List Making | List Producer

Checklist for Overcoming Pre-Speech Jitters

April 29, 2014/in Boost Memory, Guest Posts, Increase Productivity, List Making, Reduce Stress, Tool for Success, Uncategorized, Weddings/by Paula Rizzo

Public speaking is one of those things that leaves some people weak in the knees. With wedding season and graduation on the horizon it may be time to start preparing that special speech. I know how stressful it can be to give a speech packed with humor, excitement and memories, all while shaking in your own heels. I was a maid of honor once and I wrote and rewrote my speech over and over again. I even practiced in front of the mirror! In the end it was fine but what an ordeal!

If you are tasked with giving a speech at a wedding, at work or even in front of the PTA — do not fear. Bill McGowan, author of “Pitch Perfect: How to Say It Right the First Time, Every time” has created this checklist just for us to help calm nerves and deliver a stellar speech. Read more

It’s My Blog’s 3rd Birthday!

April 3, 2014/in Apps, Benefits of List Making, Decision Making, Fellow List Producers, Increase Productivity, List Making, Reduce Stress, Video, Webinar/by Paula Rizzo

Today is my blog’s 3rd birthday, my “baby” is now a toddler! I can’t believe how fast the time has gone and I have all of my awesome productive followers to thank for making this such a success and supporting me.

For today’s post I thought it would be fun to go back in time and see where it all began! I started the blog after my husband Jay and I found our first apartment in Manhattan. We had a checklist of all the things we wanted in that apartment. Now three years later — we purchased our first apartment in Manhattan (also with a checklist!)

I’ve learned a lot through writing this blog and it has been through the good, the bad, and the ugly! So here is a look back at some of favorite posts, along with a few mishaps. You grow from mistakes as long as you learn from the, right?

Oldies But Goodies

Is Productivity Making Me Rude?: In my never ending quest to be more efficient, I realized that perhaps I’ve become more short and rude. This post is one of my favorites because I think it really addresses the things we miss when trying to do it all. Check it out. Read more

7 Ways to Deal When Cable and Internet go out

March 2, 2014/in Benefits of List Making, Home, List Making, Tool for Success, TV, Uncategorized/by Paula Rizzo

no-cable-tv (Photo credit: hjl)

As many of you know — I’m getting ready for a big move to a brand new apartment. With that comes a lot of coordinating and planning. Our cable company made one very big mistake about our move and shut off our service in our current apartment a month too early! So yes, we were left without TV, Internet, and phone service for two days. Who cares, you may think. And I would have said the same — until it happened to me.

When you’re on vacation, you are ready to unplug, you need it and you want it. But in the middle of a work week when you are unexpectedly thrown off of your routine and contact with the outside world is ripped from your grip — you get angry fast! So as I was pulling my hair out with frustration, as our nice field tech Rich tried to get our service turned back on, I wrote out a list.

This is a list of things to do when your cable and Internet go out without warning — like when your cable company screws up or something more dramatic happens like a blackout.

1. Go to the movies. It occurred to me that we had been binge watching Netflix for so long (House of Cards is amazing!) that we hadn’t actually been to a theater in months. It was great to get out and see something new.
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Make Awkward Small Talk Disappear With This List

February 11, 2014/in Benefits of List Making, Learning With a List, List Making, People, Reduce Stress, Relationships, Uncategorized/by Paula Rizzo

This picture of Paul McCartney will make much more sense when you continue reading this post! (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

Remember in high school or college when the teacher would make each student in the class introduce themselves and say one interesting fact? My hands would sweat, and I would panic trying to think of something cool to say before the teacher got to me. Total torture!

Well this still happens today. You know what I’m talking about. Those awkward situations where you are forced to make small talk or be interesting. Like at a business meeting, at the dentist’s office (why do they always want to talk when you can only mumble?,) with your hairdresser, at a party that you felt obligated to attend, or maybe even on a blind date.

My solution for these awkward exchanges are simple. Make a list. This can be something you write down or just keep in your head. But this list should contain several interesting facts about yourself and a few conversation starters. Here are a few of mine for inspiration:

1. I was named after Paul McCartney. Yes, really. My mom had BeatleMania big time.

Make Conference Calls More Productive!

February 6, 2014/in Apps, Fab Find, Increase Productivity, List Making, Reduce Stress, Saving Time, Technology, Tool for Success, Uncategorized/by Paula Rizzo

I use conference calls all the time – whether it’s for interviews, chatting with fellow co-workers, or with my interns to brainstorm ideas for this blog. Having a way to contact your clients is important to any business. There are a lot of companies that offer internet and phone services (view online) for businesses that are looking for phone solutions to help them keep in contact with their clients. Group calls always seem like a good idea until you get on them. It’s easy to lose track of who is talking or what the topic is at hand with so many people trying to talk at once. It can get overwhelming and unproductive fast! Freelance business relay conference calls to keep in touch with clients and potential customers so having a business phone could be very helpful – see more at https://www.megapath.com/voice/.

So for this week’s “Fab Find” I want to share a website and app called Speek which makes conference calls super easy and simple! You can sign up for a unique URL for free and share it with people when you want to conduct a call. I have been testing it out this week and have come up with a list:

Pros:

1. Multiple ways to join the call: You can do it the old fashioned way by dialing the number and pin provided on the URL. Or you can have Speek call you. All you have to do is type in your number and in seconds your phone is ringing. Similar services are offered by a VoIP Provider. My favorite way to connect through is through your computer. The site will connect to your speakers and microphone and you can chat right through the computer. I love this option because you can be hands-free and are able to take notes or pull up files while on the call.