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I am a small business Conversation Consultant and public speaker that uses the power of the internet to leverage your success. Productivity in Context is a web magazine focused on Productivity and tools for organizing. Make this your headquarters for improving your life and work through increased mindfulness, education, and workflow practices.

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Please contact me via e-mail: stephen @ hdbizblog dot com

Here is a cool post from An Amazing Mind blog:

how do you recognize important tasks from the merely urgent? Here are a few helpful questions:

1. Will this matter 5 years from now?

If something will have lasting positive effect on your life even 5 years from now, it’s probably important. And if it won’t, it’s probably not that important. (cumulative things, noted in number 3. below, are an exception.)

2. If I accomplish this today, will I go to sleep happy and content?

I often delay important decisions (like booking airplane tickets) for days or even weeks. Then, once I finally get off my lazy butt and actually do them, I suddenly feel so free. Like a big weight has been lifted off my chest. So learn from my mistakes. Schedule your important tasks in as soon as possible, and get them done. You’ll be going to bed every day with a sense of accomplishment and happiness.

3. Is this cumulative?

It might not seem like a big deal to skip one exercise session. Or to sleep late one day when you’re trying to switch to waking up early. But every time you skip your habit, it makes the subsequent days harder to maintain.

Conversely, it might not seem like a big deal to give a small speech in front of 20 acquaintances. But the confidence and experience you get from it will carry along with you. You will feel more confident and comfortable with public speaking EVERY SINGLE TIME after that. It’s like compound interest - every little bit matters, because it builds on itself forever after.

Read the whole thing.
Related: Put First Things First

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/5pxw9x. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

“Thanksgiving is a typically American holiday…The lavish meal is a symbol of the fact that abundant consumption is the result and reward of production.” ~Ayn Rand

This year on Thanksgiving day I would like to express my thankfulness for my lovely bride, my family and friends, and my readers that have made this blog such a success.

I am also thankful that my wife lost her job that has allowed us to start this amazing journey across the country. We have been able to spend some real and meaningful time with our parents and friends, and some playful stuff too.

I am looking forward to an even better year in 2009, as my consulting business grows and flourishes, I am looking forward to re-uniting with the SOBCon community and getting to know more and more of you as we make this journey together.

God bless all of you and your loved ones on this special day, with a special prayer of comfort and safety of all of the people affected by the violence in Mumbai this week.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/6dxl2h. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

Our SOBCon friend and colleague Phil Gerbyshak alerts us that we have lost one of the members of our community, Susan Quandt:

Last Tuesday one of my dear friends and mentors was taken too quickly from this world; Susan Quandt was killed in a car accident just outside the city of Milwaukee. Susan was one of those people who could connect with you immediately, with a smile, a knowing glance, and always a hug. She lived her life abundantly, always sharing whatever she had with whomever crossed her path.

I was blessed to have Susan in my life for but a short time, as I met her at last year’s 800 CEO Read Author Pow-Wow. We knew immediately we wanted to work on some big stuff together, and she invited me to dinner, and to meet her family at her homes in Chicago and in Port Washington.

Phil shares some of the things that he learned from Susan in the brief time that he knew her in 5 Lessons, please read the article.

Our hearts and prayers are with all of Susan’s family and friends.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/6o6y6g. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

My friend Michael Sliwinski, founder of the Nozbe GTD application and editor of Productive Magazine, has just released the first issue of Productive magazine. It is a fantastic resource! The magazine includes 17 very useful articles in this first issue - with the headliner being an Interview with Getting Things Done author David Allen by Oliver Starr.

Your favorite feature of this magazine (besides the article by yours truly, of course!) is that it’s absolutely free to download.

The magazine is in PDF format and it is obvious that Michael and his team have put in a lot of time and effort producing this.

The list of contributors is a Who’s Who of the Productivity Blogosphere:

• Alex Shalman Blog
• Black Belt Productivity
• Change your thoughts
• Cranking Widgets
• David Allen Company
• GTD Times
• LifeClever
• Marc and Angel Hack a Life
• Michael Sliwinski on Productivity
• Organize IT
• Positive Sharing
• Productivity 501
• Productivity in Context
• Put Things off
• Simply Get Things Done with Nozbe
• The Happiness Project
• Unclutterer
• Zen Habits

Download your copy at  Productive Magazine today!

UPDATE: For a pic of my desk and workspace, see http://flickr.com/photos/hdbizblog/2956402748/

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/654q3f. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen