily goals. Hey- we’re in a society of instant gratification. Just today I had a few spare seconds and I was instantly checking Twitter mindlessly without really even noticing.

I want to challenge you this week to track down where all your spare minutes go. Here’s a few ideas of how to track that “busy” time:

Moment is an app that will track how much you use your iPhone or iPad throughout the day. You can set daily limits and receive notifications once you go over the allotted time.
iDoneThis is another great tool to keep track of your day. The app will email you at the end of the day to ask “What did you get done today?” Stop, reflect, and write about your day just by hitting “reply.” This also works well if you are managing a group. The next morning, you’ll receive an overview that shows everyone’s accomplishments from yesterday to kick off your day.
Rescue Time A web-based service that tracks how much time you spend on tasks. You can also set limits on how long you check emails or update Facebook.
Daily Journal – Write down every single thing you do for an entire day. This is similar to a food journal where you write out every meal, snack and drink you consume. With a time tracking journal you write out where all your minutes go. You could also do this in an Excel sheet or in Evernote. Be honest! This is not a judging contest – it’s a way to get to know your habits better so you can improve your focus.
Toggl I just learned about this one at a conference where I was a guest speaker. It’s a digital way to track all your time. It makes it easy to capture everything on the go so you don’t forget.

Now that you know what to do – go track those minutes. I want to hear where you are wasting most of your time – it may surprise you! Please leave a comment below, a Facebook message or tweet me @Listproducer. Good luck!