Welcome back! It's good to see you again. Please note that I am now publishing all new material at my hub site: In Context Blog

Productivity in Context’s own Wednesday writer has put together an e-book entitled “Think Spiritual: Favorite Posts from The Daily Saint on Everyday Spirituality” that you can get here: Think Spiritual.

Also, Leo Babauta from ZenHabits has a giveaway for people that buy his new book, if you order it before the end of New Year’s Day. One of the choices is an exclusive audio podcast of weight loss tips from Leo, packaged with a special sneak peek of an audio interview — Leo interviewing GTD author David Allen — which will be released to the public next week sometime.

My good friend Leo Babauta from Zen Habits is releasing his new book shortly, and has been gracious enough to share a companion e-book called Thriving on Less - Simplifying in a Tough Economy

From the introduction:

The recent economic recession has a lot of people worried, about their jobs, their businesses, their homes and their bills. When your income is dropping or in jeopardy and you still have a mountain of bills to pay, things can get pretty scary.

However, tough economic times do not have to be a time of struggles! If you look for the opportunity in the middle of difficulty, as Mr. Einstein suggested, then tough economic times become an opportunity to transform your life.

Table of Contents

Introduction
1. A Simple Lifestyle
2. Focus on the Essentials
3. Thriving on Less, Not Struggling
4. Focusing on Enough, Not More
5. Make Small Financial Changes First
6. Look at Large Expenses for the Long Term
7. Changing Your Spending Habits
8. A Guide to Getting Out of Debt
9. Tools for a Frugal Life
10. Resources

It is a very interesting read, and I do recommend that you take a look at it. It has been downloaded quite a few times from its original hosting site, so to help share the load, you can get your free copy here (link to e-junkie)

Ever since I started my Getting Things Done practice 2 years ago, I have struggled with my system of reviews. Primarily due to my ADD, but also because of the many, many changes and transitions that my household has undergone in that time.

Since the Lovely Bride and I were married in March of 2005 we have moved 4 times, lived in 3 different states, and had 11 different jobs (combined). That is a LOT of change and those of you who know me personally know that I can have trouble adapting to change.

Since we are once again in the middle of an enormous transition I have taken the opportunity to get a head start on my Annual Review. It turns out that in spite of (or perhaps because of) the challenges 2008 was a pretty darned good year.

• Our marriage is strong. The Lovely Bride and I have faced some serious challenges, at home and with her career, but we have remained strong, positive, and pro-active about making things happen.
• We are ahead of the curve. With the economy in the state that it is, we were able to look forward and make some choices and take actions to stay out of the worst of the troubles:
  • Beating the Christmas rush - we started buying presents in March, and were able to finish in October. All of our gifts for family and friends were wrapped, packed, and shipped by the first week of November. What an amazing feeling to have all of that done during this week of Christmas! Buying gifts this way allowed us to avoid a massive hit to the budget during a fairly lean period, as well as providing the opportunity to find things in our travels that would be personal and special for the recipient.
  • Living with less - both of us have a tendency to hoard “stuff”, and we have been moving boxes of junk from place to place for 3 years. This fall we decided that boxes that have not been unpacked in two years are likely to contain things that we do not need. We did a massive sort-and-purge, donating a ton of clothes, books, and small appliances to charity.
  • Creating alternate income streams - both of us have worked in the hospitality industry for most of our careers and a down economy hits that segment hard. We have been creating products and services that we can sell online, and in October I took the leap and went to work for myself.
• I started my own business. And business is pretty good! The main site is called Business Development in Context and I have been writing about Social Media, Blogging, and Networking for success. I have found a handful of clients, and some clients have found me. I am not making a fortune (yet) but it is paying the bills and financing our adventure. The funny thing is, I work as many or more hours than I did when I had a “real job” yet it is so much more rewarding, fulfilling, and enjoyable. I should have done this years ago!!
• I accomplished nearly all of my goals for the year. In January of 2008 I sat down with a workbook on goal-setting and laid out a plan for achieving some goals over the course of the year. (In no particular order)
  • I lost 25 pounds and kept it off.
  • I started a new blog for business purposes, and it is growing.
  • I attending the SOBCon conference in Chicago and learned a LOT about this business of blogging.
  • I paid off one of the credit cards.
  • I purchased a new laptop computer.
  • I took a job as a paid writer online.
  • I joined a Chamber of Commerce and got involved with the local business community.
  • I spent at least one full day each week with the Lovely Bride doing something fun and building our relationship.
• Use a more positive vocabulary -My Lovely Bride asked me to add this point as her contribution. I have always been a very optimistic person, but since we have been married my wife says that learning to use a positive outlook rather than a negative one creates a much different framework for approaching a problem.

Now it is your turn. How was 2008 for you? What did you learn, achieve, or accomplish? Be sure to share in the Comments. Later in the week we will look at setting some achievable SMART goals for 2009.

Kelly at Web Design Schools Guide points out a very useful list of iPhone applications:

Whether you’re running a small business, or just trying to knock out your daily to-do list, we can all use a little help being more productive. For those with an iPhone there are a wide array of instantly download-able applications that can help you get more done in less time. For this article we’ve sorted through hundreds of applications to bring you 20 lesser known iphone apps which are designed to make your day to day life easier and make you more productive.

Using the iPhone for Organization

From basic to do lists to homework these are a few ways to help you get organized:

1. Jott: Tired of to do lists and sticky notes. You can turn your voice into text and place it into your lists on your iphone. After you have completed the task you can cross them off with a quick finger strike.
2. SplashID: With so many passwords and usernames it is hard to keep track of them all. You can now have them at quick reference. You can store them under a record type created by you.

Read the whole thing.