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As 2011 draws to a close, we reflect on the year gone by and look forward to the year ahead. So to help you make 2012 the best year yet, check out our recently-wrapped New Tools for the New Year series to get you started:

New Tools for the New Year: Communication
New Tools for the New Year: Lifestyle
New Tools for the New Year: Management
New Tools for the New Year: Money
New Tools for the New Year: Technology

On behalf of the editors and contributors at Lifehack — and its parent company Stepcase — I’d like to wish a safe, happy, prosperous and productive new year to all of our readers.

(Photo credit: Happy New Year via Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can follow him on Twitter, listen to him regularly on his podcast, ProductiVardy, and read more from him at MikeVardy.com and at Vardy.me.

Money can be a tricky issue for many people, especially in the last few years when we have had record high unemployment rates and difficulty making ends meet. As you get ready for the new year, you can prepare yourself with some new tools that can make 2012 one of the best years for managing your money.

YNAB

I started to get serious about my money situation about halfway through 2011 when I stumbled on one of the single best money management / budgeting apps around: You Need a Budget. We have actually had the founder and creator of YNAB featured here at Lifehack in the past.

YNAB is a piece of software (that works on Mac or Windows) where you setup your accounts and start to budget the money that you have during the month. It’s sort of like making buckets for things that you have to pay during the month and then sticking to them.

The whole idea though with YNAB, rather than just following a simple budget, is to build up your “YNAB Buffer” where you will use it to eventually pay next month’s bills with this month’s money. This “Buffer” allows you to not get into the “not-enough-money-at-the-end-of-the-month” phenomena and helps relieve a bunch of tension in your life, especially if you have been struggling with keeping track of your money. It took me about 4 months to get my “YNAB Buffer” setup, and I will tell you, the stress and pain of worrying about where my money for this month’s bills is going to be is gone because they were payed with last month’s money.

YNAB also has apps for iOS and Android to track what you have spent on the go.

Credit Cards with rewards

I wouldn’t say that I am a credit card connoisseur by any means, as I do believe that credit cards can get you into some serious trouble if you are not responsible with them, but they can be appealing if you pay them off every month and use them appropriately. The three cards that I can recommend from personal experience are:

• Chase Freedom Card
• Capital One Cash
• Chase Sapphire (if you travel a lot, especially good for business)

The APR on these cards are pretty darn high, but as long as you pay off your balance before you get hit with the rates at the end of your month cycle, you can get some great cash back rewards when purchasing a good amount of gas or even ordering things on Amazon during certain times. Keep a look out for other cards that offer some sort of reward that is applicable to you to help you save a little bit of money here and there on things you already purchase.

Envelope System

If YNAB is a little too technical for you, there is also a tried-and-true-system that is a lot like it. I have seen this technique in many different places, and I’m not exactly sure who to credit it too, but the-get-out-of-debt guru Dave Ramsey has surely made it popular on his radio broadcast: The Envelope System.

At it’s core, The Envelope System requires you to take your paycheck, figure out how much money need to goes to what category (to food, clothing, rent, cable, etc.), create a separate envelope for each category, put the cash in the envelope, and only spend that cash. Sounds simple, hmm? Think again.

The Envelope System is truly powerful, but only if you can stick to it which is tough to do because budgeting is tough to do. I much prefer the YNAB system to this one, but if you can only live paycheck to paycheck until you get out of debt or make more money, then The Envelope System is probably your best bet.

Common sense

Ahh, yes. A little common sense can go a long way when it comes to money. Here are some things to follow. Some of them were new to me this year while some are things that I need to be aware this coming year:

• Don’t spend more than you make
• Create a budget and stick to it
• Try to find a way to make more money rather than cut out every last expense that you have
• Try giving money away to charity or a cause every month
• Start saving money for the future today
• Read a good money book like I Will Teach You to Be Rich
• Don’t use a credit cards unless you can pay off the entire balance by the end of the month

Conclusion

Like I said above, managing your money comes down to making smart decisions (saving for the future) and avoiding bad ones (like not paying off your credit cards). If this year you budget your money correctly, save, and make smart decisions with how you spend, hopefully your money will be controlled by you rather than you controlled by it.

(Photo credit: 3D illustration of dollar from Shutterstock

Getting Thing Done has changed the lives of many people around the world. Maybe you’re a proud member of that group or maybe you’re not (yet). No matter what your situation is, getting to know this methodology is surely worth the time because it might be exactly what you need to improve your productivity.

Let’s face it, no matter what your business is, or who you work for, the chances are that you’ve been on the receiving end of bad presentations. My working definition of a bad presentation here is one that costs more than it saves or makes for the organization involved. If it’s a business presentation, that’s obviously the company employing whoever the presentation involves – there’s always (almost always) someone who’s responsible.

Of course, it’s hard to work out how much a presentation will save or make for the organization in the long run: on the other hand, the costs are pretty easy to calculate. Firstly take the hourly rate of pay for everyone in the room and double it – because that’s what it costs the company. Now add the double-day-rate costs for each hour the presenter spent getting things ready. Finally, add the obvious costs for room rent, refreshments and any travel costs for everyone. It won’t be long before such presentations begin to cost thousands of dollars an hour. And that’s before you add in the costs of lowered productivity and damaged moralle.

And yet a cost-effective presentation isn’t difficult. You don’t have to be great – just good enough to justify your costs!

All a presenter has to do in a presentation is think of two things.

• What do I need to tell my audience?
• How do I need to tell them it?

Whatever else you do, or don’t do in your presentation should be measured up against those two simple criteria. The Devil is in the details, of course, and sometimes it’s hard to know how to answer those two questions – to be honest, most presenters don’t even bother to ask them so if you do, you’ve a good chance of being a cost-effective presenter.

Less is more

The more a presenter tells his or her audience, the less chance there is of them remembering any given thing they’re told. With that in mind, it’s not hard to get the idea that you should filter out everything – and I mean everything – that isn’t your absolute core message.

For every slide, for every paragraph, every image, ask yourself, one slide at a time, “Does this give my audience something they need to know?” If it does, fine. If it doesn’t, ditch it. Once you’ve done that filtering, give yourself a break that’s long enough to mean you come back to the material with a fresh mind-set – and do another filter.

Two hours doing something else is minimum. Two filters is usually enough because of the next point.

Too much is never enough

Only experts make presentations. By definition if you’re giving the presentation you know more about your presentation than anyone else. That almost always means you know more about the material, too, so don’t be put off by thinking other people know more than you do. That’s great. What it can mean, if you’re not careful, however, is that you begin to take things for granted that your audience needs to know.

They won’t know your jargon, they won’t know your workings and they won’t know any of your assumptions, that is unless you tell them.

Once you’ve done your filtering do your checking for assumptions. Just like you went through every slide and every paragraph and every image, go through them again and ask yourself what each is built on. If it’s not built on the previous paragraph or slide then at the very least it’s in the wrong place.

More likely, however, is the problem that you’ve taken something for granted, something that your audience probably won’t know about. You need to put that – whatever it is – into your presentation.

What’s next?

Not much, to be honest – there’s a whole load of tips and tricks for moving your presentations from ‘good enough’ to ‘good’ but from the point of view of your boss, ‘good enough’ is exactly that. And you can bet your bottom dollar that your boss measures ‘good enough’ as not costing more than it’s worth.

Simon runs a soft skills training company called Aware Plus in the UK, but is probably best known for his work as a presentation skills trainer. He's also becoming known as a speaker on emotional robustness and personal resilience... he's also a fairly proficient fire-eater!

With the new year fast approaching, there’s no better time than to tweak what you’re doing and how you’re doing it. So far in our New Tools for the New Year series, we have explored some new tools for the new year that can help you level up your communication and management skills, and have looked at technology for you to dive into as well. Today we’re going to broaden out the scope and talk about an awfully big category: Lifestyle.

The thing about this category is that it doesn’t just have an impact on your life outside of work; it impacts your style of life – that includes your work and your life outside of work. In a time where we seem to dive deeper into work and less into life outside of it (as the two seem to be coming more and more intertwined), these tools are meant to connect you with your overall “lifestyle”. That includes health, wellness, food, leisure time and how to live outside of the zone we call “work” when it is called for.

Time

Time is one of – if not the – most valuable resources we all have. No one has more of it in a day than anyone else. It’s how we spend it that can be the difference-maker in our lives. Lifehacks can help you really make the most of your time – but they can also serve to steal it if you’re not careful.

It’s important to manage your time in a way that allows you to be both efficient and effective in all areas of your life. That may mean using a tool like RescueTime to monitor your computer habits or lessening the amount of information you absorb on a daily basis through curation so that you can keep up with the times without losing any of the time you’ve got.

Time is most certainly a tool; and you get new time every time a new day dawns, let alone every time a new year begins. Spend it and invest it wisely and you’ll find that you’ll have an improved lifestyle as a result.

Energy

Without this, you’re not going to be able to live much of a life. Things like eating right and implementing a fitness routine are crucial in setting yourself up for a tremendous lifestyle. The best – and worst – part of the quest for energy is the choices we’re faced with along the way.

There are numerous diet and fitness plans out there, such as adopting the Paleo Diet and through resources like NerdFitness. Spending time looking into them is part of the equation, but it’s one of the most important parts. Think about adopting these routines as being similar to the making of a movie.

When making a movie, most of the time is spent preparing the movie and after the movie has been shot. Pre-productiion and post-production take up the most time, while shooting the film takes up the least (in general). The same goes with these healthy lifestyle routines. Figuring out which ones to go with involves research and sticking with them through the long haul takes up even more time. Yet starting them is easy, especially at the start of a new year.

In order to live a better life on all fronts, you need energy. What routines you use to help you get that energy is up to you. Just don’t use up all of your time figuring that out. Spend more time gaining the energy as a result of the routines, not spending it while searching for them.

Journaling

Journaling is one of the best ways to capture your thoughts and connect you with the life you want to live. By creating a record of the thoughts, events and moments that happen in your life – at work and outside of it (such as moments directly related to the areas mentioned above) – you can better reflect on the life you’re living. In a world where everything is moving faster and faster, taking the time to journal slows it down enough for you to reflect and connect with the person you are and also helps you direct your energy into the person you want to be.

It doesn’t matter whether you use a paper-based journal or a journaling application such as Day One, LifeJournal or even the cross-platform app Evernote (as Brett Kelly does in chronicling his life); it’s the act of writing it out that will give you something to look back on and see how you’ve crafted the life you’re leading and how to shape the one you want to be leading.

Conclusion

The beginning of a year is a time where we look at the type of lifestyle we’ve been leading and decide to make changes to improve it. These tools don’t just help you do that right away, but they’ll help you keep doing it for years to come.

(Photo credit: Carefree Outstretched Arms via Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can follow him on Twitter, listen to him regularly on his podcast, ProductiVardy, and read more from him at MikeVardy.com and at Vardy.me.

Super Heroes by Cyara

Superheroes are just awesome. They race around looking after everyone and the world. They do all that is expected of them and then race back to their 9 to 5. You will seldom hear them brag about what they have achieved and how great they are. They never complain about how they have too much work and how stress is to blame for their grumpy behaviour.

Yeah, you guessed it — I’m no Wonder Woman. The closest I’ll ever get to Wonder Woman is wearing a Halloween costume (Mental note: Organize Halloween costume for next year).

Before the New Year comes and we all go crazy with our resolutions and goals, it’s a good idea to take some quiet time and take a look at the year gone by. Acknowledge and celebrate the achievements and spend some time thinking about the things that didn’t go so well so that you can better understand the reasons why. This retrospective thinking can help us learn and grow — and ensure we don’t make the same mistakes again. My lesson to learn this year is that I’m not Wonder Woman and that no matter how I try I can’t achieve a workload like her.

“You can do anything but not everything” - David Allen

So if you, too, are guilty of catching the “superhero bug”, here are some reasons why we shouldn’t aspire to be super heroes in 2012:

1. Super Heroes are not real.

Reality bites, I know, but those costume clad heroes aren’t real and neither is it realistic to achieve all the tasks they aspire to achieve in one day. Realizing what is possible and what is asking too much of yourself is an acquired skill that one learns with experience. There is only so much one person can do without asking for help or burning out…and we definitely don’t want the latter.

2. I can’t be all things to all people.

I’m a mother, a wife, a daughter, a sister, a blogger, a business person and a writer, (I’m also a Muppet fan, but I digress). There are times in my life where I have difficulties fitting it all in. There are times when things suffer because of my choices, but life requires us to make daily choices on how we spend our time. Having a personal vision can help to gain clarity about priorities and values. Having this as a guideline can help while making these choices.

3. I need time for me.

Superman flies off to Krypton every now and again to get away from it all; to have some time alone to rest and rejuvenate. We all need it.

Stephen Covey calls it “sharpening the saw”. Without this time we can’t possibly keep going and giving our best. We all need to de-stress and unwind to be able to perform at our best.

4. I don’t need to conquer the world (not today anyhow).

You don’t have to do everything now.

I am always guilty of wanting to do it all and wanting to do it now. I’m impatient and have a tendency to push myself too hard. But I have learned that some things can wait. The great plans in my head don’t have to be shared with everyone today. Little by little, it will all get done. The Japanese call it Kaizen — continuous improvement. Robin Sharma tells us:

“Small daily improvements lead to stunning results.”

With a bit of clever planning and persistence, it will all get done.

5. But I look good in tights!

Even if you look good in tights you don’t have to strive to be somebody else — or try and achieve all that others have achieved. Make your own plans and reach your own heights. We know we can’t do the impossible, but we can achieve great things if we plan and believe.

So for 2012, set your goals and believe that great things will happen. Plan, pace yourself, look after your body. Do that and 2012 can not only be a super one — it can be out of this world.

Ciara Conlon is a Personal Productivity Coach and author. Her mission is to help people achieve their best through working efficiently and being positive and present. “With Productivity and Positivity there is little you can’t achieve” Find out more about Ciara and sign up for her tips, articles and links at Productivity & Positivity

There’s nothing like getting ready to start a new year and making sure that all of your ducks are in a row, especially when it comes to the technology tools that you are going to use. We are strong believers here at Lifehack of trying not to follow the “shiny new thing” and stick with tools that we can learn and trust over the long term. Most of the tools that I am recommending for the new year have been around for a while, but it just shows that they are tried and true, and if you haven’t made the switch or started using them in some fashion, then maybe the beginning of the new year is time to do it.

Productivity apps you need

There are several productivity apps that you should have ready to go for the coming year. We highly recommend picking a set of tools and sticking to them, but at the bare minimum you will need a way to track projects and create and edit documents (presentations and spreadsheets too), and keep track of notes and information.

For project and action managers, we can’t recommend Toodledo, Remember The Milk, OmniFocus, or Asana enough. OmniFocus is the only one that is Mac only (but probably the best on the Mac) while the other are web based and have access via your mobile device (iPhone and Android apps).

For editing documents, spreadsheets, and presentations you don’t have to go much further than using Google Docs. Google’s awesome set of online tools coupled with about 8GB of free storage is definitely enough to get a lot of your work done, not to mention collaborate with others. If you are in the camp of wanting to create documents locally, then you may want to hunker down and buy a license for Microsoft Office (either for Windows or Mac or both). Yet, if you aren’t willing to pay the hefty fee for Office, then try out OpenOffice.org (for all platforms).

For taking notes we recommend Evernote. Seriously, if you aren’t using this cross-platform tool for taking notes and storing snippets of information with its suite of apps, then you need to stop reading, get an account now, and start making your life easier by using it. If you are a plain-text-lover (like me and Mike), you can augment Evernote with the use of a ton of plain text apps like:

• ByWord (Mac)
• WriteMonkey (Windows)
• Notepad++ (Windows)
• Notesy (iOS)
• Nebulous Notes (iOS)
• Simplenote (all platforms)
• Epistle (Android)
• Notational Velocity or nvALT (Mac)

Oh, and start using Markdown.

Paperless tools

I told a co-worker who has been working in the insurance field for 20+ years that I was going paperless this year. He reluctantly reminded me that he has heard that one since the 80s. But, I am going to make a concerted effort to get as close as possible to paperless, but not without the proper tools.

A good paper scanner is important to keep all of your paper out of cabinets and into a digital system. I have to recommend either the ScanSnap S1500 or on the less feature-rich and price side the portable ScanSnap S1300. Both are sheet-fed and duplex scanners that definitely are reliable and get the job done. You could also give a try to the newer Doxie or Doxie Go that offers non-duplex scanning but in a tiny, portable package. The prices for the Doxie is definitely nice starting at $149.99.

After you get a good scanner you will need a way to store all of your documents. Our preference is using an Evernote account (possibly updating to Evernote Premium) and using Evernote’s great OCR search, tagging, and sorting capabilities to keep everything organized. Also, if you aren’t comfortable with storing everything in the cloud you could role your own system or use tools such as Microsoft OneNote or DEVONthink for Mac.

Store and backup

Dropbox is another app that is so important and useful that if you don’t have it in your arsenal of tools then you need to drop everything and go get an account (kind of like Evernote above). Dropbox has been moved from “just an awesome app that I love to use” to an app that is essential for my work. I keep all my important files in Dropbox, share documents with co-workers, upload/offload pictures and video, share TextExpander snippets, use it for storage for apps like 1Password and others. It’s my portable, digital file system.

Also, if you aren’t backing up your computer regularly then you are somewhat insane. It’s part of a knowledge worker’s responsibility to keep her data intact and there is no better way I have found this year than doing so with services like Carbonite, Mozy, or even something like SuperDuper! for Mac that makes a clone of your bootable drive so you don’t lose anything important.

Conclusion

Using iron clad technology tools for the new year is the only way to ensure that you are ready to be and stay productive. While there may be new tools and technologies that come and go, we feel that the apps, services, and products recommended above are here for the long term. Learning to utilize a strong set of tools that are reliable will not only help you into 2012, but may last many years down the road.

(Photo credit: Hand pushing a button via Shutterstock)

This has been a tough year for a lot of businesses. The economy has yet to rebound (it may never fully) and with a downtrodden economic situation often comes a despressed workforce. I’m not talking about the overall unemployment problem; I’m talking about the problem that those who have jobs are dealing with: elevated stress and a heavier workload.

If you’re a manager of a team or are running your own business that requires you to be a rock solid manager of your own self, there’s rarely a better time than the start of a new year to tweak your system and explore new tools to helpy you with your overall management skills. As part of our year-end New Tools for a New Year series, I’m going to offer some new tools for you to try and help you get a better handle on management in the coming year. Some will be specific tools that require specific time and attention to become familar with, while others will simply be tools that are new in name only – as in, you’ve been using something similar for years and may just need a bit of a reboot to get a jumpstart to the new year.

Asana

You know, I’ve tried a ton of task management apps – both aiming to improve collaboration between teams and aiming to improve individual efforts – and no web app has come close to getting it as right as Asana has. We’ve touched on this new player in the productivity realm before, and I’ll be doing a deeper dive in the next couple of weeks as to what the results of long term use of Asana is.

The people behind Asana understand that seamless connection is the key to improved productivity – and better management. There’s no bottleneck that they’ve put in place; the information involved with tasks, priorities and assignments can flow as freely as you want. With a new iPhone app now in the App Store, now Asana can go with team members anywhere.

As for barriers to entry, they are few and far between…if any. Price certainly isn’t one; Asana is free for teams of up to 30 people.

If you’re not using a task manager so that you and your team can manage all they’ve got on the go, then Asana is your best bet – bar none.

37Signals

Another great resource you should look is to 37Signals. Whether you decide to use any one of the company’s popular software solutions (Highrise, Basecamp, etc.) or start to align your own mandate with theirs, it’s a good place to start.

Jason Fried has not only put together a stellar team that offers fantastic tools for you to better manage your work and team, but his book REWORK (co-authored by David Heinemeier Hansson) is required reading for any manager or entrepreneur trying to make their way in the world today.

Oh, and his TED talk on “Why Work Doesn’t Happen at Work” is another great thing to let your eyes – and brain – absorb.

MeetingBurner

Another thing that can really slow down workflow and kill momentum is meetings. Whether it is through overkill or unwieldy tools or distraction, meetings can hinder progress more than help it along. Even iwth the advent of online meetings through Skype or similar tools haven’t made meetings really all that better.

But MeetingBurner can change all of that.

It’s simple to use, incredibly robust and flexible (it can be used for webinars, for example) and you can get in and out of it as needed. We’re going to take a more comprehensive look at MeetingBurner in the coming weeks, but let me say now that going to a meeting – online or off – hasn’t been terribly pleasant for me until this service came along. MeetingBurner’s mission says it all:

“The world wastes billions of dollars per year in inefficient and ineffective meetings and we are going to change that. With MeetingBurner we want to build a community of online meeting fanatics who want to change the world by making meeting easier, faster, and more efficient.”

I think perhaps the idea that you can burn through a meeting and have more takeaways than giveaways says something for progress in this area of technology. It’s worth checking out if you’re looking to have the same effect on your management results.

Conclusion

You want to start off the new year right, putting your best foot forward in your work and in life. Giving these new tools a test run to start things off in 2012 may just extend the reach of your foot that much further.

(Photo credit: Businessman Cheers with his Tablet via Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can follow him on Twitter, listen to him regularly on his podcast, ProductiVardy, and read more from him at MikeVardy.com and at Vardy.me.

Another year is coming to a close this weekend, and it’s been a banner one here at Lifehack.

As you’ll see below, one of our most popular posts of 2011 was our 100 Best Lifehacks of 2010 article, which flows nicely into this post which will outline the 100 Best Lifehack of 2011. Unlike last year’s list, there’s a few changes we put into place before delivering this list to our readers.

First off, the overall top 10 posts are determined by overall traffic during the past year, as well as engagement on social networks. The articles come from a wide variety of our website’s categories, whereas the remaining 90 articles are divided up into the primary categories that we write about at Lifehack: Communication, Lifestyle, Management, Money, Productivity and Technology.

Those 90 posts were decided on based on visits to each article, social media interaction, comments and then were finally curated by the Lifehack editorial team. Each category has 15 articles that made the cut for this year’s list as well.

You’ve got a lot of reading to do here, os let’s get started…

Top 10 Most Popular Posts in 2011

1. 60 Small Ways to Improve Your Life in the Next 100 Days
2. 7 Not So Obvious Habits To Maximize Your Productivity
3. The 100 Best Lifehacks of 2010: The Year in Review
4. The Best Productivity Apps For Your Shiny, New iPad
5. 10 Things To Stop Doing in Your Relationships
6. Five Reasons to Choose an Android Tablet Over an iPad
7. 7 Epic Strategies for Introverts (by Introverts) to Ignite Your Social Skills
8. 7 Reasons You Should Eat Eggs for Breakfast
9. 8 Ways To Get Smarter Every Week
10. Everything You Know About Weight Loss is Wrong

Communication

1. Why You & Your Business Need to be Involved in Social Media
2. How to Work Through Blog Burn Out
3. How to Deal with Criticism in One Single Step
4. 7 Ways to Build Your Network Without Using People
5. 5 Simple And Obvious Tips For Better Communication
6. Simplify Family Life With A Communication Station
7. How to Write Better and Faster
8. Start a Conversation with a Stranger without Sounding Desperate
9. Do You Unnecessarily Point Out Flaws?
10. Getting NaNoWriMo Done: How to Write a Novel in 30 Days
11. How to Hack Language Learning
12. How to Get a Book Contract in 6 Months (with a Blog)
13. Mind Hack: The Philosophy of One
14. 3 Ruthless Email Responses to Achieve Inbox Zero
15. Starting A Blog in 2012? Avoid These 7 New Blogger Blunders

Lifestyle

1. What a Karate Weapon Taught Me About Achieving Big Goals
2. 6 Easy Tips for Living with 100 Items or Less
3. 10 Ways Improve Your Memory & Boost Brainpower
4. Instant De-stress Tips: 7 Foods You Should be Eating Right Now
5. Why Fear is Your Friend
6. 10 Insanely Awesome Inspirational Manifestos
7. 7 Benefits of Exercise (and Why Weight Loss Isn’t One of Them)
8. Breaking Bad Habits in 28 Days
9. Eating Ancestrally: How To Start Eating and Living Like A Human
10. From Nag To Shag – The Ultimate Marriage Hack For Men
11. The Best Decision You Can Make for Your Business — That Has Nothing to do With Money
12. Enrich Your Life By Making it a Story to Tell
13. How to Get Your Husband (or Wife) to Help Out More
14. 7 Morning Hacks to Jumpstart Your Day
15. 10 Wise Lessons: What I Wish I Knew When I Was Younger

Management

1. Virtual Assistants: Worth It?
2. Today’s Career Challenge: Start Networking Like a Pro
3. 4 Famous Workaholics (And The Secrets of Their Success)
4. Improve Your Professional Credibility – Write a Book
5. How to Make a Plan That Will Help Your Business Thrive
6. How Logging Your Day Can Lead To Higher Effectiveness
7. 7 Simple Steps to Resolve Any Problem
8. The Art of Stress-Free Work
9. How to Get a Do-It-Yourself MBA
10. Beating the Meeting Monster
11. Sensors and Intuitives: How to Bridge the Communication Gap
12. 35 Reasons You Should Work With a Coach
13. Living With Your Deadlines
14. Ten Questions To Ask Yourself Before You Start Your Own Business
15. The Absolute WORST Day to Take a Vacation (It’s Not When You Think!)

Money

1. 7 Tips for Reducing Your Overhead Costs
2. Real Ways to Make Money Working from Home
3. 26 Personal Finance Tips from Famous People
4. Why I’ll NEVER Cut Up My Credit Cards
5. Take Control of Meal Times With A Meal Planner
6. 6 Luxurious Timesaving Services That Are Cheaper Than You Think
7. Unexpected Ways The Library Can Save You Money
8. Five Cost-Cutting Features of the Future Small Business You Can Embrace Today
9. How to Use Credit Cards While Staying Out of Debt
10. 8 Tips for Raising Moneysmart Kids
11. 100 Questions to Help You Write, Publish, and Sell Your Ebook
12. The Black Friday Bucket List: 25 Things to Do on Black Friday (Shopping Not Included)
13. Helping Japan: How to Make Sure Your Money Goes to the Right Place
14. How to Negotiate with Car Salesmen and Get the Best Deal
15. 3 Things You Can Do Now to Improve Your Finances in the New Year

Productivity

1. The Pomodoro Technique: Is It Right For You?
2. Productivity with Tablets: Paradox or Reality?
3. How to Stay Productive When You’re Sick
4. 7 Ways You Shouldn’t Be Using Your Calendar
5. The 5 Fundamental Rules Of Working From Home
6. 5 Things You Didn’t Know About Gen Y
7. How Steve Jobs Changed My Productivity
8. Manage Your Energy so You Can Manage Your Time
9. Get the Most Out of Your Week by Starting it on Sunday
10. How I Learned 5 Habits in 30 Days
11. How to Slow Down
12. How to Practice the Art of Detached Focus to Achieve Your Goals
13. 6 Effective Ways to Become Persistent
14. Simplify Your Productivity Tools To Get More Done
15. What Yoga Can Teach Us About Productivity

Technology

1. 5 Tips for Effective Digital Note Taking
2. 10 Android Apps to Help Save You Time & Money
3. 7 Tools to Help Keep Track of Habits and Goals
4. Kindle, Nook or iPad? How to Choose the Right eBook Reader for You
5. Stop Wasting Time – How to Search Like a Pro
6. Protecting Your Online Life With Secure Passwords
7. 5 Things You May Learn From Google+ Launch
8. 7 Tools For Writing On Your iPhone
9. Focus on Art, Not on Features: Simple Online Tools for Writers
10. To Automate or not to Automate Your Personal Productivity System
11. How to Stop Fiddling With Productivity Tools To Get More Done
12. Goodbye Google Reader! (Or the Best RSS Reader Alternatives)
13. Get Over Your Smartphone Addiction
14. Lifehack’s iOS 5 Tips and Tricks Guide
15. The Perfect Productivity Tool

Thanks to all of the Lifehack contributors, without whom this list would not have been possible. And thanks to you, our Lifehack readers. We hope that the articles that we offered up in 2011 — both those that made this list and those that did not — have helped you make waves in 2011. We’ve got more in store for you in the coming year, and we hope you’ll stick with us for the ride.

(Photo credit: 2011 on the beach of sunrise via Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can follow him on Twitter, listen to him regularly on his podcast, ProductiVardy, and read more from him at MikeVardy.com and at Vardy.me.

Time in pubs with friends is rarely wasted. At the very least you get in a good chat with your friends, and at best you get a life-changing revelation. This one started out as the traditional:

“If you knew then what you know now, would you do it again?”

We worked on it and developed it and made it into something ‘more’. We made it into this question:

“Knowing what you know, would you start again from where you are — if you had the choice?”

From that, we developed a whole process for deciding what to do next when it comes to the big ideas in life and so on. The idea is simple — and is particularly useful as we head into a brand new year…

Step One: Value What You’ve Got

Ask yourself a question: If some super-intelligent alien race arrived tonight and asked you what you’d got and you told them — and they did the same to everyone else, they’d probably have a pretty good idea of how much you had was worth in the grand scheme of things. The ‘alien bit’ is important because it implies that they have a complete understanding of what’s going on, but no emotional or sentimental attachment to things.

What you get at the end of that is a notional value of, say, ‘X’ thousand pounds, dollars, euros, yen, smarties or whatever.

Step Two: Play or Fold

This step is designed to make you think about your circumstances a bit. If they offered to take what you’d got and give you that fair valuation for it, would you take it?  Again, the fact that it’s an alien is important, because it’s important that the X thousand they give you is absolutely, objectively fair.

If you’d take it, fine. If not, also fine. But not taking it implies there’s something above and beyond the economic value of your stuff. It implies that there’s an emotional attachement. Great. It means you believe in what you’re doing and it means you’re likely to be passionate about it. Good for you!

Step Three: Starting Over

Starting over is the most important one – and it assumes you were forced to sell to these strange aliens, whereas the previous step assumes you have a choice.

If you got a fair amount of money for your stuff, what would you do with that money?  Would you buy back your own stuff?  Alternatively, knowing what you now know (which is different from what you knew when you first got your stuff, obviously – and critically) would you buy something different?

It’s all about ROI – return on investment. If you’re happy to buy back your own stuff (emotional attachment aside), it follows that you must believe your stuff represents the best portfolio of ‘stuff’ that you could have. On the other hand, if you think you can get a better return on your money, knowing now what you didn’t know when you first got that stuff, you shouldn’t buy back your own stuff. Instead you should buy different ‘stuff’.

Step Four: Repeat the Repeating

This idea of starting over (and over) is an interesting one. It’s probably possible to take it too far (daily? weekly?) but it probably has merit as the process for a monthly review – or perhaps an annual review of what you’ve done, not done or might do in the future.

It’s an idea that encourages you to be honest — brutally honest — with where you are and what you should do next. Doing it regularly means you’re constantly assessing where you are and asking yourself if you’re making the best use of your resources.

The Downside

There’s always a downside, right?

The big one we found as we tossed this idea around is this – it doesn’t take account of the cost of change. Implicit in the alien’s approach is that it costs nothing to change from where you are to where you should be, objectively, and sometimes the cost of change is greater than the benefit of doing that. Cost, of course, can be measured in money, time, effort and energy, peace of mind and a host of other ways!

So one last step is to ask yourself this:

“If you think you should move to something else – is it worth the effort?”

And if you’ve decided not to move, the question should be whether you’re using the cost of changing as an excuse.

(Photo credit: Concept image of a signpost via Shutterstock)

Simon runs a soft skills training company called Aware Plus in the UK, but is probably best known for his work as a presentation skills trainer. He's also becoming known as a speaker on emotional robustness and personal resilience... he's also a fairly proficient fire-eater!

Content marketing is key.

As the new year approaches, do you now — more than ever — wished you had more clarity on the way forward?

It can get really silly at times. You have to finish the course you bought last month. And you have to blog. And you’ve also been planning to email your list about your latest offering…

Thing is, your to-do list is getting too long. And you’re about as focused as a camera without a lens. You just don’t know which way forward.

Overwhelm is driving you nuts.

Think you need to sharpen your focus? Probably not.

Often the simplest solution lies in going straight past everything you think is important, right to that task that’s proven to bring the most progress.

The Secret of Successful Online Entrepreneurs

In recent conversations with some of the most successful online entrepreneurs, I heard the same thing over and over. An entrepreneur’s most productive task is marketing.

They claim that if you outsource everything else, and only work on marketing, your business will blossom. My buddy Jon Morrow says that his monthly income almost doubled when he started spending more of his personal time on marketing!

The Shocking Truth About Marketing

Some people might object to the claim that marketing is your most productive task.

They’ll say that online success is all about blogging and other forms of writing.

Others will focus on skills development. They’ll say that learning to become a better content producer is the key to making your work irresistible.

And you know what? They’re right. All of them.

Blogging and writing are super-important tasks. In fact, on the Internet these activities are marketing.

Copyblogger.com, one of my all-time favorite blogs, defines content marketing as “… creating and freely sharing informative content as a means of converting prospects into customers and customers into repeat buyers.”

And that’s what these successful entrepreneurs refer to when they say marketing is the entrepreneur’s most productive task. They’re speaking about content marketing.

Why Content Marketing is so Productive

If you aim to grow your business, would you agree that roughly translates to getting more fans who love your work, and selling them more of your products or services?

To grow your business almost always means you want to make more money.

Now, if content marketing is all about getting visitors to subscribe to your list and getting your subscribers to buy your offerings, don’t you think that hits the spot nicely?

Content marketing is all about reaching your business goals… fast!

How to Market While You Create Excellent Content

The next time you’re unsure what to work on and what to run away from, take your pick… The following list outlines some clever content marketing tasks that will also satisfy your desire to write, write, write:

• Write an informative blog post that solves some problem your target audience is experiencing. After you publish it, promote it to your network and other bloggers whose audience might benefit from it.
• Write a guest post for a blog with a large number of subscribers. Know what its topics of interest are, and study the readers’ comments. This will allow you to connect better with the audience of the target blog.
• Write an email to your list with some piece of informative content that causes them know, like and trust you more. Tell a story. Share a video. Do something that shows them you’re a human being just like them.
• Create a video that could go viral. It happens all the time, but it’s not as easy as it looks. If you can come up with a video that is well worth sharing, it’ll bring you loads of traffic and new subscribers.
• Create a free report or course that you can use as a subscribe incentive. Whenever someone subscribes through AWeber or MailChimp, they can download this report. This will boost your subscription conversion.
• Create an autoresponder email sequence that goes out to all your new (and existing) subscribers. This will introduce them to you, your philosophy and your reasons for blogging/writing.

While you do all this, remember that you’re not allowed to be boring. That’s the biggest sin you can commit online.

Be relevant. Add value. Make a difference.

This way your business will grow. It can’t help but to…

Are You Going to Allow Overwhelm to Steal Your Future?

It happens to countless would-be entrepreneurs every day.

First come the feelings of overwhelm. Then comes the rationalization.

“I’ll feel better tomorrow.”

“My energy levels are just low today. I need rest.”

“I need to do something less stressful right now.”

And right after this comes the procrastination. These entrepreneurs postpone an important task for one more day. And as days turn into weeks and weeks turn into months, their bright future vanishes into thin air.

All they have left is regret.

Don’t allow this to be your story.

Whenever you feel overwhelmed, turn your focus back to content marketing. Choose one of the activities listed above, and make solid progress. Get your content marketing tasks done!

It’ll feel like work. Some days the thought of it will want to make you puke. But guess what? It is work. And the rewards of honest content marketing work are huge.

Only hard work ever brings about a future that’s worth having. And it takes a brave and productive entrepreneur to stand up and claim his own share of bright future.

I’m in.

Are you?

(Photo credit: Key on Paper via Shutterstock)

Dries Cronje is the founder of Productive Entrepreneur, a blog that helps online entrepreneurs work clever and hard to build a solid online income. He’s the author of 10 Easy Steps to ‘Mission Accomplished!’ – Simple, Practical Advice for Completing Your Next Big Online Project.

Communication is an essential part of being productive in work and life. We talk about communication quite a bit here at Lifehack and think that you should be ready to communicate effectively and efficiently in the upcoming year. Here are a few new tools that you may need to add to your arsenal in 2012.

Skype

Skype isn’t a “new” tool by any means, but if you still aren’t using Skype to get things done during your workday as well as communicating with friends and family, we highly recommend installing it, getting a decent webcam, and using it in 2012. Most of my communication online is done through Skype by IM-ing, voice, or even video. It allows me to quickly have a conversation with someone or be able to see someone across the country in a matter of seconds.

Something that people don’t realize is that talking over Skype is a highly effective way to communicate complicated ideas or to make sure that your message isn’t taken the wrong way. Text messaging and IM is great for sending concrete information or just chatting, but if you want to get serious about your message, talking to someone voice-to-voice or face-to-face can’t be beat.

What else is awesome about Skype is that it can be used on any Android or iOS device. That means if you have a nice 3G or WiFi connection you can communicate with another Skype user from anywhere for free.

Twitter

In the last couple of years Twitter has increased in popularity so much that it’s hard to find any “brand” or celebrity that doesn’t have an account or doesn’t want you to use some hashtag. But, just because Twitter has changed from it’s original incantation, to allow users to send 140 character messages to a group of followers, doesn’t mean that you can’t use it for that.

Twitter is great for sending one off messages to friends and colleagues as well as fostering a “community” feel with “at-replies.” Lately, I’ve heard it refered to as a type of digital “water-cooler.” It is a little hard to reduce the noise of Twitter as well as keep track of conversations in an ordered fashion, but for back and forth conversations it does pretty well. One of the best ways to communicate with Twitter is by direct message. It’s fast, simple, and private. Mike and I both use it quite a bit to get stuff done here at Lifehack.

I’ve found to get the best use out of Twitter you need to use a seperate client to do it. Some of the best are:

• TweetDeck
• HootSuite
• CoTweet (Note: It’s what we use here at Lifehack)
• Tweetbot
• Twitterrific
• Twidroyd (now UberSocial)
• Seesmic

This allows you the control you want without the annoyingness of Twitter forcing things on you like recommendations of people you should follow or the inevitable inclusion of sponsored tweets and hashtags.

Path

I guess Path is more of a social networking type of application than a communication one, but it just feels a little different (and beautiful, to boot). Path is an app that allows you to follow and be followed by only 150 people (based on Professor Robin Dunbar’s research regarding the number of trusted relationships somone can maintain) making it more of an intimate type of sharing and communication application. With Path you can share your location, thoughts, what you are listening to, images and video, when you are asleep and when you awake.

I consider Path a communication app because as long as I update things that I am doing, places that I am going and my friends see it, they don’t really need to ask, “hey, where are you at?” You can let them know through Path. It may sound a little cold and inhuman to reduce some of this type of conversation in our lives, especially with our friends, but it really could end up saving a bunch of time for you, your co-workers, and friends.

The only serious downfall that I see about Path right now is that there is no user interface for being able to export your data. You can contact Path via the their support site, but to do this everyday or week (depending what you deem as acceptable for a backup schedule) will get annoying for you and them.

Email Tools

We can’t recommend email as a great communication tool for the new year, but what we can recommend are a few services that keep you out of the mound of email that you probably receive on a daily (or hourly) basis.

One of our favorites that we took a look at a few months ago is AwayFind which allows you to filter all of your incoming email and create alerts for the ones that you deem important. AwayFind’s interface is awesome and you can come up with some pretty unique rules for qualifying email. You can be notified via SMS, IM, or even the dedicated iPhone or Android app.

If you are a Gmail user, another tool you may want to check out is Boomerang for Gmail. Boomerang is an addon for Gmail that allows you send email at a later time or set up reminders of emails that need replied to by a certain time and aren’t. It’s another great way to keep up with your email while keeping you out of your inbox as much as possible.

Boomerang’s creators, Baydin Inc., also offer Boomerang as a plugin for Outlook as well as The Email Game, which challenges you to deal with as much of your overflowing inbox as you can in 15 minutes or less.

Conclusion

Communicating effectively is vital for being productive so it is important that you find the best tools to enable you to keep in touch while keeping you sane. Hopefully, with the use of these tools this new year you can get more done both efficiently and effectively while communicating with co-workers, friends, and family.

It’s not hard to understand Windows users, myself included, still run paid subscription antivirus (AV) software (i.e. Norton, McAfee, Trend Micro, etc.) that can cost from $40 to upwards of $80 per year for a security suite. Until recently, when it came to computer protection I, like many of you, took on the old adage “you get what you pay for“. Two years ago I’d still stand by that; although two years of steady progression has proven that phrase doesn’t apply here anymore.

Microsoft to the rescue?

So what new open source security suite has freed us from McAfee’s bondage? Actually, this time it isn’t open source. Believe it or not it’s actually Microsoft who’s stepped up on this one; with their free antivirus program, Windows Security Essentials. Security Essentials has been available for a couple of years, but in the beginning it was terribly buggy and unreliable. Yet, since that time, Security Essentials has seemingly hit its stride.

If it’s been steadily progressing, why is the first time I have posted anything about it? To tell the truth, it has taken me nearly 2 years to warm up to it. My initial opinion of SE back in 2009 was,

“Microsoft’s offering, what they’re claiming is, a legit security suite? Umm…yeah…right…and it’s free?! You must be huffing paint! Microsoft isn’t capable of producing both a free and a legit product, so this has to be complete crap. If they didn’t offer that retarded iPod they called a Zune for free, the thought of a free – and legit – AV solution from Microsoft is just plain nutty!” 

Let’s face it, quality AVs, and/or any other security suite that’s offered for free by Microsoft was a pretty far-fetched concept. Until they showed me proof, I wasn’t biting. Now, as we head into 2012, Microsoft has proven itself to be a legit AV contender (not to mention a nightmare to McAfee and its bloated cousin Norton). Unlike the bloated paid subscription AVs, Windows Security Essentials is extremely lightweight, easy to install, and even easier to use.

It takes about a minute from the time you launch the install file until you’re literally scanning your system. It runs silently in the background, giving you the ability to continue working on your PC while Security Essentials is scanning. That is something I would always try and avoid when I ran McAfee, because everything became very sluggish if I tried to work on my PC while McAfee was scanning. I wouldn’t even attempt working on a PC while Norton was lumbering along with its, bovine like agility, scanning for the viruses it, most likely, put on the system to begin with!

Still not without flaws

If Security Essentials’s greatest strength, besides being free and very light, is its ability to run quietly in the background without disrupting what’s going on in the foreground, then its weakness would be its lengthy full system scan time. Security Essentials’s full system scans take a bit longer to complete than some of the AVs I’ve seen. Although, when you hardly even know its running and can continue working, it’s not that big of a deal. Plus, I have heard tales that this “weakness” will be remedied in the newly released beta version of Security Essentials. I am hearing a 20% speed increase in scan time.

The appearance of the beta version and the current version are virtually the same, although the site lists several functionality improvements; such as, automatic malware remediation, new protection engine, and many performance tweaks. Besides it’s the functionality that protects your PC from an infection, not its stunning good looks. I’m not nearly as concerned with Security Essentials’s appearance as I am its functionality. This isn’t exactly a beauty contest; computer infections are nasty and sometimes require getting some dirt on you.

So, what is your AV setup and are you planning to download and install Security Essentials? Tell us your thoughts about Security Essentials or any other anti-virus software in the comments section.

(Photo Credit: Stylized computer virus via Shutterstock)

Fighting information overload starts to be a major challenge in today's internet. One possible solution would be to (in a nutshell): (1) Set your goals. (2) Decide whether you really need the information. (3) Consume only the minimal effective dose. (4) Don’t procrastinate by consuming too much information.

Are you thinking of starting a blog in 2012, or making significant changes to your old one?

One thing that you should always be 100% clear on is your purpose of writing. Is it to start a personal blog where you don’t really care if you have a total readership of 9 or is it to have a blog that you want to monetize at some point.

If you belong to the former camp, then do as you please, and skip this post. If not, read on.

1. Making Your Blog All About You

Your blog is not an online journal. Although it might feel like the perfect place to let everything out, be careful about what you write. Especially, when you have aims of making money from it.

Many people get offended at this advice. They indignantly retort that they are writing for their friends and family only. If that is your intent – and it is perfectly fine – go ahead but keep this in mind it would be fairly hard if not impossible to reach wider audiences with a personal blog.

The majority of the new bloggers gives up within first year of blogging. Lack of audience is the biggest factor. And they are not finding these audiences because they are not targeting them.

You target new audiences through marketing as well as your content. Not one or the other, both.

Write for your readers. Find out what can you write about that will interest them enough to come back. Remember, you might be the author but ultimately the blog exists because of your readers.

2. Writing About Every Topic Under the Sun

You have many interests and you are happy to write about them. Ask yourself, would your readers be happy to read just the same?

The only way to survive in the blogosphere is to pick a niche and write about that. If you are like most of us, you have lots of things that interest you and it can be hard to choose one.

For starters choose a broad niche such as personal development, writing, marketing, business, technology, fashion etc. As you get comfortable with writing, you could narrow it down further.

Make a list of 20 possible posts you could write on your blog. You would be dismayed to discover that you run of things earlier than you anticipated. On the other hand, a new topic with potential might surprise you. Go on, try it, you won’t know it until you do.

3. Confusing Your First Time Visitors

When somebody lands on your blog for the first time, it takes a few seconds for them to form an impression. And you need to do everything you can to make it a favourable one.

A first time visitor is looking for this information.

• What is your blog about?
• Who are you?
• What is it in it for them?

If they find the answers to these questions quickly, and if they fit your reader’s profile, there is no reason for them not stay and explore further.

If you indeed are right for them, but the information is hidden away and hard to find, you are doing yourself a big disservice. Choose your blog name carefully, put a great deal of thought into your tag-line, all of these things contribute towards positive branding.

4. Not Paying Due Attention to Your “About Me” Page

Your ‘About me’ page is the second most frequently visited page of your blog. (Your homepage is the first in case you are wondering)

As soon as the visitors start to develop a soft corner for your homepage, they will head straight towards your ‘About me’ page to find out more. Now its your job to satisfy their curiosity in a way that is highly relevant to them.

Talk about what your blog is about, who you are and what you can do for your readers. That’s the main information any reader wants to have. Once you have done that, you can elaborate on what is important to you and really personalize your page.

Include a back story if you think it will inspire your readers in some way. Don’t ramble about your early childhood.

5. Writing Like Your High School English Teacher

Your design will would help to get people through the door but what will make them stay put? Your content!

It doesn’t have to resemble a college essay in form. Work hard, write passionately, be yourself and don’t forget to learn from A list bloggers who deliver with style and panache!

Make your content screen friendly, break up large chunks of text, use headings, bullet points and bold to make it easy on the eyes.

Headlines: If you want your posts to be read and shared across social media channels, then you better be a pro at crafting headlines. Headlines that arouse curiosity, hints at solving reader problems and are so good that it is impossible to not check out the article.

Intro: Once the reader is there, they are skimming. Remember it is the web, attention spans are shorter and everybody is in a rush. Your lead should invite the reader straight into your post. Start with a story, a shocking statement or a question. Whatever you do, make sure you get to the point quickly or you will risk losing your precious reader.

Close: Have a clear call to action when you finish your post. What is it that you want your reader to do? Comment, share or buy? Make it explicit.

6. Not Embracing Social Media

Even if you build it, they still won’t come, unless you market and promote your blog – repeatedly. Go out there and get active on social media. If you think it’s too hard, start using one medium at a time. Start with twitter then move on to Facebook. Don’t overlook the importance of Linkedin and other networks if you are serious about monetizing your blog in future.

7. Ignoring Other Bloggers

You should subscribe to as many blogs as you can. There are a few reasons for that. Not only will you learn a lot, you will never run out of material for future posts. On top of it, you will stay abreast of latest trends in your niche.

Most of all, you would start to develop relationships with fellow bloggers who can help you out and vice versa. You will form meaningful connections and even make a few friends. They will support you, link to you and keep you working towards your goal.

And that is priceless.

If you were to start a blog again, what would you do differently? Share with us in the comments below.

(Photo credit: Start Blog via Shutterstock)

Marya is a communicator of ideas, exploring the human face of blogging. She offers quirky insights into personal development for bloggers - and writers. Catch more of her posts at Writing Happiness. For practical tips and inspiration, read Give Your Blog a Complete Makeoever - 18 Action Steps to the Path of Blogging Success. Follow her @WritingH.

It has been a great few weeks of giveaways here at Lifehack.org, where we hooked-up our readers with the finest productivity gear that we could get our hands on. We gave away a bunch of stuff, and in the process of doing so got to hear some excellent comments from our very-savvy readership. Some were funny, thoughtful, and even inspiring; we truly appreciate our readership and we were happy to help you guys out over the holidays.

On Lifehack.org we had about 395 comments over the 12 Days and on our Facebook fan page about 240. We also gave away well over $1,000 worth of prizes (not including the shipping and handling that some of the companies picked up the tab on!). It was awesome to see all of our readers participating and we hope that in 2012 we can bring you more giveaways that help you get your work down faster and better.

But, wait a minute, it’s not over… We still have to choose our last winner who will receive the JetPens Paper Productivity Starter Pack! Brian Damitz, in a very hybrid input fashion, answered the question, “What are the 3 things you’ve written down as goals for 2012 — and did you use a pen, pencil or device to capture them?”

My top three goals for 2012:
1) Finish my Eagle Scout project (My plan is written on blank paper in blue fountain pen)
2) Get a job as an Apple Genius in May/June (I have my tech notes in a notebook, some handwritten, some clipped in)
3) Get certified as a Google Apps Trainer (My notes are in Google Docs and double as presentation material)The funny thing is, our family gives office supplies for Christmas a lot. We have an affinity for good writing materials.
(To be honest, I lost my last pencil, which is unusual for me, and I’ve felt so unproductive since.) Thanks a lot, Brian. Hopefully your new JetPens Paper Productivity Starter Pack will help you realize all of your goals this year.

Also, we had a commenter from the Jetpens giveaway that was truly in the holiday spirit by giving up his entry to help the needy Moleskine users out there:

Instead of entering the contest today I have decided to step back and let one of the Moleskine users win (hopefully) so they can be introduced to a better writing experience. The Maruman notebook has beautiful paper that is a dream to write on. Good luck. It seems that Moleskine has either dropped the quality of their paper in the past couple of years or I just started using nicer paper. Either way there are so many better options for the same or similar price.

We don’t have anything for you, Bornagainscholar, other than a sincere thanks for looking out for you fellow Lifehack readers. So, thanks!

And that’s it folks. Once again, we at Lifehack would like to thank all of our readers for entering and participating as well as the companies (links below) that helped make these giveaways possible. Without you guys this wouldn’t have been nearly as successful or fun. Thanks!

• AgileBits
• Ethical Coffee Chain
• The David Allen Company
• Evernote
• Brett Kelly
• Toodledo
• Smile
• Knock Knock
• The Jason Womack Company
• Patrick Rhone
• Nerd Fitness
• Idea Café
• Helvetindex Cards
• JetPens

Stay tuned for more giveaways in 2012.

(Image credit: Winter landscape with snow via Shutterstock)

On behalf of everyone here at Lifehack and our parent company, Stepcase, I would like to extend all the best of the season to our contributors and readers around the world.

Thank you for letting us be part of your 2011. We look forward to being part of your 2012…and beyond.

(Image credit: Christmas Tree via Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can follow him on Twitter, listen to him regularly on his podcast, ProductiVardy, and read more from him at MikeVardy.com and at Vardy.me.

With the ubiquity of your iPhone and how just about everyone you know now-a-days has one, it would be a shame if you didn’t use it to make your Christmas more enjoyable. Here are 7 apps that you can get right now that can help you make your Christmas delightful.

1. NORAD Tracks Santa (Free)

Who could ever be in the spirit of Christmas without knowing exactly where The Big Man is at as he showers gifts all over the world. Maybe you are a Grinch, and don’t really care where Mr. Claus is at (that’s me), but, I can guarantee that the young ones at your Christmas Eve parties will.

Not to mention that the official NORAD apps comes with a handy Elf Toss game that you can use to bide your time until you can start tracking Santa.

2. Camera+ ($.99)

Camera+ may be one of the best Camera apps that are available for the iPhone. It allows the user to quickly take many pictures and then gives them access to the Lightbox where the user can view, resize, crop, and edit the effects of the photo. There are some other great features of Camera+ like a very simple to use white balance mode and also you can enable the power up button on your iPhone to take photos.

Pictures are super important during Christmas festivities, so it’s a good idea to go into them with a great Camera application.

3. Christmas (Free)

A nice free app to get you in the holiday spirit. Christmas for iPhone is a kind of “app pack” that gives you access to Christmas ringtones, streaming music, Christmas emoji, and even some nice HD wallpapers to spice up your iPhone for the holidays.

I usually think that this type of thing is corny, but with the inclusion of the Grinch ringtone, I had to recommend this one.

4. Evernote (Free)

It’s easy to recommend Evernote for everything because, well, it does pretty much everything. Have to get a last minute gift tonight with the maddening crowd at Target? Snap a picture of where you parked so you don’t forget. Want to make sure you have gift receipts? Scan them in or snap a photo with Evernote and tag them.

Or, my favorite, create a tag ‘xmas-2011-return’ and take photos of all the things that may not be exactly what you wanted for Christmas. After the holidy hubbub you search for you tag and have a nice list of the things you want to take back, or worse, have a list of people that you have to call for gift receipts.

5. Pandora (Free)

This is a good one especially if you are going to be a party entertainer this year. You can start creating a Christmas station tonight and hone it so you will have it ready for your party tomorrow. You can do this a couple of ways, either by Christmas songs you really like, or even choose an artist that you like singing a Christmas song. Pandora is pretty smart about selections, and if you work on it for a couple of hours you can get a great station for Christmas Eve and Day.

6. Capture ($.99)

Mr. Mike Vardy opened me up to this app for the iPhone and at a mere $.99 you can’t go wrong. Ever miss a moment of your child or drunk uncle Chester doing something at Christmas that you wished you would have caught on video? Well, with Capture you don’t have to worry about it.

It’s pretty easy to use. Pull out your iPhone, tap the Capture icon on your homescreen, and you are instantly recording. Press the home button when you want to stop and save. Pretty easy and definitely a Christmas moment saver.

7. Instacast ($1.99)

If you are like many Americans then you are going to be doing some traveling over the next week or so. There is absolutely no better way to spend your time than listening to some enlightening podcasts with what I will call simply the best podcast streamer/manager for iOS. Instacast allows you to search and subscribe to your favorite podcasts, download them over WiFi, or even stream them on the go. The quality of this app is excellent (it actually feels like an Apple app).

Need some podcast recommendations? Here you go:

• Back to Work
• 99% Invisible
• Radiolab
• TWIT (This Week In Tech)
• Hypercritical
• This American Life
• ProductiVardy (I think I know this guy)

With the inclusion of these 7 apps on your iPhone, you are setting yourself up for one of the best Christmas’s yet. Any other apps that you couldn’t live without over the next few days? Leave them below.

Today’s the last day of Lifehack’s 12 Days of Giveaways holiday promotion. It’s been a lot of fun to offer our Lifehack readers a chance to take home some great products to help them bring their personal productivity skills up a notch or two. (Or three. Or more.)

For the last giveaway, we’ve got a Paper Productivity Starter Kit courtesy of JetPens.

But before we get to that, let’s talk about yesterday’s Helvetindex Cards giveaway. More specifically, let’s reveal which 5 Lifehack readers are going to have a bundle of 100 cards sent to them for answering the following question:

“When do you find yourself reaching for paper over digital tools — and why?”

The winning comments, some of which come from our website and some from Facebook, can be found below::

“I’ve stepped away from electronic task lists. No medium, no matter how hi-tech it is, will ever replace the flexibility of paper. Everyday I have a 3×5 that has all my appointments/scheduled items, reminders, tasks that need to be done, and tasks I want to have done. Writing those kinds of things down is faster when I’m busy in the middle of the day than typing it into a device.” – Brian Damitz

“I adore index cards! But those flimsy ones from Staples just don’t feel right, so I’ve been printing my own on heavy card stock in different colors, with little grids. These look even nicer. I reach for paper for the quickest capture of ideas, reminders, to-dos, quotes, everything–and the humble index card is my paper of choice.” – Andrea Graham

“No carefully typed list or mind map online or on a smartphone can replace the satisfaction of seeing my own hand channel my thoughts rather than some impersonally neat font. I reach for paper over digital tools when I have ideas that need expressing right at the moment. The absence of a delete key either frees me from any inhibitions about my thoughts or forces me to consider them more clearly. Either way, my output with a pen is more authentic than that with digital tools.” – Catherine Zuo

“I reach for paper over digital tools when I need to brainstorm. For some reason when I’m using digital tools, my mind moves to fast. Paper allows me to really process my thoughts and to make connections that I wouldn’t otherwise make.” – Donnie Nicole Smith

“I find myself using old fashion systems anytime I need to make sure that I will actually do something… Which is pretty much always. I found long ago that the more modern solutions are only good for me to capture lists with. So my Omni Focus tools (Ipad and Mac) are filled with running lists of all types, most importantly all of the awesome books I come across that I want to read. As for organizing my life and getting things done paper is the only way I can keep an organized system. I would love to try the Helvetindex cards becasue the only other 2 decent cards I have ever found are Levenger (which I am not in love with) and Exacompta but They can be hard to come by at times. It is nice to see that there is potentially a new choice. What I like most about the idea of Helvetindex cards is they are actually 3×5. The Exacompta are larger which is the only other downside to them at times.” – Bornagainscholar

Congratulations to all five winners — now go out and get some small binder clips so that you’ll be ready to assemble your Hipster PDA for the new year!

About Today’s Giveaway

JetPens is an amazing resource for those who are especially fond of using paper to help you get things done. Carrying a wide variety of well-known and highly-regarded writing tools as well as some hard-to-find goods that many fans of paper covet, you can’t go wrong with placing an order through JetPens.

JetPens has generously offered what we’ve called the Paper Productivity Starter Kit, which contains a good sampling of popular items across several categories. Anyone who is a fan of pen, pencil and paper will be familiar with some of its contents as well. The retail value of this package is approximately $50, but the value you’ll get by using it is far greater.

What’s in the Paper Productivity Starter Kit?

• Maruman Mnemosyne Inspiration Notebook (A5/Graph)
• Uni Kuru Toga Roulette Model Auto Lead Rotation Mechanical Pencil (0.5 mm)
• Pilot Hi-Tec-C Gel Ink Pen (0.4 mm/Black)
• Kokuyo Beetle Tip 3-Way Highlighter Pen (Blue)
• Tombow Mono NP Non-PVC Eraser (Large)
• Kokuyo Will Stationery Actic Mini Pencil Case (Black)

Everything you need to get started using paper as your primary productivity tool is here. Thanks to Brad Dowdy at JetPens for putting this stellar combination of products together in one amazing package. How to Enter

In order to enter to win this package from JetPens, you need to leave a comment below or on our Facebook fan page that answers the following:

“What are the 3 things you’ve written down as goals for 2012 — and did you use a pen, pencil or device to capture them?”

Leaving a comment on both our Facebook fan page and here at Lifehack.org will get you 2 entries, so but you need to give us two items that you like the most – no copying and pasting!

The Fine Print

Employees of JetPens and of Stepcase (including current independent contractors of both) are not eligible for this contest. The prize can only be shipped to addresses within the continental United States, so keep that in mind when entering. The winning entry will be judged by the Stepcase Lifehack editing team and winners will be notified on the platform in which their winning entry was placed (either on the Lifehack.org Facebook wall or by email through our commenting system here the website). For those entering contest with a comment on our site, in order to be considered eligible, you MUST leave a contact email when leaving a comment (it’s the only way we’ll know how to contact you). Entries must be submitted by 10 am Eastern the following weekday and winners will be chosen by 12 pm Eastern time on the same day. The winner will be announced the same day on Lifehack.org, and will be notified beforehand.

Good luck!

(Photo credit: Pen on Blank Notebook via Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can follow him on Twitter, listen to him regularly on his podcast, ProductiVardy, and read more from him at MikeVardy.com and at Vardy.me.

There are many great articles that tell you what to do in order to get things done. Some advocate very practical steps, like breaking the task into smaller pieces, or delegate more. Others are more high-level, about maintaining discipline or mindfulness and gratitude. For the record, I highly recommend such approaches, and use them myself.

Not doing gives you more time to do

One of the most powerful tools I have found in my quest for greater productivity and effectiveness is to look for what I can stop or avoid doing, since this frees up time and energy which can be used for really important stuff. So, without further ado, if you want to get more done, try not doing the following:

1. Pointless email. I know, I know. You think every email you get is important, but really it’s not. Try cutting back checking your email to twice a day, and never look at email first thing in the morning, before you have a chance to set your direction for the day. Why? Most email really isn’t that important, but crafting thoughtful responses takes up a lot of time, and really doesn’t get much done. This is the junk food of  the productivity world, it fills you up without nourishing you. This goes for both personal and work email.
2. Reading your pointless email during a meeting. As if email isn’t bad enough, now you’re reading it during a meeting, when you should be participating?! Total waste of time, yours and theirs. Get involved or get out.
3. Useless meetings If you’re not contributing something or gaining useful insight, then speak up, or get out, or say no next time this person calls one. Chances are you aren’t the only person who thinks  that way, so you’ll be seen as a real get-things-done kinda guy or gal.
4.  Complaining. So yes, it feels good to blow off some steam and vent about the boss, your finances, your spouse, but in the end, it only reinforces a counterproductive mindset: that they are the problem and you are a victim. So just stop. Instead, try to see things from their perspective, and start looking for a solution, instead of griping.
5. Watching TV. There are some TV shows that actually improve your ability to get things, but for the most part, TV is an anaesthetic; it zones you out and leaves you more tired, not relaxed. So, rather than watch TV, go out and do something useful, put on some music and straighten up your desk, or write a letter or an article (or that book you’ve always dreamed of!), or practice a musical instrument. Think about it from this angle: no one, on their deathbed, wishes they had watched more TV.
6. Hanging around negative people, or people who indulge in the above behaviors. You become more and more like the people you spend time with. Think about that. If you hang around with people who gripe and complain, or who work hard and don’t get much done (or don’t work hard and don’t get much done), you will become, and remain, one of them.

So, what do you do if you are not doing these things above? That’s up to you, but you will find that when your time and energy isn’t being sucked up by trivialities you will be able to take on and accomplish the sorts of rewarding and satisfying challenges that you had previously only dreamed of.