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.
Share your handmade products with us.
We want them,
and they bring us both so much happiness.