Listful Thinking

Not everyone is born with an organizing gene like Paula Rizzo. I certainly am not one of them. You may not guess this about me but my first love was not order—it was chaos. I was a creative, right-brained person who thrived in the unpredictability and spontaneity of the theater. I was an actress, a dancer, and a director, and I always admired those who “had it together.” I was just not one of them.

Being disorganized kept me in a steady state of stress. No matter what I was doing, I was always worried about what I might be forgetting. I had a constant tape going around in my head of things I needed to remember. That loop kept me from ever being in the moment. Every tenth thought would inevitably be, “One day I’ll get organized.” But the truth is, getting organized terrified me.

I thought that becoming orderly would squelch my creativity and dampen my fun, spontaneous personality. I craved being more productive and organized but I didn’t want to become boring. And then I had a breakthrough.

When my daughter, Jessi, was born, my world changed forever. One day I missed the opportunity to take her for her first walk, because she had fallen back asleep by the time I’d finished gathering items for the diaper bag. I realized that I needed to get my act together for her sake. Living in chaos worked when I was the only one who was impacted, but now I had a little human being I was responsible for.

So I decided to get organized even if it would diminish my creativity. I started by making a LIST of everything that belonged inside that diaper bag—so whenever there was a chance to go on an outing, I could quickly assess if anything was missing and restock that bag in an instant. Never again would my child miss an opportunity in life because I wasn’t ready. That diaper-bag list was my start, and it felt so good, I began tackling other areas of my life from there. I created a LIST of every area in my life I wanted to organize, and I tackled them one by one. And, as I got organized, an interesting thing happened.

Rather than squelching my creativity, my actions felt liberating. I felt clear, confident, centered, and on top of my game. I was in control. All my ideas were in one place and I could actually take action on them. Everything I needed was at my fingertips and that sense of achievement empowered me to be even more inspired and resourceful.

I was able to be both—organized AND creative. So I set out to help people who had resisted order as I had for years. I truly understand what it means to freeze up at the idea of making a to-do list. But fear not friends—the LIST is a great starting point to begin taking control. With all of your ideas captured, it FREES you to make choices, to focus on what is MOST important, and not get sidetracked with random, small distractions that have nothing to do with what matters.

• Alleviate anxiety and worry that you might be forgetting something

• Enable you to focus on DOING rather than REMEMBERING

• Allow you to focus on what really matters (and get rid of what doesn’t)

• Position you to delegate more easily (just pluck something off the list for a willing helper)

• Fuel your sense of accomplishment when you cross things off

• Automate key functions in your life—which makes your life easier!

As a reformed disorganized person I can tell you—it is lovely on the other side. When I met Paula we squealed about organizing bookshelves and that amazing feeling you get when you cross something off your to-do list.

But Paula and I are different. She has always captured her to-dos in a notepad the second they jump into her head and she has always filed her bills alphabetically. But that’s the beauty of list making. It will help anyone—no matter if you’re a productivity junkie or a more right-brained, creative type.

We are all different and I’m all about empowering people with the right tools to get and STAY organized. And Paula does just this in Listful Thinking. Learning to really use a to-do list to your advantage is one of the greatest organizational lessons you’ll get.

Sure, I’ve been dubbed the “queen of putting people’s lives in order” but I’m still not perfect. As I tackle new challenges and projects, or when my workload swells and it feels like there is too much on my plate, there are days that feel chaotic. But there’s always a list to pull everything together, and bring me back to center. There is always something to learn when it comes to boosting your productivity, efficiency and success and thankfully Paula has written Listful Thinking to guide us.

Bestselling author of Time Management from the Inside Out and Organizing from the Inside Out