The 90 Best Lifehacks of 2009: The Year in Review

Another twelvemonth is winding downwardly, and that means information technology's time to take a look back at what we've done here at Lifehack over the concluding 12 months. 2009 was a scary year for a lot of people – corporate layoffs, a shaky global economic system, stunningly vicious politics, old wars grinding on and new ones flaring upwards. In the midst of all this, though, many saw opportunities; with the myth of life-long corporate employment shattered as some of the earth'south biggest companies teetered on the brink of collapse, entrepreneurship enjoyed a major resurgence. This rise in cocky-reliance extends beyond our work life, too – people are embracing a do-it-yourself, person-to-person lifestyle where status and the brandish of wealth matter much less than authenticity and social interaction.

All of this is reflected in the posts that went up on this site over the final year. What follows is a list of the 90 most popular, almost commented on, and most talked-about posts from 2009, and equally you tin see, in addition to our usual mix of posts near personal productivity, organization, webware, and creativity, a big number of posts virtually personal finance and self-employment fabricated the elevation of the list. It's non surprising that Lifehack's staff and contributors would write posts that reverberate the tenor of the times, nor that such posts would resonate most with our audition.

What emerges from all this is a treasure trove of good advice, ranging from the lofty and idealistic to the immediately applied. We promise to continue to provide quality tips and communication about work, technology, coin, and just evidently living in the new year's day and beyond. If you haven't already, brand sure y'all subscribe to our feed and follow usa on Twitter so you don't miss any of the great posts we have in store for 2010!

Software and Applied science

2009 was notable for the maturing of online applications, the explosion of applications for mobile phones, and the mainstreaming of social networking services similar Twitter and Facebook. Pop stories at Lifehack covered tips for the use (and not abuse) of social networking services, tips on using your reckoner effectively and deeply, and recommendations for applications online, on your PC, and on your Android phones.

1. Getting Productive with the Webware 100 (Dustin Chiliad. Wax)
2. Searching for a Shared Virtual Workspace? (Clemens Rettich)
3. Is Google Fix to Handle Your Business organization? (Office ane) and (Part 2) (Dustin M. Wax)
4. From Hither to Tweeternity: A Practical Guide to Getting Started on Twitter (Dustin 1000. Wax)
5. Six Means to Transform your Presentation (Paul Sloane)
6. Managing Your Social Network Addiction (Ibrahim Husain)
7. 8 Keys to Internet Security (Dustin M. Wax)
8. The First ten Free Apps to Install on a New Windows PC (Dustin Grand. Wax)
9. 12 Free Android Apps to Help Get Things Washed (Function ane) and (Part 2) (Dustin K. Wax)
10. Your Guide to Apps that Eliminate Distractions (Joel Falconer)

Lifestyle: Family unit, Fitness, and Finance

Money problems were on everyone'due south minds this year, and our writers served up plenty of advice about managing both your money and your expectations. Advice almost families and parenting was popular this year – or sometimes controversial, like Craig Harper's poorly understood communication to take buying of your past and recognize that whoever wronged you lot in the past, just you tin ready things right for yourself. And, since today'due south worker is all-too-oftentimes someone who spends most of her or his day sitting, our writers' advice on getting some activity into your life was well appreciated.

1. How to Finish Yelling at Your Kids (Erin Kurt)
2. If Your Childhood Sucked – Information technology's Time to Stop Blaming Your Parents! (Craig Harper)
3. How to Recognize Imminent Danger: 7 Essential Safety Rules (Mary Jaksch)
4. xxx Money Sites to Check Out in 2009 (Thursday Bram)
5. 3 Scary Misconceptions About Money (Joel Falconer)
6. Smashing Means to Become Poor and Stay Poor (Paul Sloane)
7. Weight Loss Groundhog Twenty-four hour period (Craig Harper)
8. Hurting and Posture: The Basics (Jamie Nischan)
9. How to Get-go Running – Without Feeling Like a Failure (Mary Jaksch)
10. A Workout for Geeks (Daryl Furuyama)

Personal Productivity and Creativity

Communication about getting productive makes upward the core of Lifehack's content, so naturally our near popular and about talked about posts this twelvemonth were just that. From developing the right mindset to promoting inventiveness to finding inspiration and motivation, we offered tons of advice on getting things done.

1. 12 Lists That Help You Get Things Washed (Dustin G. Wax)
2. Procrastination – NOT a Problem! (Francis Wade)
3. 10 Best Productivity Books of 2009 (Dustin One thousand. Wax)
4. 11 Ways to Think Outside the Box (Dustin M. Wax)
5. viii Ways to Kill Clutter in v Minutes (David Pierce)
6. Reaching Your Goals – Dutch Style (Christine Buske)
7. New year's Resolutions Don't Piece of work – Here's Why (Steve Errey)
8. How to Make Decisions Under Force per unit area (Joel Falconer)
9. Limits and Inventiveness (Dustin G. Wax)
10. The Daily Grind: A Matter of Momentum (Joel Falconer)
11. 4 Pocket-sized Tools to Help Yous Generate Killer Ideas Whatsoever Time, Anywhere (Chuck Frey)
12. How to Remember What Nobody Else Thinks (Paul Sloane)
13. ix Lists To Go along Updated, and Keep Handy (David Pierce)
14. x Reasons Paper is The Most Flexible Productivity Platform (Joel Falconer)
15. 3 Tips to Improve Memory Speedily (Steve Martile)
16. How to Wake Up and Instantly Achieve Something Everyday (Paul Dickinson)
17. Stripped GTD: 3 Habits That Make Yous More Productive (David Pierce)
18. Ten Bang-up Ways to Crush Inventiveness (Paul Sloane)
19. Scoring 100% in Time Direction (Francis Wade)
20. 7 Steps For Making a New year's day'due south Resolution and Keeping It (Annabel Candy)

My incomplete series on getting back on rails with a productivity system, "GTD Refresh", was quite popular but was never completed. The next step for me was supposed to be eliminating my electronic mail backlog and adopting an "Inbox Nothing" approach, simply frankly, email won. This year – I'm going to endeavor once more in 2010 and so you may well see more "GTD Refresh posts in the not-likewise-afar future.

• GTD Refresh, Part 1: Getting My Head Together
• GTD Refresh, Role 2: Contexts and Calendar
• GTD Refresh, Part 3: Projects
• GTD Refresh, Role 4: Getting Sorted
• GTD Refresh, Part v: Building the Weekly Review Habit
• GTD Refresh, Part 6: Decisiveness

2009 was bookended by two publications with something to offer the would-be personal productivity skilful. David Allen's Making It All Work revisited the core concepts of GTD and expanded on elements that had been weakly developed in his earlier work. You tin read my lengthy review hither: (Role one) (Function 2) (Office 3)

And our most popular series, my "Back to Basics" posts from 2008, were collected, revised, and expanded (with 2 new capacity) in the release of Back to Nuts Productivity which will be joined in 2010 by several more ebook releases.

Piece of work and Career

With the economic system huddling in on itself this twelvemonth, fifty-fifty non-entrepreneurs had to larn to be more entrepreneurial. Promotions, raises, or simply belongings onto your job and pay level, required a sit-in of unusual career intelligence, and our writers offered a heaping portion of information technology. And for those in our workforce who took the plunge – voluntarily or not – into cocky-employment, advice on personal branding, small-business promotion, and entrepreneurship were in no short supply.

1. What to Practice if You Don't Go Along with Your Boss (Paul Sloane)
2. Darth Vader'southward "Direction" Secrets (Art Carden)
3. 21 Entrepreneurship Websites Worth Checking Out
4. 3 Areas Yous Must Invest in During an Economic Recession (Dan Schawbel)
5. Personal Branding Basics (Dan Schawbel)
6. Seven Neat Questions to Inquire at a Job Interview (Paul Sloane)
7. Why A Good Web Site Matters To Your Business (Susan Baroncini-Moe)
8. How to do Expert AND Make a Turn a profit (Arvind Devalia)
9. 12 Tips for Better Business concern Writing (Dustin 1000. Wax)
10. x Questions to Ask Yourself Well-nigh Your Task (Paul Sloane)

Productivity Pr0n

It may seem distracting, even materialistic, to drool over role supplies, but permit'southward face it: I exercise it, you do it, and geeks effectually the world do it. And with good reason, actually: the right tool can (in David Pierce'southward words) make all the difference. Moleskine'south were pop every bit always, only a list of alternative notebooks caught the eye of those put off by the style or toll of the famous pocket notebook. Pens likewise got a lot of attention – it may seem dizzy to those who are (or pretend to be) perfectly comfortable with their 12-for-a-dollar stick pens, simply there truly is no feeling quite like that of a quality writing musical instrument gliding over the page. And for funsies, in that location'due south are review of the Prada Link, because gadgets are way cool.

1. 13 Ways of Looking at an Alphabetize Carte (Dustin M. Wax)
2. Stationery Pr0n: Japanese Pens and More from JetPens.com (Dustin Chiliad. Wax)
3. Why a Great Pen Makes All the Difference (David Pierce)
4. 5 Reasons to Pay Good Money for a Moleskine (Dustin Yard. Wax)
5. thirteen Things to Practise with a Moleskine Notebook (Dustin M. Wax)
6. 10 Bang-up Moleskine Hacks (Dustin Thou. Wax)
7. 9 Places to Always Keep Pen and Paper Handy (David Pierce)
8. 10 Affordable Pens Geeks Love (Dustin M. Wax)
9. ten Dandy Notebooks Productive People Love (Dustin M. Wax)
10. The Trend of Productivity Accessories is Hither (Leon Ho)

Life Lessons

Finally, the catch-all for what's left. There are some brilliant people writing on Lifehack – modest business experts, marketing gurus, life coaches, creativity specialists, and then on. It stands to reason that not all their advice could be slotted into easy categories. So below y'all'll discover communication on relating with others, mastering your own weaknesses and giving rein to your strengths, developing a charitable mindset, dealing with hardships, and more.

1. 10 Small Ways to Make the World a Better Place (Dustin Thousand. Wax)
2. Have You Started Planning for a Successful 2010? Here'southward How! (Susan Baroncini-Moe)
3. Rethink the Season of Giving (Dustin M. Wax)
4. 7 Ways to Bargain with Annoying People and Still Become Things Done (Dustin Yard. Wax)
5. 12 Personality Types to Avoid to Make 2009 Your Best Year (Craig Harper)
6. Life Lessons of the Dread Pirate Roberts (Dustin M. Wax)
7. Half dozen Great Ways to Vent Your Frustrations (Danielle Marie Crume)
8. How to Stay Motivated and On-Track When Yous're Struggling (Susan Baroncini-Moe)
9. Alter The Way You Encounter Fear And Change Your Life (Susan Baroncini-Moe)
10. The Five Reasons Why Y'all Are Not Fulfilling Your Potential (Paul Sloane)
11. How to Be Offended (Dustin M. Wax)
12. Amend Your Charitable Giving: Let Non Your Left Mitt Know What Your Correct Is Doing (Fine art Carden)
13. 10 Things in Life That Aren't Off-white – and What to Do About Them (Part ane) and (Part 2) (Dustin Grand. Wax)
14. 7 Steps to First Lucid Dreaming (Steven Aitchinson)
15. Changing Your Personal Reality (Part 1) and (Part 2) (Craig Harper)
16. Dating, Living, and Being Your Best Self (Dustin M. Wax)
17. Proceed a Date with Life and More Ways to Keep a Date with Life (Dustin M. Wax)
18. Existence a Man in the 21st Century (Part one) and (Office 2) (Dustin Thou. Wax)
19. The Work of Worry (Dustin 1000. Wax)
20. Your Happiness Plan (Craig Harper)

Were there any other posts here in the concluding yr that helped you or gave yous a new perspective on your work, life, or the people around you? Permit us know in the comments!

Finally, I want to take a moment to recognize all the staff writers and guest contributors who worked hard to provide our readers with wisdom and insight in 2009. On the staff, there's Leon Ho (site possessor), myself (project managing director), and our staff writers Joel Falconer and Thursday Bram, at present departed. Our contributors and guests consist of:

Steven Aitchison Susan Baroncini-Moe Christine Buske Annabel Candy Art Carden Kit Cooper Danielle Marie Crume Arvind Devalia Paul Dickinson Steve Errey

Chuck Frey Daryl Furuyama Danny Gamache Lisa Gates Elisabeta  Ghidiu Craig  Harper Liora Hess Ibrahim Husain Mary Jaksch Erin Kurt

Angus Lau Alexandra Levit Steve Martile Jamie Nischan David Pierce Clemens Rettich Dan Schawbel Paul Sloane Mike St. Pierre Francis Wade

Thanks to all of them, and to you, our readers, for making 2009 a great year!

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Source: https://www.lifehack.org/articles/featured/the-90-best-lifehacks-of-2009-the-year-in-review.html