Tool for Success | List Producer

Quicker Than a Celeb Marriage — Zirtual Is Back

August 18, 2015/1 Comment/in Apps, Increase Productivity, Reduce Stress, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

UPDATE: This is a correction to a post I wrote this week called, “Outsourcing Site Zirtual Goes Bye Bye…Don’t Panic.”

Great news…you really don’t have to panic…

Yep — just like that.

In the blink of an eye all those annoying tasks you didn’t want to do yourself — can be outsourced to a Zirtual assistant again!

I’ve rarely had to cover breaking news on this blog — I reserve that for my day job as a TV producer. But I’m excited to bring you this up-to-the-minute update.

I heard from the CEO at Startups.co, which bought out Zirual after their payroll snafu. Wil Schroter wrote via email:

We bought the company and are operating as per before. Your article is inaccurate. Happy to answer questions.

I didn’t realize they had gotten operations up and running so quickly.

Well that’s fabulous and that means you need to get going on that to-do list you’ve been putting off. And by get to… I mean give it to someone else to do!

Outsourcing is your friend.

Sometimes Productivity Falls Through the Cracks

I have to admit when I got this email from Wil my heart sank. I thought, “oh no! I got it wrong! I let my readers down.”

You see — as a producer working in news — “getting it right” is something that is really important to me — really it’s the only thing that matters.

I’m sorry I got this one wrong. When I published that first post — the Zirtual blog still said it was in limbo and to stay tuned so that’s what I went with.

As soon as I learned about the update though — I preempted the blog post that was supposed to run today so I could bring you the most accurate information.

Sometimes productivity and accuracy does fall through the cracks. We are all human — remember not to be too hard on yourself today.

Thanks for understanding about my oversight and I hope you’re just as excited as I am that Zirtual is back!

5 Common Ways We Hold Ourselves Back

August 10, 2015/2 Comments/in Decision Making, Happiness, People, Reduce Stress, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

Sometimes we are our own greatest enemies.

No matter how confident I am — there are moments when I feel not good enough. It happens to all of us. We can’t all walk around feeling super confident all the time – although that would be nice!

Ironically this attitude can often stop us from performing at our best and send us in to self-sabotage mode.

So how do you get over these feelings?

It’s hard work in the end. Once you’re aware of it you can start to make changes. Here are some of the ways we hold ourselves back, and how to fix it: Read more

Eliminate Small Annoyances to Boost Productivity

August 3, 2015/3 Comments/in Apps, Decision Making, Decorating, Happiness, Health, Increase Productivity, Reduce Stress, Saving Time, Tea, Technology, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

We all experience them, those little everyday things that get in our way.

But you deal with them even when they set you back. I do it too.

I’m sent tons of magazines and books at work and they are good resources for story ideas. However they take up so much space.

I keep them on my desk because I always plan on looking at them. But in the end they just get in my way and slow me down and create clutter.

They topple over onto my keyboard.

They spill onto my notes and pencil and often I can’t find what I’m looking for — but there they are…under that stack of magazines.

So why don’t I just move them! Right? We’ll it’s a lot easier said than done. These types of irritants are only slightly annoying so we let them slide. Read more

The Most Productive 15 Minutes of Your Work Day

July 29, 2015/2 Comments/in Benefits of List Making, Increase Productivity, Learning With a List, List Making, Reduce Stress, Saving Time, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

For those of you who work a typical 9 to 5 job, looking at the clock and seeing it’s 4:45pm can be quite a relief. Only a quarter of an hour and you’re out of there! Yay!

For others it can be quite stressful – only 15 minutes to get everything done!

But would you believe the way you spend those final 15 minutes could completely change what happens the next day?

Every day, when I’m nearly finished with work I create a “roadmap” for the following day. I’ve stolen the idea from my time as a live news producer. We always have a rundown to keep us on track during a live show. Your work day should run the same way. Read more

The Perfect Combo: Tea and Productivity

July 27, 2015/0 Comments/in Benefits of List Making, Food, Happiness, Increase Productivity, Learning With a List, List Making, People, Tea, Tool for Success/by Paula Rizzo

Last week I held the very first ever ProductiviTEA event at Podunk tea shop in New York City. I’m still beaming from the amazing energy in the room. (Maybe it was the boozy tea too?) The group was a mix from all different backgrounds. We had lawyers, fashion designers, personal trainers, financial services gurus, productivity coaches and branding experts.

Between sips of delicious tea and bites of yummy scones — it was clear that despite the differences in careers we all shared similar productivity issues. Some of the problems that popped up included:
1. Focusing on one task at a time (I suggested trying the Pomodoro technique where you work on a given task for a set amount of time — like 25 minutes.)

2. Dealing with email overwhelm (I’ve been there too – I love to sign up for newsletters newsletters,PDFs and free gifts of all kinds. If there’s a free promo code out there — I want it. All these goodies are delivered right to my inbox and I always have the best intentions to read them all but….the truth is I rarely do anything with that stuff. I created a system to Take Back My Inbox! For some tips and tricks on that front check out my new course.

3. Stopping your brain from going 100 MPH before bed (Reading a fiction book is a great cure for this. I used to read non-fiction all the time because I’m just so curious and always want to be learning something new. But about a month ago I realized it wasn’t working and switched to fiction. It’s amazing how much it settles you down before bed.)

We also talked about productivity styles and how you have to find out what works for you. I had so much fun helping people with their list and productivity problems and cheer on their successes. I created ListProducer.com to help those who where struggling to get organized – it feels really good to see the effect the blog has on people. Thanks so all who attended and hopefully we will have a repeat event sometime soon. I’m even thinking of doing a virtual event so people from all over can participate.