Tag Archive for: how to be more productive

Top Tips To Be a Better Person

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BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

Doing acts of service can feel like a big challenge – just one more thing to add to your already long to-do list.

But what if making time to be of service to yourself and your community could actually make you happier and more productive?

My friend Kate Hanley is all about the idea that being generous and making small changes in your life pays off. 

Kate is the author of a book called, “How to Be a Better Person” and she also hosts a daily podcast of the same name.

She’s an expert on how to make small but meaningful changes in your life that will have a big impact. 

You can check out our full conversation here. 

Here are some highlights from the conversation::

 

Make it seasonal. 

When you’re trying to come up with plans for doing service or helping your community, take the season into consideration. For example, one of Kate’s goals is to start a compost bin. Leaves are really important for composting, so fall is a great time to start helping the environment in this small but important way. 

 

Let people know you care. 

Kate loves sending thank you notes, because it’s a small gesture that can make someone’s day. Sending a note will remind you to slow down and give thanks to the people in your life, whether it’s your child’s teacher or a new client. I can’t agree enough with this – I still send paper thank you notes whenever possible! 

 

Think local.

Being a better person doesn’t mean you have to save the whole world! Instead, look in your community for ways to give back and make a difference. Drop off some canned goods at a food drive or attend a pasta dinner fundraiser. These acts of service will help you feel more connected to your community. 

People often talk about self care in terms of things you done alone or for yourself, like setting aside time to read a book or learning how to say “no.”

But like Kate says, self care also means being mindful of yourself in relation to the people around you, whether that’s your family, co-workers, or neighbors.

When you feel good about your place in your community, you put yourself in the best position to be happy, healthy, and productive. 

BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

Productivity Secrets for a Successful Side Hustle

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BONUS FREEBIE: Want even more ways to stay organized, productive and less stressed? Click here to get access to my List-Making Starter Kit. It will boost your efficiency and get you back to doing more of the things you love.

When you first start a side hustle you tend to be a one-man band. It means you’re doing all the work, but there’s also plenty of upsides to this:

  • no communication issues
  • no meetings
  • no job descriptions

It’s all you! 

As I learned through the years it’s important to resist doing everything yourself. That will quickly lead to burnout or will cause you to abandon ship on your ideas. 

As you’re side hustle gets more successful you might need to bring in some help.. Managing a small business or side project like this can be quite difficult. I would know, for the past eight years I’ve run Listproducer.com which has become part of my business. And for the past five years I’ve had the help of my fabulous editorial assistant Nicole. Until recently, Nicole has lived in the UK while I’ve been in the US. Plus  for most of that time we both had full time jobs! Read more

Being More Productive While You Sleep

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PRE-ORDER LISTFUL LIVING: If you’re inclined to buy a copy of my new journal book, Listful Living: A List-Making Journey to a Less Stressed You,” please do it now.

The book will be out on September 15th but pre-orders are so important for authors and it would help me out tremendously.

Pre-orders tell the publisher and the media that this book is going to be a big deal. And I’m offering some great pre-order bonuses that you’ll be eligible to receive. All you have to do is send a copy of your receipt to my assistant at Tabitha@paularizzo.com and when they are unveiled you’ll get them! Thank you!  

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Wouldn’t it be great to make money while you sleep? 

It’s a worthwhile goal, but it can take years to achieve. 

In the meantime, you can at least send emails while you sleep. I do it all the time, using a gmail extension called Boomerang.

Boomerang allows you to write an email and schedule it for a later date. Followup.cc also has similar features and reminders so you don’t get lost in your inbox. And now Gmail even has the option.  Read more

Carve Out Space to Get More Done

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The biggest issue with writing (or any creative task really) is finding the time to sit down, distraction free, and put your ideas to paper.

We often put it off and never get to it.

I interviewed Karen Rizzo (no relation) author of “Things to Do, Sh*t to Bring” years ago and in her book she kept saying she wanted to learn Italian.

And guess what – she never did. She didn’t give herself the space and time to do it. Maybe you have tasks like that.

For me – I had to jump on a plane and travel across the world to give myself the space to write. I just returned from a writing retreat in France and it was divine. It was in Paris and it gave me time to focus on my creative side. (I started writing a novel! Who knows where it will go but it was so fun to start writing.) Read more

The Case for Becoming A Minimalist

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Since my book Listful Thinking has been published in 12 different languages I have been able to connect with list makers across the globe. In particular, I often receive messages from people in China and Japan who want to talk about their love of lists.

It’s become clear to me that while we may have different approaches and styles, being more productive without overworking ourselves is a common human goal. In fact, in my search for a more minimalist lifestyle, I have often been inspired by ideas from the other side of the world. If it wasn’t for a friend of mine recommending I checked out check out this excellent list, then the idea of minimizing may not have been as apparent as it is now for me right now. In our lives, there are many things we don’t actually need and a lot of things that take up a lot of unnecessary space.

As you may know I am a huge fan of Marie Kondo, who brings a simplicity to clearing clutter. She has you ask a simple question as you hold items from you home in your hand, “Does it spark joy?” It makes you really think about the stuff you choose to keep, not just in your closets, but in your life in general.

I’m not the only one who has been inspired by eastern minimalism. Raymond Tang felt overwhelmed by his fast paced technology driven lifestyle and sought change elsewhere. He was inspired by the classic poems of by Lao Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher. These poems are thousands of years old, but as Raymond explains in his TED talk they offer advice that we can embrace today.

Lao Tzu encouraged people to act more like water, which fills the shape of its container. t doesn’t fight against the obstacle in anyway. In the same way, all of us can be more open to opportunities and rather then force ourselves to be a certain version of success, we can just go with the flow.

It’s easier said than done, of course and I struggle with this on a daily basis. I really like order and structure and when I’m in a chaotic situation it makes me anxious. But I’m trying to be more open to chance and circumstance.

Minimalism is big in Japan as well, where young people are trying to own fewer and fewer things. Inspired by traditional Zen Buddhism, they have reduced the amount of physical things in their life to free up time spent cleaning or decluttering to be used elsewhere. When explaining the difference between Eastern and Western styles one person said, “In the west, making a space complete means placing something there. But with tea ceremonies, or Zen, things are left incomplete on purpose to let the person’s imagination make that space complete.”

In that same article one Japanese man explained that he only four pairs of pants, three shirts and four pairs of socks. If that makes you nervous, it shouldn’t! There’s something really freeing about having less stuff.

When you think about you probably use the same clothes over and over again anyway. So why are you holding onto it?