7 Ways to Get More Out of Your Workday



Rizzo taking notes while on a shoot

By Paula Rizzo, My Life List Member

Everyone has had one of those days – where you feel like you didn’t get anything accomplished at work. I’ve been there myself. You went to work, you talked to people, you wrote emails — but you didn’t really get anything finished.

Here’s a list of ways to rethink your workday so you’ll be more productive:

1. Make a list: You saw this one coming, didn’t you? I sound like a broken record because it works. Everyday before I leave work I make a list. Even if I’m dying to get out of there or I’m running late – I make time to make my list for the next day.

I look at my calendar and run through the following day in my head. I write out everything that I need to do – emails I need to write, phone calls I need to return, appointments I need to keep, shoots I need to go on, etc. I usually make two columns – one for work and one for personal stuff. Then the next day when I come in – I don’t even have to think about what needs to get done – I just follow my list and cross out tasks as I finish them.

2. Add to the list: Throughout the day I write down other things I need to do that I might forget. If I get sidetracked…I write down what I was in the middle of doing so I make sure to finish it later. It seems neurotic – but it’s incredibly effective. It’s so easy to forget what you’re in the middle of doing. How many times have you said, “Now, what was I doing?” You waste time and energy trying to remember and get back on task if you don’t leave yourself a note.

3. Leave yourself reminders: My Outlook calendar is ridiculously filled with appointments. Not because I’m so popular – but because I use it as a tool to remember what I need to do. When I leave work and I remember something I need to do but didn’t put on my list – I make a meeting maker for it. That way a reminder will pop up at some point the next day and I’ll get that task accomplished. You can also write notes or use Post-its but I tend to lose track of those. If it’s in my phone and it pops up – I can’t lose it. Oh, it’s also easy to ignore the pop-up alerts – so just add the tasks to your list when they first appear.

4. Use different folders: This is something I started doing early on. For each shoot I’m working on, I make a folder in Outlook. Then every time I get an email related to that project – I put it in the appropriate folder. It’s so easy to mix things up if you don’t have a place for each project. This is much easier than relying on searching through old emails, which wastes time and effort.

5. Bribe yourself: I’m serious – do it! Make deals with yourself. “If I finish this and this, then I can go on Twitter for 20 minutes,” or “When I finally cross this item off my to-do list, I’ll reward myself with a manicure.” That one works for me every time! If you have a goal or a deadline that you set, you are more likely to finish the job.

6. Unplug: If you have trouble getting work done because you are inundated with phone calls and emails — shut off your phone ringer and close your email. You don’t have to do it for the entire day – that would be crazy. But just for a little while until you catch up. Seeing that you have a new email will throw your focus off and you might get pulled onto another project. Same goes for the phone. Just give yourself a little alone time to finish what you need to do first. Believe me – it’s empowering!

7. Put on headphones: When I’m not out on a shoot, I work in a loud newsroom with a lot of people. I’ve mastered tuning out people, TVs and loud sounds. But it’s not that easy for some people – and sometimes I have trouble myself. My solution? Put on headphones – listen to music or whatever will drown out the sounds around me. It also sends a visual message to people around you that you’re “busy.” It takes a little practice to not actually listen to the words of the song and just hear it as background noise – but try it. It might help you get into the zone.

Paula Rizzo is Senior Health Producer for Fox News and founder of www.ListProducer.com.  She's an Emmy Award winner and attributes much of her success to her compulsive list making. She makes a list about just about anything and started www.ListProducer.com to help others become more organized, focused and efficient while being less stressed.

How valuable is your time?

By Shelagh Braley, COO

I’ve been thinking lately about time. How much of it do we spend annoyed with our place in the world, worrying, spinning our wheels? How much of it will we want back when we check the rearview mirror?

It’s all over the news and blogosphere now, that the American Dream has officially stopped delivering. According to the Center for Economic and Policy Research’s newest study, America ranks lowest in paid annual leave, averaging 13 days a year to other wealthy nations’ paid time-off average of 20-35 days. And if that isn’t bad enough, Americans don’t even use it all. “Only 57% of American workers take their full vacation time, often fearing losing their jobs or not being able to keep up with their workload,” the study says.

That strong sense of duty and responsibility made America stand out and succeed in the global economy. Previous generations worked hard and kept striving through challenging times with the faith that their admirable work ethic would pay off. And until the most recent generation, it did.

Then work became harder, the hours longer, for less pay and less vacation time. American capitalism is no longer sharing the wealth. The International Labor Organization just last week released a study that said America is No.1 in productivity and hours worked, yet dangerously low in compensation and vacation time. As a result, American workers are trying to fend off an endless cycle of overload that has resulted in massive societal malaise: disconnection, consumption, obesity, depression, financial bankruptcy—and total dissatisfaction.

Time to re-imagine the dream.

It starts with rejecting a life on autopilot: working, studying, stressing, going to the mall and pretending it’s a fun day out, retreating to the escapist world of Farmville and the mundane reality of others’ lives to make ourselves feel better.

As you assess your level of personal fulfillment, take a breath. Daydream!

Read through some of the awesome stories of other members’ life experiences on MyLifeList.org, and most importantly, apply some of the ways they have improved their attitudes and their circumstances. Once you start planning, you’re back in the driver’s seat. That’s all it takes.

Focus on the practical steps to reach your major life goals, and you will recapture the control to live the life *you* dream about.

Progress on goals is a balancing act

By Laura Simpson, My Life List member

Balance. Mostly what comes to mind when I hear that word is how to maintain mine when I've had a few too many margaritas. I have come to realize, however, that balance plays a critical role when it comes to achieving my goals.

Take dieting and exercise, for example, the current bane of my existence ... eh hem, I mean goal. I want to get into shape because I want to look good. I want to be in such good shape that I'm mistaken for Angelina Jolie when I hike Machu Picchu with my kids in May. I want to look so fabulous in a single-digit-sized mini-dress that I turn George Clooney's head when I jet-set off to Tuscany with one of my oldest and dearest friends in October. I want to walk on the beach in Bali wearing a cutie-patootie bikini without people wanting to jab a hot poker in their eyes upon seeing me. But there are two things that stand in the way of my accomplishing these: my mouth (or should I say my inability to close it) and my abhorrence of anything that resembles work (think exercise).

Because I'm fond of the adage, “work smart, not hard,” I initially discarded the ideas of diet and exercise, as both fall under the “hard” category. There are two reasons I don't do diets. The first is that I seriously love food. I am not one of those girls who takes two bites of her salad and declares herself full. Instead, I roll up my sleeves and ask for a bib. Eating is truly one of my greatest pleasures. Secondly, diets are just too extreme for me. I lose weight on diets—not because I'm eating healthy food, but because I'm literally starving. And as I shed those unwanted pounds, I also lose some of my sanity in the process. I fear that if I go on another diet, I'll just end up trying to stab someone with a fork over the last bite of a stale bagel because I will have starved myself senseless up until that point. See what the absence of carbs can do to a person? So diets are out.

I ruled out exercising as well. Someone like me does not handle exercise well because exercise involves sweating and I wasn't made to sweat. Also, as most of my friends know, I am coordination-challenged. Combine that my super competitive nature (I have been known to try and trounce my fellow exercisers in a competition they didn't know they entered), humiliation inevitably follows. And I'd rather staple my tongue to a table than suffer the slightest humiliation. So, in my efforts to be creative, I briefly thought of investing in a 1970s vibrating belt massager. That way, my little fat globules can be vibrated away as I simultaneously take another guilt-free bite of my crème brulee. Once I had the unfortunate occasion to see one in action, though, I thought better of it.

So as it stands, I don't want to diet. I don't want to exercise, but I still want to lose weight and look good. What a dilemma. I know from previous experience that problems of this magnitude can only be conquered with the help of girlfriends and copious amounts of alcohol (wine preferred). During one such brainstorming session, one of my friends had an epiphany ... balance. She suggested that instead of subscribing to a costly diet program, which would inevitably end badly for me and those around me, I should modify my intake. Instead of having seven epically evil but decadently delicious mochas per week, I should drop it to three. That way, I could still indulge and get my fix, but not overdo it. She then I could apply the same thinking to exercise. Wow, she's on a roll! So, rather than subjecting myself to the mind-numbing monotony of the gym every day, maybe I could go to the gym three times a week and take a brisk walk in the park with my sugar-love-muffin-of-the-moment the other four days. At this point, my mind is reeling. Brilliant.

So, there it is. So simple. Actually, it’s not simple, but it's not that hard, either. Yes, I had to change some habits. For instance, when I'm having a stressful day, my Pavlovian response is to drive to Starbucks and have them hook me up to a mocha IV. Now, instead of consuming enough calories in one sip to sustain an Ethiopian village, I eat a banana. Admittedly, a banana doesn't evoke warm and fuzzy feelings quite like the nectar of the gods does, but there is some satisfaction in knowing that it is healthier, and that I'm not limited to a diet of ex-lax and water ... I can still indulge a bit. The same is true of exercise. I learned that not all exercise is evil. And believe it or not, I actually enjoy walking (gasp!). I've even gotten to know my neighbors a few doors down. I didn't even realize that I had neighbors that far down the road. For all I knew, they were empty houses with abandoned cars.

Do I have my occasional setbacks? Of course I do, but I also have had a wee bit of success. And that tangible success is enough to keep me motivated to continue to find the balance.

Laura Simpson, a My Life List folk hero in the making, is a simple girl living a complicated life. Born and raised in New Jersey, she now resides in Idaho until she can find a way to become independently wealthy and travel the world.

Become the Person You Want to Be

Please check out (and share) this link to a story on My Life List in Canada's Globe & Mail. Thank you to the members who were quoted!

Become the Person You Want to Be -- Canada's Globe and Mail

My Life List® Best of 2010

The holidays are happily under way, and here at My Life List, we are preparing for our busiest and most important time of year – New Year’s Resolution time. We’ve got more momentum than ever and we think we have a lot worth celebrating.

Which got us thinking: You’ve probably accomplished a lot this year, too, haven’t you? An exotic adventure with your best friend? A hard-earned degree? A job you love? A change in behavior that has made your life easier, healthier or more exciting?

Why don’t you share it on mylifelist.org right now? In the spirit of sharing this season, we’re going to name the best story for each category on the site (Travel & Leisure, Relationships, Personal Development & Community, Career & Finance, Lifestyle & Culture, and Sports & Adventure) as My Life List® Best of 2010. They will be featured as part of some exciting upgrades on the site in January, and the writer will receive one of six $100 American Express gift cards.

The deadline for stories is December 28, with winners announced December 31. So get celebrating! Your accomplishment will inspire many, and acknowledging your progress will push you forward, too.

And don’t forget these exciting upcoming events:

The 21-Day Challenge Win cash and prizes to help you achieve your goals, Jan. 10-31
The Life Listers’ Ball Black-tie party at Seaport Hotel Boston Feb. 5