The key to super charge your productivity lies in one simple 5-letter word.

L-I-S-T-S!

I bet you’ve heard the term Operating Procedures. In essence, each Operating Procedure is a list of documented activities to perform any function within your business. They are particularly beneficial if a task is repetitive. That way you don’t have to remember all the steps and in what order. Just follow the list.

Imagine how useful it can be when you bring on employees. They can follow the same system you’ve already created. Easy and a great way to minimize errors too!

Mentioned in this show is the FREE VIDEO training on productivity that is part of the Inspired! Daily Planner process. You can apply this to any planner you currently use or even start with a blank journal!

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Hi there.

It's Sue.

And thanks for joining me for tips and talk day.

These are bite-sized topics that I pull from community questions and

things that I'm observing in the world of handmade small business.

If you'd like to submit a topic,

DME over on Instagram at gift biz unwrapped.

Okay. Patty,

I am calling you out here on my podcast.

Sorry, but not sorry to fill you in.

Patty has been a dear friend of mine since childhood.

I'm so fortunate because I'm still super close with a lot

of my girlfriends from that time.

And Patty was our leader.

Not exactly sure why,

but maybe it's because she has four older sisters and an

older brother who's looks put a Greek God to shame because

of her older siblings,

she was well-known instantly popular and always in the know about

topics school-related and social that every teen girl wants in on

Patty. And I spent countless hours together,

sleepovers tennis matches trick-or-treating ice cream runs.

And she's the one who got me involved in cheerleading and

fifth grade.

That was the start of my whole cheerleading career.

But it's another story.

Hmm. Maybe that would make a good podcast topic actually,

but let's stay on point here.

As with all teens,

we were obsessed with clothes.

This is back in the day when we actually dressed up

for school,

jeans were allowed only on Fridays,

but that didn't work for us because that was always cheerleading

uniform day.

Anyway, on one of those lazy afternoons,

when Patty and I were just hanging out in my bedroom,

she decided that my Monday through Thursday wardrobe needed to be

accounted and planned for after that each summer,

as we anticipated the start of our next high school year,

Patty would come over and together.

We'd create a schedule of my attire for school all the

way up to holiday break.

What resulted was a list of outfit,

perfectly matched and merged together in a variety of combinations to

make the most of my wardrobe side note,

Patty later went on to Vogue design school.

So I guess this was in her blood all along.

Anyway, this list was photocopied and petty checked when we got

to our lockers each morning to make sure that I was

following the plan.

If I got a new outfit together,

we would figure out how that would fit into the schedule.

The new version of the schedule was then photocopied,

no joke.

It was strict and serious,

but all in fun.

However, it could cause some problems because weather here in Chicago,

isn't predictable and on a cold and snowy day,

my outfits sometimes didn't quite fit,

but I'd wear it anyway.

I'd come down to breakfast and my mom would say,

Suzanne, what are you thinking?

And I'd say,

but this is what was on Patty's list.

So believe it or not,

my mom would respond.

Oh, okay.

Then I told you,

Patty was a leader.

Plus my parents loved her.

She has that type of personality.

You know,

to know her is to love her.

This was my introduction into the key of how to supercharge

my productivity through Patty,

a master.

And dare I say,

obsessive list-maker Patty had lists not only of my school outfits.

She had lists of every single thing in her life.

She was actually hysterical.

Here's another unique one.

She decided she wanted to try every single shampoo and conditioner

on the market.

So she started at the upper left shelf of the Herbinger

drugstore and use the product that was there.

First, when it was finished,

she'd go onto the next one.

And the next one.

And the next one,

you can only imagine her anger and confusion.

If they rearrange the shelves.

Luckily for her at that time,

they didn't do that.

So often as we do today,

as we got older,

she decided we should try all the restaurants on the north

shore. How was that done?

Well, alphabetically of course,

that led to some interesting experiences for sure.

One more thing about Patty.

She had a memory for dates like nobody else.

She knew everybody's birthday anniversary day,

a pet passed away days of all sorts of memories.

I should ask her.

I bet it's because she keeps a list.

Anyway, this leads to the key of supercharging,

your productivity,

one simple five letter word,

L I S T S they don't have to be the

crazy ones like Patty and I used over the years,

I found a more rational form of list creation that made

its way into my daily habits as well.

On the personal side,

I have lists for packing a list for holiday gift purchasing

a list of my favorite go-to recipes for various occasions.

This one has actually made it onto my phone complete with

accompanying recipes.

So if I'm traveling and I want to make a special

recipe for dinner,

easy peasy,

and as I consider the business end lists are one of

the productivity techniques I teach for how to use my inspired

daily planner.

That's a structure of lists,

actually goals for the year projects for the month tasks.

For your days,

you can watch a free video on this at gift biz,

unwrapped.com forward slash inspired.

If you're interested.

And I use lists all throughout my business to stay on

track, remind myself of important things that are coming up,

all that type of thing.

I've bet you've heard the term operating procedures.

In essence,

each operating procedure is a list that can be followed of

documented activities to perform any function within your business.

They're particularly beneficial.

If a task is repetitive that way,

you don't have to remember all the steps and in what

order, just follow the list.

Once you have one,

imagine how useful it can be.

When you bring on employees,

they can follow the same system you've already created easy and

a great way to minimize errors too,

by the way,

there are even productivity apps.

Now that help you electronically organize lists.

We use a sauna here at gift biz on wrapped for

the podcast and written content creation.

The podcast has easily over 80 different steps for each episode.

Yes, seriously,

that's no exaggeration.

And this list and process gets tossed from me to mish.

Who's our podcast editor to Valerie,

who does the show notes and other content creation for each

show at any given time,

each of us can see where an episode is in production

to plan our workdays and ensure that each episode is done

on time.

I can't even imagine trying to do this without an operating

procedure or in simpler terms,

a list.

The other thing lists can do is give your memory a

break. Maybe you're like me and find that you'll have a

great idea that you know,

you're going to remember then just an hour later,

it's like,

what? Why is that again?

I have to do lists of all sorts of tips and

talk topic list and lists for new apps to check out

gift ideas.

Shoot. I even have a vacation destination wishlist.

The time savings involved when working with lists is enormous.

This is why it leads to newfound time and speed in

getting things done.

You know how sometimes particularly when you're faced with an unknown

or less than exciting job that you need to do,

you just stall right at the start,

because you're confused about how or where to start when faced

with this next time,

write down all the random things that need to be done

to complete said project.

Then arrange them in logical order and start with the first

thing on the list.

You'll see that activity creates momentum.

And in no time,

the project will get done.

You can go back and rearrange the order.

If you see,

as you worked through it,

that it could be done a better way.

So that the next time it'll be easier.

And joy of all joys,

perhaps one day,

you can hand off the entire project to someone else because

you've already created the roadmap for them to follow lists an

excellent way to become more productive,

not only in your Workday,

but in your entire life.

Let's create an acronym for this L lovingly.

I invented S systems T two S sanity lists,

lovingly invented systems to sanity.

That's a wrap.

I'm a get to the point kind of girl.

And this is what you can expect from these quick midweek

sessions. Now it's your turn go out and fulfill that dream

of yours.

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