Inside Scoop: Power of Lists to Get Stuff Done

Hey there, welcome to Inside Scoop. I'm Paula Rizzo. I just love lists. I can't help it. I love them. I love every kind of list. The grocery list, the packing list, the to-do list. It's how I've organized my entire life and career, I have to say. And the times that I haven't done the lists, things fall through the cracks. So I really am a huge list lover, and I hope you are too. This episode is for you. But even if you're not a list lover, I want you to listen up a little bit because there may be some little tips and tricks in here that can really help you. I obviously love lists so much that I created two books about them. Listful Living and Listful Thinking are my two books, uh, and, uh, you know, it has served me quite quite well, but I've met a lot of really great list makers through the years. And you know what? A bunch of them are actually on LinkedIn. I have some courses, 7 courses so far. There's some more that are coming out soon on LinkedIn. And one of them is all about list making. It's called The Power of Lists to Get Stuff Done. And you can check it out by going to that QR code on the screen right there. And I'm going to talk about this course specifically today because I wanted to give you a little bit of a preview because there was a lot of really great stuff in there. In addition to my books, of course. But it's a, a way of thinking about lists and integrating them into your life and into your business, uh, and your career in a way that will really, really be helpful. And I think you'll enjoy it. So, um, I want you to check that out, of course. And all of the courses that I have on LinkedIn, you can grab those at paularizzo.com/linkedin or use the QR code right there that is on your screen. You can check those out. I have a few on hybrid work, One on note-taking and even one on media training. And I would love for you to share this video. If you're watching this and you're thinking, you know what, my friend at the office, she could use some lists or maybe her lists are overtaking her life, tag her below or share this video. And I would love to hear from you. If you have questions or comments or thoughts, leave them in the chat boxes below because I will be watching this. If you are watching the replay, I'm going to come back. I'm going to make sure and check out to see any of the comments that you have there. So now let's get to the course. So the course, The Power of Lists, uh, to get things done is one that I really enjoyed making because it is very much a 101 course on all things lists. So one of the ways that you can utilize lists, of course, is the to-do list, which we will talk about in detail. But there are all different kinds of lists that will make you more efficient. So I would love for you to think through what are the types of lists that would best serve you. Of course, if you're going on a trip, You're gonna have a packing list, the grocery list if you're going into, you know, um, into a shopping situation. Those are obvious because they are connected to an environment or connected to an event or something that you're doing. But I want you to think about your day-to-day work schedule. How could you use other lists that way? Maybe a pros and cons list, uh, you know, the to-do list, of course. But there are ways that you can use lists that are not just tasks, right? Checking things off. Think about a goal list. It could be a goal list for the whole week. These are the goals that I have that I want to make sure to get these things accomplished. And it doesn't have to be a specific to-do, like write the emails. It can literally be like end the week without feeling overwhelmed. It's a pretty great list, uh, to a list item to put on, on, on yourself as a, as a goal for the week. So think about it that way. And also gratitude lists. I love a good gratitude list. It helps you to get out of a funk for sure. If you feel like, oh my gosh, nothing is going my way, make a gratitude list. And it can be like, mangos are in season, or I got to see my friend for an hour while she was in town, or whatever it is. It really helps you to change your perspective and makes you a bit more productive. Those are some of the lists that you can make. Of course, the mighty to-do list is one of my favorites, of course. So we're going to talk through my to-do list formula, which is in the course. And I walk through in the course step by step the tactics that I use to create a list and the dos and don'ts, what you should do, what you shouldn't do, what I found to be most helpful, but also what science finds to be most helpful too. Because there are certain things and certain words you should use and shouldn't use in your list that will be helpful. The difference between a to-do list and a checklist. There are differences. And I love a good checklist, of course, and so do— pilots, and so do doctors, surgeons. They use checklists in, in ORs to make sure there are no mistakes. Same thing for pilots in planes. There are 13 checklists that they go through before they take that plane into the air. So, you know, there's a lot of real value that a checklist will, will have. Um, and then we also talk about analog or digital lists. How do you like to make your list? Are you a pen and paper type of person, or are you going to use some digital tools? So I walk through all of that in course and really give you some details on some new tools and things that I've found through the years that have been really helpful. Now, once you have your to-do list formula, how do you cross everything off? Because sometimes that list will take over, right? And you don't know how to get everything done. And then you feel like a failure at the end of the week and you are not feeling, you know, easy breezy going into your weekend. So what I say is to use your personal productivity style. And this is something that I developed and talk about a lot in my book, my second book, Listful Living. And your personal productivity style is how you work best. So you really need to be thinking about and watching yourself. When are you most excited to get work done? Is it in the morning? Is it in the afternoon? Is it in the evening? For me, I hit a stride around 2, 3 o'clock, which is not typical. That is not usually when other people— people start to sink at that time. For me, I used to think when I worked in corporate America as a TV producer, I used to think because it was close to— I would leave at 5:00, I thought it was like, oh, let me just get get all this work done before I go. Not the case. It's now, even that I work for myself, I find that that time is when I really get revved up, uh, and I want to do certain projects. So watch yourself, see when you feel most like doing certain things, and take notes on it. And then you're going to schedule your time around that, so you're really optimizing how you get things done for yourself, not how someone else gets it done, or, you know. And, and see how you feel on typical— on different days, like on a Friday versus a Monday. And, and you can really beat procrastination in a lot of ways when you do this, when you really tap into your own personal productivity style. So I talk about that in the book, of course, but also in this course on LinkedInLearning.com. You can check it out and really think it through for yourself because it's important whether you work for yourself or you work for a big company. And the biggest takeaway I think that I can give you about to-do lists in general are, you know, don't be too hard on yourself because I feel like we're all so hard on ourselves at the end of the day. Like, I didn't get these things done, and what am I supposed to do, and I feel like a failure. You know, you have to give yourself a little bit of grace, but your to-do list is not the boss of you. That is a very important thing to, to think about, and it's something that I get into in the course quite a bit, because the truth of the matter is you run the show here, right? You're the one making the list, so don't allow other people to put things on your list that you can't get to. This is all about your personal productivity style. Really, it all goes back to that fundamental item of what can you get done. Timing yourself— I'm a big, I'm a big proponent of timing yourself to see how long tasks actually take, because oftentimes we think it'll take 5 minutes, but then it takes 45 minutes and you're never going to get it done today. So just being realistic in that way, but knowing that the list is not the boss. You are the boss. So take back that power because lists are very powerful. So I don't want you to be overwhelmed. I want you to feel empowered by them, and I want you to be able to Um, use them for all the good that there is, which is to check things off and to have a fabulous weekend at the end of the day. Um, but I would love for you to check out the full course on LinkedIn. Of course, it's called The Power of Lists to Get Things Done— to get stuff done, not things, stuff. And, uh, you can use the QR code right there, um, to, to go ahead and watch that course now. And I have a free gift for you too, since I know, you know, you're always looking for some list-making content. So if you go to paularizzo.com/list, you'll get my list-making starter kit and we'll be in touch. I will be sure to send you all the new tips and tricks that I come across in the world of productivity. And thanks for watching. If you have questions, please leave them below and share this with your friends and I'll see you next time.