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Wednesday, January 12, 2011

The 100 Best Lifehacks of 2010: The Year in Review

The 100 Best Lifehacks of 2010: The Year in Review: "

Life Hack: Year in Review for 2010

Happy New Year everyone! It’s the first week of 2011 and many of us are getting ready to kick off the brand new year with a big bang. As we start off 2011 with our new resolutions and goals, let us now look back at the best posts at Lifehack in the past year.

In this review post, I have gathered 100 of the best LifeHack articles in 2010. These articles have been selected based on your votes and how much YOU have talked about them in social media (Facebook and Twitter). I have categorized these 100 articles into 11 main categories of Overall Personal Growth, Maximizing Productivity & GTD, Lifestyle & Habits, Inspiration & Motivation, Goal Achievement & Success, Emotional Mastery, People Skills & Relationships, Communications & Writing, Business & Career, Creativity & Inspiration, Family and Miscellaneous.

Do not attempt to read this whole post at once! Instead, bookmark this mega list post and come back time and again to read the articles relevant to you at that point in time. I’ve ranked the posts within each category in order of popularity, with the most popular post being #1. I’ve also included the (1) author name and (2) total number of retweets and Facebook likes/shares beside the article, so you can gauge how well-received the article was among the LifeHack readers.

Let me start off with the top 10 most popular life hack posts out of the 100s of posts published in 2010. Each of them is a gem in itself. Be sure to check each of them out!

Following which, I’ll present the 100 top articles presented in the 11 catetgories. Enjoy! And remember to share this to others via the retweet and Facebook buttons above! :)

Overall Personal Growth

42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself (by Celestine Chua, 2176)
Why Being A Perfectionist May Not Be So Perfect (by Celestine Chua, 367)
The Quickest Way to Create a New Mindset (by Craig Harper, 263)
The Law of Attraction is a Dangerous Delusion (by Paul Sloane, 249)
7 Ways to Make Life Changing Decisions (by Hulbert Lee, 236)
5 Steps To Move Out Of Stagnancy In Life (by Celestine Chua, 150)
What Do You Need To Let Go Of? (by Craig Harper, 132)
How To Save Thousands on Personal Development (by Craig Harper, 114)
Can You Transform Without Getting Uncomfortable? (by Craig Harper, 99)
Do Your Beliefs Empower You or Limit You? (by Craig Harper, 97)
9 Ways To Tell If You Are A Self-Help Junkie (And What To Do About It) (by Celestine Chua, 90)

Maximizing Productivity and GTD

The Not-Do List: 9 Things You Need To Stop Doing (by Celestine Chua, 940)
11 Practical Ways To Stop Procrastination (by Celestine Chua, 823)
13 Strategies To Jumpstart Your Productivity (by Celestine Chua, 700)
Twitter Hack: 5 Ways To Up Your Visible IQ (by Seth Simonds, 505)
20 Quick Tips For Better Time Management (by Celestine Chua, 497)
How To Tweet in Just 5 Minutes a Week (by Seth Simonds, 229)
A New Productivity for the Smartphone Era (by Francis Wade, 222)
5 Types of Emails You Should be Automatically Filtering (by Sid Sivara, 170)
12 Useful Ways To Get Out Of Ruts (by Celestine Chua, 164)
Are You Becoming a “Productive” Moron? (by Francis Wade, 163)
Staying Organized: 8 Tips for Daily Sanity (by Debbie Bowie, 160)
Productivity Pr0n: 5 Unusually Useful Notepads (by Dustin Wax, 151)
How I’m Getting a Smartphone, While Avoiding Crazy Habits (by Francis Wade, 144)
7 Ways To Stay Grounded by Staying Organized (by Debbie Bowie, 127)
Fight Bad Cellphone Habits For Better Time Management (by Francis Wade, 124)
Are You a Productive Person? Look at the Number of People Waiting (by Francis Wade, 121)

Lifestyle and Habits

7 Caffeine-Free Ways to Increase Alertness (by Seth Simonds, 369)
6 Steps To Remove TV From Your Life (by Celestine Chua, 357)
5 Tips For Becoming An Early Riser (by Seth Simonds, 290)
Do You Have A Morning Ritual? (by Seth Simonds, 279)
7 Effective Ways To De-Junk Your Life (by Seth Simonds, 254)
6 Proven Ways To Make New Habits Stick(by Celestine Chua, 242)
9 Tips For Better Sleep (by Seth Simonds, 213)
Sleep Hack: A Simple Strategy For Better Rest In Less Time (by Seth Simonds, 187)

Inspiration & Motivation

5 Simple ways to live a life you love (by Seth Simonds, 692)
20 Inspirational Quotes To Brighten Your Day (by Celestine Chua, 573)
7 Ways To Demonstrate True Strength (by Seth Simonds, 407)
8 Life Lessons You Should Learn Today (by Mike Brown, 275)
What Advice Would You Give To Your 18 Year Old Self? (by Seth Simonds, 157)

Goal Achievement & Success

11 Reasons Why You Aren’t Getting Results (by Celestine Chua, 368)
11 Simple Ways To Avoid Burnout (by Seth Simonds, 348)
Brilliant Thinkers Relish Ambiguity (by Paul Sloane, 340)
Top 10 Resolutions To Set For The New Year (by Celestine Chua, 304)
How To Be In The Right Place At The Right Time More Often (by Seth Simonds, 239)
How To Start and Run a Mastermind Group (by Sid Sivara, 208)
10 Tips to Create a High Performance Environment (by Debbie Bowie, 161)
Change Your Focus For Better Results (by Craig Harper, 155)
How To Walk On Water (by Seth Simonds, 130)
How to Do What You’ve Always Wanted (by Steve Errey, 130)
Education Should be More than Academic Basics (by Craig Harper, 115)

Emotional Mastery

63 Ways to Build Self-Confidence (by Steve Errey, 754)
7 Simple Ways To Be Happier (by Seth Simonds, 509)
7 Quick ways to turn a bad day around (by Seth Simonds, 449)
11 Reasons to be Cheerful (by Paul Sloane, 430)
5 Simple Ways To Spread Positivity (by Seth Simonds, 272)
How Much Stuff Do You Need To Feel Happy? (by Seth Simonds, 254)
5 Ways to Stop Second Guessing Yourself (by Steve Errey, 169)
5 Ways to Brighten A Cloudy Day (by Seth Simonds, 110)

People Skills & Relationships

9 Helpful Tips To Deal With Negative People (by Celestine, 760)
9 Ways To Manage People Who Bother You (by Celestine Chua, 554)
5 Simple Ways To Be A Better Listener (by Seth Simonds, 357)
Top 10 Ways to Lead More Effectively with Humor (by Mike Brown, 236)
5 Steps To Conquer Any Networking Event (by Seth Simonds, 183)
5 Keys To A Better Love Life (by Seth Simonds, 178)
5 Keys to Building Networks Over Time (by Alexandra Levit, 122)

Communications & Writing

11 Paradoxes of Being a Better Public Speaker (by Mike Brown, 326)
9 Expert Tips For Better Writing (by Seth Simonds, 240)
10 Ways Blogging Can Improve Your Life (by Annabel Candy, 232)
9 Ways To Handle Interruptions Like A Pro (by Seth Simonds, 211)
8 Qualities of Powerful Writing (by Dustin Wax, 182)
31 Proven Ways To Get More Comments On Your Blog (by Seth Simonds, 167)
Develop Your Greatest Skill – Language (by Paul Sloane, 106)
How to Tell a Funny Joke (by Hulbert Lee, 96)

Business & Career

7 Things you should stop doing at work (by Seth Simonds, 845)
8 Ways To Bring Your Creative Passions to Work (by Mike Brown, 238)
9 Strategies to Make Selling Your Ideas More Successful (by Mike Brown, 192)
How to Be Successful When You Can’t Plan Ahead (by Mike Brown, 190)
Wise Money – 5 Tips From Billionaire Investor Warren Buffett (by Seth Simonds, 171)
5 Things You Should Know About Personal Finance (by Ibrahim Husain, 137)
8 Ways to Recharge a Tired Old Job (by Mike Brown, 121)
How to Shine in a Job Interview (by Steve Errey, 110)
It’s Time to Manage Your Online Personal Brand (by Dan Schawbel, 107)

Creativity & Inspiration

9 Great Ways to Be Exceptionally Boring (by Paul Sloane, 387)
How to Feel Inspired When You’ve Lost Motivation (by Hulbert Lee, 308)
12 Tips for Being Good Feng Shui (by Debbie Bowie, 256)
Stop Trying To Be Creative (by Seth Simonds, 182)
How to Kill a Radical Idea (by Paul Sloane, 132)

Family

The Secret to Helping Your Child Excel in School and in Life (by Erin Kurt, 183)
11 Way to Instill a Love of Reading in Your Child (by Erin Kurt, 182)
Parenting: 6 Myths You Should Know About (by Erin Kurt, 165)
8 Reasons Why Children Misbehave (With Solutions!) (by Erin Kurt, 158)
How “Fun” Can Be Your Best Discipline Technique(by Erin Kurt, 119)
4 Ways to Spend Time with Your Kids When You Have No Time (by Erin Kurt, 115)

Miscellaneous

Kitchen Hack: One-Minute Bread (by Seth Simonds, 2126)
Newbie Fashion Tips for Grown-Up Men (by Dustin Wax, 924)
11 Sinfully Easy Sangria Recipes (by Seth Simonds, 257)
Kitchen Hack: 7-Minute Chocolate Covered Strawberries (by Sarah Joy Albrecht, 112)
4 Tips for Getting Started and Self-Publishing a Book (by Debbie Bowie, 100)

Last but not least, here’s a special thank you to Leon Ho (founder of Lifehack.org) and all the writers at Lifehack who have contributed the articles above and more. LifeHack would not be where it is today without all of you. Thank you so much everyone! :)

Image ©

I'm Celes and I write at The
Personal Excellence Blog on how to achieve our highest potential
and live our best life. Get my free ebook 101
Things To Do Before You Die by joining my free
newsletter (unsubscribe whenever you want). Get my RSS feed and add me on Twitter @celestinechua.

Friday, January 7, 2011

11 Photoshop Tutorials All Web Designers Should Learn

11 Photoshop Tutorials All Web Designers Should Learn: "

At their core the vast majority of online Photoshop tutorials are teaching one of only a handful of techniques; the rest are essentially variations of the same. What this means is that a short list of well-chosen online Photoshop tutorials will pretty much bring you up to speed.

Thursday, January 6, 2011

23 Good Habits of Successful Bloggers

23 Good Habits of Successful Bloggers: "

Wednesday, December 29, 2010

Using LED Ceiling Lights For Digital Communication

Using LED Ceiling Lights For Digital Communication: "PatPending writes 'A Minnesota start-up company, LVX, is developing products under several patents and about a dozen pending applications, e.g., 'Building illumination apparatus with integrated communications, security and energy management,' that put clusters of LEDs in a standard-sized ceiling light fixture. The LEDs are in optical communication with special modems attached to office computers. The first generation of the LVX system will transmit data at speeds of about three megabits per second, roughly as fast as a residential DSL line. LVX Chief Executive Officer John Pederson said a second-generation system that will roll out in about a year will permit speeds on par with commercial Wi-Fi networks. It will also permit lights that can be programmed to change intensity and color. Pederson said the next generation of the system should get even more efficient as fixtures become 'smart' so the lights would dim when bright sunlight is coming through a window or when a conference room or hallway is empty. Hurdles: speed and installation costs. No word on the reliability and security of this system.'

Saturday, December 25, 2010

20+ essential programs for your new Windows computer

20+ essential programs for your new Windows computer: "

Our regular readers can probably rattle off a list of their 20 favorite apps without breaking a sweat -- as the comments on this post will no doubt prove. But for our less in-the-know friends, family, and co-workers, it can be challenging to figure out where to download high quality programs that actually do what they need them to do.

We've put together an assortment that will help you hit the ground running with your new Windows PC. If you've got your own suggestions to add, feel free to post them in the comments.

Now let's take the jump and check out the apps!

Continue reading 20+ essential programs for your new Windows computer

20+ essential programs for your new Windows computer originally appeared on Download Squad on Thu, 23 Dec 2010 15:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Tuesday, December 21, 2010

16 Ways to Kick Bad Habits

16 Ways to Kick Bad Habits: "

Written by: Taha Ghayyur.

Few things are more demanding than eliminating bad habits, since they are part of our daily routines and personality. It takes days of patience and practice to break old habits.

However, the good news is, Ramadan offers a perfect and natural environment for moral training. Interestingly, researches from “positive psychology” (scientific study of successful people) have repeatedly shown it takes 30 days to kick a bad habit and develop a new one.

In addition to the physical discipline in the 30-day boot camp of Ramadan, the increased spiritual exercise and connection with Allah, can transform your habits for life.

Try these proven techniques for a successful positive change in your habits (during Ramadan and beyond!):

1. Acknowledge and identify your bad habits: First step is to admit you need to change. If you are in a state of denial, you won’t recognize that you have a bad habit to change.

2. Pick a habit for 30 days: Prioritize your bad habits and focus on one for 30 days. Take a 30-day trial to re-condition your habits. If you are committed to changing at least one habit, you will see remarkable results, God-willing.

3. Realize that it’s in us to change: Don’t believe the old saying, “You can’t teach an old dog new tricks.” You can break a bad habit if you really want to. No one else can change your habits, if you don’t want to.

4. Remember, Allah loves those who commit mistakes and repent: Prophet Muhammad said:

“By Him in Whose Hand is my life, if you were not to commit sin, Allah would sweep you out of existence and He would replace (you by) those people who would commit sin and seek forgiveness from Allah, and He would have pardoned them.” [Sahih Muslim]

5. Intention & plan to change: “If you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” A healthy process of change in character requires a gradual pace, which entails planning. Develop concrete milestones to measure your progress.

6. Replace a bad habit with a good one: Completely eliminating a habit is more challenging than replacing it with a more productive habit. Moreover, it’s crucial to replace the lost natural needs, such as the need to socialize and to be entertained with something healthy.

For instance, it’s easier to replace or balance your addiction to TV with a physical workout or reading, than to suddenly remove the TV from your life. Interestingly, Prophet Muhammad, the greatest ‘psychologist’ of humanity, illustrated this principle in these words:

“Fear Allah wherever you may be; follow up an evil deed with a good one which will wipe (the former) out, and behave good-naturedly towards people.” [At-Tirmidhi]

7. Change your environment: Resist the negative peer pressure by finding a better company of friends. Collective action to change is very powerful. Prophet Muhammad explained this peer pressure effect with this analogy:

“A good friend and a bad friend are like a perfume-seller and a blacksmith: The perfume-seller might give you some perfume as a gift, or you might buy some from him, or at least you might smell its fragrance. As for the blacksmith, he might singe your clothes, and at the very least you will breathe in the fumes of the furnace.” [Sahih al-Bukhari & Muslim]

8. Exercise (physical and spiritual): A habit of regular physical exercise is obviously important for lasting weight loss. But you may not realize that exercise helps in eliminating a number of bad habits. For example, among smokers who become competitive runners, for example, over 80% give up smoking.

Moreover, exercising your will power (struggle to fight temptations) for 30 days helps you kick all kinds of bad habits and form new good ones. Willpower is like a muscle; the more you exercise it, the more you strengthen it.

9. Think of yourself as a changed, different, new person: This simple psychological shift in your thinking about your own image can do wonders. Tell yourself, “I can’t continue this ill-behaviour. I am better than that. I am stronger. I am wiser.”

10. Reward success: The most fundamental law in all of psychology is the “law of effect.” It simply states that actions followed by rewards are strengthened and likely to recur. Unfortunately, studies show that people rarely use this technique when trying to change personal habits.

Setting up formal or informal rewards for success greatly increases your chances of transforming bad habits into good ones, and is far more effective than punishing yourself for bad habits or setbacks. As Muslims we should also remember that the ultimate reward is Allah’s Pleasure and Paradise in the Hereafter.

11. Schedule / limit your bad habits: If you are really struggling to kick a bad habit, try limiting the habit to a specific time and place. Research and case studies confirm that this rather unconventional approach can be a useful first step in changing bad habits or learning new good ones.

12. Tell someone about your effort to change if it helps: He or she may keep you on track.

13. Resolve to continue on and follow up: Giving up bad habits or learning good habits requires regular maintenance and determination. It is a long, ongoing process, also known as “Tazkiyyah” in Islamic terminology. It’s more difficult than the first few steps of change. (“How many times have I dieted, for example, only to gain the weight back?”)

14. Remind yourself of death and hereafter often: “Remember often the terminator (or destroyer) of all the pleasures [i.e. death],” the Prophet once stated. [At-Tirmidhi.]

15. Develop a relapse strategy: How do you ensure not to return to your bad habit you are trying to change? Some people donate money to a good cause every time they return to sinning or a bad habit. This reminds them of the ‘cost’ of going back to old bad habits. Others try physically demanding acts to deter them from reverting to old ways.

16. Ask Allah for help: Last but not least, make Asking for Allah’s Help an integral part of the overall change process. Ask for Allah’s Help before, during and after every attempt at kicking a bad habit. Do so sincerely, even begging and crying, like a child does when he or she really wants something. Allah is Ever-Willing to Help and to Respond to our needs, but it is us who must take the first step towards Him.

“And whosoever is conscious of Allah and keeps his duty to Him, He (Allah) will make a way for him to get out (from) every (difficulty), and He will provide him from (sources) he could never imagine.” [Quran 65:2-3]

References for Further Reading:

■ How to Replace Bad Habits with Good Ones – Stephen Kraus

■ Tazkiyah: The Islamic Path of Self-Development – Abdur Rashid Siddiqui

■ I want to Repent, But…. – Saalih Al-Munajjid

Source: Productive Ramadan