Decision Making | List Producer

NYC Restaurant Must-Eat List

June 2, 2011/in Benefits of List Making, Decision Making, Food, Learning With a List, Reduce Stress, Saving Money, Saving Time, Travel/by Paula Rizzo

Photo by: Steve Credo

Through the years I’ve made zillions of lists. One that I return to most often is my “Eating List for NYC.” I give it to friends and family whenever they visit New York and I add to it if I find a truly exceptional place.

I recently had the pleasure of being a guest blogger for a friend I met on Twitter — Marnely Rodriguez is a pastry chef, foodie and writer from the Dominican Republic. She wrote a guest post for me called “Must-Have Baking Tool List.” When she heard about my New York City restaurant list — she was thrilled and couldn’t believe she hadn’t been to any of them yet!

You can check out the list here on her blog “Cooking with Books.”

Being prepared with a list (about anything!) will help you enjoy any activity much more. This is especially true when it comes to looking for restaurants. I make a restaurant list whenever I go to a new city. (Check out my Chicago picks.) By doing a little research beforehand — you end up with a delicious experience!

Successful Financial Guru is a List Maker

June 1, 2011/in Benefits of List Making, Decision Making, Fellow List Producers, Increase Productivity, Reduce Stress, Saving Time, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

List making can help you strive in so many areas of your life: work, home, relationships, leisure and even fashion! No one knows this better than Joe Duran. He’s this month’s featured “list producer.”

Joe is the CEO for United Capital, a national wealth-counseling firm that is one of the fastest growing companies in the financial services industry. Pretty impressive, huh? Well he owes a lot of his success to being a list maker!

1. Why do you call yourself a compulsive list producer?

Lists keep people synchronized. I expect myself and everyone that works with me to stay on top of all the many things we are working on.

2. What do you make lists about?

I like everyone that works with me to keep two kinds of lists: action lists for any follow up items as well as checklists for repeatable activities.

3. How often do you make lists?

There is not a day that goes by that I am not given multiple checklists and action lists to look at. Read more

Shopping for Clothes with a List

May 31, 2011/in Benefits of List Making, Boost Memory, Decision Making, Fashion, Increase Productivity, Learning With a List, Reduce Stress, Saving Money, Saving Time, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

This weekend my husband was cleaning out his closet – so I was inspired to do the same thing. Our approaches were quite different – he was done in 10 minutes after giving each item a quick glance.

I, on the other hand, had to try on EVERYTHING with the right shoes and undergarments. Please! How am I supposed to know if it still looks good without seeing the whole look? This process took me two hours. (I have a lot of clothes.)

Closet-Cleaning Strategy

I made five piles to keep myself organized as I went through my clothes and shoes:

1. Keep: Stuff that I have worn in the past six months and look really good on me.

2. Donate: Stuff that I really loved at one point but no longer fits, I’m tired of wearing or I’ve never actually worn (I know I’m not the only one who has done this! Right?) If you don’t know where to donate your clothes — here’s a list for “Getting Rid of Stuff.” Read more

The End of the World as We Know It?

May 20, 2011/in Benefits of List Making, Decision Making, Reduce Stress/by Paula Rizzo

I don’t believe that tomorrow will be the end of the world. But some people do – namely Robert Fitzpatrick from Staten Island, NY. He spent his life savings of $140,000 on bus and subway advertisements to warn us that we will have a global earthquake that will end the world on May 21, 2011.

I don’t buy it.

But let’s just say that tomorrow was really the last day of the world (which it’s not)…what would you do or say today?

If you’re a list maker – examine your life list. Are you really THAT upset that you haven’t gone sky diving? What about if you never made up with your estranged sibling? Would that matter? Read more

The Power of a Pro vs. Con List and a FREE Giveaway

May 19, 2011/in Benefits of List Making, Decision Making, Increase Productivity, Reduce Stress, Travel/by Paula Rizzo

This blog is three posts in one:

1. A case study of the power of one of my favorite kinds of lists: the pros/cons list.

2. A plug for a cool website and the pre-made list paper they make.

3. A chance for you to win FREE list paper from KnockKnockStuff.com.

WHO: Colleen Cappon – my colleague and a non-list maker

WHAT: Colleen and her fiancée Chris are getting married and having trouble planning their honeymoon

WHEN: Their wedding is in October

WHY: It’s tough to narrow down the perfect destination to celebrate their nuptials because they are overwhelmed by all the choices

WHERE: This is just the problem! They have too many options and are losing sight of what they really want

The Power of a Pros/Cons List

Enter the “List Producer” with the solution I have for everything – make a list! I told Colleen that a pros/cons list is really the best way give attention to each choice individually. I also shared some cool list paper that I’d gotten from KnockKnockStuff.com for her to write out pros and cons about each resort she and Chris were considering. Read more

Related articles