The Six Lists You Need To Make Every Day Productive

Your brain is for thinking, not for storing a long list of random things you need to do.

"When you're juggling a lot of tasks, things will fall through the cracks, and lists are amazing for keeping yourself on target and getting things done," says Paula Rizzo, author of Listful Thinking: Using Lists to Be More Productive, Highly Successful, and Less Stressed .

As senior health producer at Fox News , Rizzo was used to creating checklists of questions and shots to get. When she started to look for an apartment in New York, she realized how important lists can be in all situations-but only if they're used correctly.