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.

You all know that I am a HUGE fan of journals, journaling, and blank journal notebooks. Kevin Eikenberry wrote about a particular type of journal that he uses that is simply amazing. I am stunned that I hadn’t heard of this before!

Learn More, and Faster, with a Learning Journal

Asking yourself the right questions – and answering them – creates the lessons and insights; writing them down in your journal solidifies them and makes them yours forever.

Ask yourself questions like:

• What happened?
• Why?
• What is the lesson?
• How can I apply this to another situation?
• What could I do differently next time?
• How could this problem/challenge/issue be solved/removed?

Of course, there are as many questions as there are learning opportunities, but this very short list should at least get you started.

These questions are designed to help you reflect on your daily events and happenings to use as fodder for your own development and progress. Asking and answering them regularly will make a big difference in your results.

I believe that I have found a use for the new notebook that I picked up a while back! Read the entire post - One of the best ways to learn more, learn faster, and accelerate your progress towards any goal is by using a learning journal.

What are you going to write in your Learning Journal?

Every athlete has one, whether for an individual or team sport, from little kids on the sandlot to professionals on the gridiron. Even bridal parties need someone to instruct and manage the actions of the team members. Professional football and baseball teams often have a different coach for each particular aspect of the game, offense, defense, you name it.

Yet many people outside of these arenas are completely on their own.

The worlds of business and work, family and life are just as important to each of us as they are to professional athletes, yet once we are out of school or college we rarely get any coaching on our performance.

What can a coach do for you?

A coach or mentor is there to help you develop your skills. In many areas of life (such as money, parenting, marriage, leadership, public speaking, even health and excercise) there are coaches available who can guide you to:

• Discover and develop your passions
• Build a clear vision for the future
• Write your personal mission statement
• Learn how to relate to co-workers
• Learn how to manage people
• Learn how to navigate change
• Build your communication skills
• Appraise your performance
• Break out of a rut
• Learn to think about problems in a different way
• Take action in areas that need improvement
• Free yourself of a destructive self-image
• Improve communications in a marriage or relationship
• Become more confident in yourself
• Take more responsibility
• Take more (or less)! risks
• Grow in your faith

If you have had a growth experience with a coach or mentor, tell us about it in the Comments! If you are interested in getting some coaching (particularly about Productivity practices), see the services page and drop me a line.

Or just send me an e-mail. And to totally free Productivity information, and share your experiences with others, join the Productivity Mastermind conference call on Thursdays at 4:00pm Eastern.

Today’s guest post is from Mike St. Pierre of The Daily Saint

We often think of prevention as solely related to health.  What if your productivity had regular doses of prevention? GTD often reminds us to pursue contentment because contexts are known and lists are kept.  When I know what I have scheduled to do for tomorrow, I’m a bit more free today to do what needs to be done, today. I’m thinking of simple things like:

• Scheduling family and friends’ birthdays into Outlook or Google Calendar
• Charging your cell phone before its battery runs down
• Clearing off your desk before you leave for the day
• Responding to email before it gets lost in the shuffle of a bloated in-box
• Touching a piece of mail once rather than marching it around your office in search of a home
• Filing a little at a time

Imagine what things would be like if we practiced preventative productivity instead of reactive work…