Paula Rizzo shares three ways to bring back-to-school energy into fall: imagine yourself as an intern to spark curiosity, make a reverse bucket list focused on feelings instead of stuff, and find a mentor to guide new learning. She offers a free list-making kit at paularizzo.com/list.
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Hey there, welcome to Inside Scoop. I'm Paula Rizzo. Remember when September was so lovely for back to school? I mean, if you were a back to school nerd like me, right? Getting new notebooks and new pens and, you know, all those new outfits. It was so exciting to be able to, to do that. You know, now that we don't go to school anymore, it's Maybe September is not so exciting, but it doesn't have to be that way if we take on a back-to-school mentality. That's what we're going to talk about so that you can have a happier and more productive fall season. And we will get to all of that in a moment. But first, I have a little freebie for you. If you go to paularizzo.com/list, you can check out my list-making starter kit so that you can be more productive and highly successful in many, many ways in September and beyond. I'm also a LinkedIn Learning instructor and I have very, very 2 wonderful courses, if I do say so myself, all about how to be more productive. Uh, one is about enhancing your productivity with effective note-taking, perfect for back-to-school season or back-to-work season or whatever it is that you're, you're working on. Uh, and I want to hear from you throughout the broadcast. If you're watching the replay, leave some questions, leave some comments below, tag a friend, tag someone that you think might be having a hard time going back, back to it in September. I have some good ideas here, I think, that will really get you reinvigorated to have that back-to-school mentality. And the first thing that I'm going to tell you about is how to do this by envisioning yourself as an intern. Okay. Do you remember the days when you were an intern, when you would wide-eye, go into that office and be like, wow, this is the coolest job ever. I mean, I remember that as a TV producer, uh, you know, going into a studio for the very first time and seeing all the lights. After a while, it's not so exciting anymore, right? You're just like, oh, here we go again. Just another day. But the days that I would take interns into that studio as a producer and I would show them what it looked like behind the scenes, what the control room was like, what it was like to be with a reporter out in the field or whatever it was, to see their reactions, to see their faces was just amazing. And I tried to capture that. Now I have an example here for you that is pretty great for you to sort of remember how it was back when you were an intern. So we're going to play this video in just a second of an intern. She's from NBC News. This was back in 2018. I remember I was working in the newsroom at the time when this all happened. She was there covering the Paul Manafort trial and she was about to deliver the verdict. The verdict had just come out and she was sprinting— wait till you see this— sprinting out of the courthouse to deliver the news. Let's check her out. This is thanks to thedailymail.com. There she is. Look at this. That's an intern. Go intern, go. Do you see how— I mean, she was— when was the last time you sprinted like that for your job? Literally? Nope. I can't even imagine. Keep that girl's face in your mind the next time you're like, oh, do I really have to do this? And try and reinvigorate that back-to-school mentality. Try and think about yourself as an intern and bring yourself back to try and really coach yourself back, to really think through, like Cassie Simeon is her name, because it just, it's such a good reminder that we forget a lot of the things that we loved about our jobs and we loved about what we do. So take yourself back to being an intern. Also, there are ways to envision happiness and then make some changes. So if you followed me for years, you know that I love Oprah, Oprah Winfrey, anything Oprah says, I am very interested in hearing about. And so I was just watching something the other day where she was doing an interview with a happiness expert. His name is Albert Brooks, and he's the author of a book called Strength to Strength. And there he is right now. Uh, and there was a QR code if you want to check out the book. Um, but this book is all about finding success, happiness, and deep purpose in the second half of life. But look, anybody can use these tips for sure. And one of the things that he was talking about, um, was the bucket list, which I am a big believer in the bucket list, love myself a good bucket list. But he said what happens when you make a bucket list is that your satisfaction actually goes down because you're disappointed when you put all of the places and the things and all that stuff on there. Isn't that so interesting? I never thought of it that way, but I guess some people feel like, "Wow, I can't achieve that, and so this is kind of depressing." So instead, what we should do is envision happiness and create what he calls the reverse bucket list. Okay, so listen to this. He does this on his birthday every year. He makes a list of all of the wants, right? So these are— this is the traditional bucket list. This is really the material things. This is like, you know, you want a new car, you want a new house, you want to go on a trip, material things. So you make that list, then you make another list. I love this, lists on top of lists. So you make another list of how you want to feel on in 5 years? Okay, so what friendships do you have? What virtues do you, you know, embody? What is that? What does that feel like? What is your day like? What's your best day? All of that. Okay, so you have these two lists now. Now you compare the lists. This is where it gets good. Will the things on the first list help you get to the things on the second list? Right? So will that brand new Jaguar bring you to, you know, full-on happiness or whatever it is that you want on your second list? I don't know. Maybe it does. And if it does, you pursue it. That is what you do. So you compare those two lists and you say, will the things on the first list allow me to do— or the opposite way, will the things on the second list, will the first list be able to get me there? Right? So will having that material thing actually cause the reaction that you want in the second list. Interesting, right? So think about that. I love the idea of kind of doing this like self, self-audit, looking at envisioning how your happiness will be and then really pursuing the best part of it, right? Because sometimes it can feel like, oh, it's too, too much. Okay, so that's your— that's lesson number 2 for your back-to-school mentality. And lesson number 3 is to find a mentor. Okay, this is, you know, it's A little easier said than done. Like, this was easier when we were in school to find a mentor, to find a teacher, to find somebody who can help you. I, you know, I have to say every opportunity I've ever gotten in my career, in my life, is because someone helped me, because I reached out to somebody who knew this, who had done this before me, whether it was entrepreneurship or finding a new job when I was working in television or whatever it was. But thinking through this for yourself too, right? Thinking through who are the people who could open your eyes to something bigger. Maybe you are interested in being an entrepreneur. This is a big theme these days, right? People want to leave their jobs and start their own thing. And how can you get there? What are the people who are doing that? Make a list of those people. Start to follow them. Start to see what they do. You know, having a mentor doesn't mean it has to be a person that you talk to all the time. It can be a course. It can be someone that you watch. You know, for instance, one of my big mentors for entrepreneurship is Amy Porterfield. I don't know if you know her, but if you do not, you should check her out. She shares lots of great stuff about how to create online courses and webinars and things like that. I found her to be a great, a great mentor. And even before that, when I was first thinking about starting my own business, I went to LinkedIn Learning. I'm, I'm totally serious. I looked up a whole bunch of courses on entrepreneurship and starting your own business and what needed to happen. And you just start to learn. So if you pick something right now that you're really interested in doing, and how could you find a mentor, whether it be a real person in real life or a course or someone that you follow to help you really actualize what it is that you're looking to do. Kind of just reinvigorates, you know, your mind and gets you into that back-to-school mentality of learning something new and really seeking out someone who can set you on the right path, for sure. Well, I hope you enjoyed these 3 lessons and that you remember that intern. Can we just show the intern video one more time just because it's so good? There she is. Remember this as you go through your day. That's what we want for you. We want you to be running like that towards your goals, having that back-to-school mentality. You know, make sure that you check out my freebie. If you go to listproducer.com/list, you can check out my free list-making starter kit so we can stay in touch and you can be more organized and productive. And if you have questions, you know, feel free to leave them below in the chat. I'll be checking there. And I really appreciate you watching and I hope to see you next time.
