If you're new here, Welcome! To learn more about what this site is all about click here [link].

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.

Subscribe by E-mail for updates on: Productivity methods, Lifestyle innovation, and the collaborative design of the next-generation personal knowledge management system.

Click Here for an overview of the content. Please take a look at our sponsors. (Hosting isn't free...)
Please contact me via e-mail: stephen @ hdbizblog dot com

Whakate has a Life Design E-Book available as a free download for a limited time:

Getting Started with Life Design E-Book

Are you fed up with the pep-talks and supposedly life-changing quick-fixes that never seem to last more than 48 hours? Whakate presents its new e-book that will show you how to get more productive and organized with a compilation of life design methods that actually work in the long term.

If you want to get started with designing your life, this book is for you!

* Personality
* Assertiveness
* Values & Goals
* Habits
* Time Management
* Gadgets & Tools
* GTD & DIT

I will read this e-book over the weekend, and report back with a review. I recommend that you go over and download it now, as I do not know how long it will be free.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/7u2qta. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

At long last the e-book is ready! I have compiled all of the posts and worksheets from one of my most popular series into one download.

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People E-book

If you are looking to get more information on how to implement the 7 Habits of Highly Effective People in a Getting Things Done-style system you are in the right place. Over the course of the next few pages you will encounter lessons in personal change that can transform your life.

Because this is not exactly a simple concept to implement, I have created a set of 7 lessons that will guide you through the stages of implementation over the next 7 weeks. This should give you a chance to focus on each new habit in your life for one full week before implementing the next one. Some of the lessons are supplemented by a follow-up worksheet that I have created to help you start implementing the new habit.

Many of you have been requesting this, and I am pleased to provide the totally free information here:
For those of you who may not have read Stephen Covey’s landmark book, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, here is a brief synopsis:

The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People

The chapters are dedicated to each of the habits, which are represented by the following imperatives:

1.Be Proactive. Here, Covey emphasizes the original sense of the term “reactive” as coined by Victor Frankl. You can either be proactive or reactive when it comes to how you respond to certain things. When you are reactive, you blame other people and circumstances for obstacles or problems. To be proactive means to take responsibility for everything in life. Initiative and taking action will then follow.

2.Begin with the End In Mind. This chapter is about setting long-term goals based on “true north” principles. Covey recommends formulating a “personal vision statement” to document one’s perception of one’s own vision in life.

3.Put First Things First. Here, Covey describes a framework for prioritizing work that is aimed at short-term goals, at the expense of tasks that appear not to be urgent, but are in fact very important. Delegation is presented as an important part of time management. Successful delegation, according to Covey, focuses on results and benchmarks that are to be agreed upon in advance, rather than prescribed as detailed work plans.

4.Think Win/Win describes an attitude whereby mutually beneficial solutions are sought that satisfy the needs of oneself, or, in the case of a conflict, both parties involved. One of the most valuable benefits of this strategy is that all parties are involved in the mutual agreement. In this type of scenario, all the parties will be committed to the plan of action.

5.Seek First to Understand, Then to be Understood. Covey warns that giving out advice before having empathetically understood a person and their situation will likely result in rejection of that advice. Thoroughly reading out your own autobiography will decrease the chance of establishing a working communication.

6.Synergize describes a way of working in teams. Apply effective problem solving and collaborative decision making. Appreciate value differences. Build on divergent strengths. Leverage creative collaboration. Embrace and leverage innovation.

7.Sharpen the Saw focuses on balanced self-satisfaction; regain what Covey calls “production capability” by engaging in carefully selected recreational activities.

In each lesson we will look into how to apply each of the Habits (or parts of them) in a meaningful ways, to synchronize with your own, personal productivity practice. I will ask you to take on three simple activities each week that will help you administer and adjust to your new habit.

Share your thoughts

I am very interested in how this e-book may be able to help you, especially in the new year as so many folks are working hard on their resolutions. Please leave a comment below.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/7wgj24. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

My friend Marina Martin [ Sufficient Thrust ] has a terrific resource for setting New Year’s Resolutions that you should take a look at. I used this little booklet last year and it made an amazing difference in my effectiveness, in fact I accomplished all but two of my goals!

In my work here as a Productivity evangelist I have tried, experimented with, and discarded a ton of applications, methods, and practices for setting goals and getting them done. This one works. Martin says:

I’m the very definition of a Type-A personality and have worked as an efficiency consultant for years, so making lists and plans is second nature to me. Something I’ve come to believe strongly is that Type-A personalities perform best when we have specific action steps, as opposed to paragraphs of theory. The blogosphere is certainly full of posts about resolutions, but I couldn’t find anything that satisfied my craving for step-by-step success — so I made it myself! I use this exact same process myself whenever I have a goal to achieve, with great results, and I’m excited that others have benefited from it too.

Since I am such a laid-back, relaxed person this type of system appealed to me. How does this resolution-defining system work?

The Perfect New Year’s Resolution

The #1 reason why people don’t achieve their resolutions is because their resolutions weren’t really resolutions at all.

It’s no secret around here that I’m big on goal-setting. However, New Year’s Resolutions are a very specific kind of goal.

A New Year’s Resolution has to meet the following criteria:

* It must be achievable by 11:59pm on December 31 of that calendar year.
* It must be measurable AND specific. In other words, a complete stranger should easily be able to objectively determine whether or not you’ve achieved it.
* It should positively impact your life, if only indirectly.
* A process of events should be required in order to achieve it. “Visit Kenya” doesn’t count if you normally travel and it’s within your financial means and comfort zone. It would count, however, if you had to come up with some way of financing the trip, or if you moved there for a month, or if you were having an existential crisis about hippos and were going there to confront your fears.

Martin recommends creating 4-6 specific, actionable goals for the new year, and provides a resource for breaking those goals down into action steps. For example:

A lousy Resolution: “Lose weight”
A better one: “Lose 20lbs”
A really good example: “Weigh 134lbs naked on the morning of December 31″
And simply awesome: “Run three miles without stopping wearing XXS Aerie sweatpants”

The awesome version of this resolution not only incorporates two common goals — losing weight and exercising more — into one, but it also focuses on one of the real reasons we want to lose weight: to fit into a smaller clothing size. It doesn’t matter what number the scale shows if your pants won’t fit!

Read more about it and download the Ultimate Guide to New Year’s Resolutions here. And let’s all give Marina a big hug and thank you for sharing this resource with us!

For more help in keeping up your motivation and getting some accountability, you may want to get involved with Leo Babauta’s new 30 Day Challenge forum.

If you need even more help, or just want to discuss how to make 2009 your best year yet, feel free to drop me a line: Contact Stephen.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/8syo2y. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen

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.

If you found this post useful, please share it with your friends on Twitter using the tinylink http://tinyurl.com/957gqy. Thanks, I appreciate it! Feel free to comment below, I enjoy discussing these ideas. ~@Stephen