Bringing Back “Old School” Productivity Hacks

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As technology gets more and more advanced, we tend to forget how we used to do things.

Think of how shocked kids are when they hear how you did homework before the internet. (No one appreciates the dewey decimal system anymore!)

But are we becoming too reliant on technology? While it certainly makes our lives more convenient, we now bypass certain steps that helped us to stay on top of our organizational game.

Here are some ways kickin’ it “old school” will make you more productive:

Remember the Typewriter – This old piece of tech is symbolic of a whole generation, you’d be hard pressed to find a black and white movie that doesn’t include a typewriter. One of the downsides to the typewriter was that if you made a mistake you had to start over again. As much of a pain as this may be it made you more conscious of what you were typing. Read more

Listful Thinking Turns Two!

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Do you ever get one of those Timehop things on Facebook where a picture pops up that you could’ve sworn you posted not that long ago, when it turns out it’s from two years ago!! I’m having one of those moments today as it’s been two years since my book Listful Thinking came out.

Where has that time gone?

I had to make a list:

  • There was that time I met  Marie Kondo and it sparked joy.
  • My appendix exploded.
  • Then I developed an online course with my friend Terri Trespicio called Lights Camera Expert to help entrepreneurs, experts and authors get and keep media attention.  
  • I continued to hear great feedback about a keynote speech for New York Women in Communications.
  • Listful Thinking has been translated into 10 languages! The different titles and covers of the various international versions of my book all give me a small insight into the cultures they represent. A prime example of this is the Japanese cover which features an adorable robot. Plus there’s now a new language to add to the ongoing list – Korean!

I’m excited to announce the next step in the Listful Thinking journey. I’m launching a brand new course called Listful Thinking Masterclass. It’s designed to help you set up a real system to get more done than ever.

I’ll be personally leading the course each week to give you guidance and tackle the big issues that are stifling your productivity like distractions and procrastination.  Check it out here. I can help you make this your most productive year yet!

How Do You Say List in Portuguese?

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You know when you do something and you aren’t quite sure how it will turn out? That’s what it’s been like for me to publish my book Listful Thinking. This January will mark two years since it came out and I’m still grateful for all the opportunities it’s given me.

I’ve had the chance to meet some of you face to face at book signings and talk with people all over the world about lists. Plus, I got to record the audiobook version of the book this summer.  I’m also excited to announce that Listful Thinking has also made it onto the Apple iBooks bestseller list!

I’m thrilled to be mentioned with other classic titles like “The Secret” and “How to Win Friends and Influence People.” When I first published my book I had no idea there were so many list makers out there. What I certainly didn’t expect was how many different languages the book would be published in as well.  Right now it’s in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, Dutch, Indonesian and just recently in Portuguese as well. I’m so happy to welcome all the new Portuguese list makers to this blog.

unnamed-8The book has also allowed me to do some speaking gigs, which I really love. I’ll be speaking at the MA Conference for Women on Dec 8th. I’ll be leading the session appropriately named Listful Thinking. And I’ll also be hosting a session with two execs from Boston Scientific, leading the discussion about work/life balance. I’ve written about this quite a lot. And I’m interested to get their take on how they manage it as well.  It resonates with all of us.  If you’re at the conference, please put “stop by to say hello to Paula” on your list.

8 Books to Turn Your Productivity Around

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I love reading! Not just because I enjoy learning about new things or ideas, but because I find it fascinating how a book can seep into your daily mindset.

If I’m really interested in a book I will often find that the concepts within the book will appear all around me. Friends will bring up a issues that relate to key themes in the book or I’ll face a problem at work similar to issues brought up in the book.

It’s for this reason that productivity books can be so good for you. While you may not implement all the practices suggested it at least gets you thinking about the different approaches to getting things done. You might even think of a way to adapt one of the ideas in the book to be more suitable for your lifestyle. Read more

List of 10 Gluten-Free Grains for Everyone

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Everything seems to be gluten-free this and gluten-free that these days. I was a bit skeptical in the beginning when all of these “new” foods started hitting shelves. But I did a shoot with a nutritionist named Kelly Dorfman and she told me about a story from her book “What’s Eating Your Child?”

The story was about a young child who was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She was prescribed a cocktail of medicines and her parents were frustrated and wanted to help their child. They went to see Kelly in their last efforts and it turned out the child wasn’t bipolar at all — she had a gluten intolerance! Amazing isn’t it? What you eat has such a huge impact on everything. Read more