Premiere! The Tim Ferriss Experiment – Live Tweeting, Giveaways, Q&A, Behind-The-Scenes, and More

The big night has come: the premiere of The Tim Ferriss Experiment!

Starting now (3pm PT, 6pm ET) and ending around 8pm PT/11pm ET on December 1st, I’ll be doing everything possible to get #TFX to trend high on Twitter. If you’re seeing this the day after, it’s still important!

This is a new critical metric that TV show execs are using to determine success or failure. Traditional Nielsen rankings aren’t enough.

Want to see my attempts to deconstruct parkour, professional poker, guns, language learning, and much more? Please help me ensure this first episode does well!

See below for how you can best help…

FIRST, WHAT I’LL BE DOING

- Live Twitter Q&A from 4:30pm PT (7:30pm ET) to at least 6pm PT (9pm ET). Ask me anything, but you must include #TFX.
- Giveaways! I’ll be giving away super cool stuff, including:

HOW YOU CAN HELP:

If you’re up for it (and it’d mean the world to me), here are the things you can do to help. This TV show has been years in the making…

If you have cable, tune in to “The Tim Ferriss Experiment” on HLN at 5pm PT (8pm ET). If you can’t make it today, please DVR it and watch in the next few days. It counts.If you don’t have cable, please watch the show online starting at exactly 5pm PT (8pm ET). YouTube is here, and iTunes is here.  I’ll offer play-by-play commentary and live Twitter Q&A on what you’re seeing.In any case, please participate in the live Twitter Q&A and giveaways! Use #TFX as much as possible. Original tweets are worth more than retweets of other people.Do whatever you can to get people to use #TFX on Twitter between now and midnight!  Rally the troops, your friends, your mailing lists, your Facebook friends, your imaginary friends… Offer giveaways of your own using #TFX, reuse your most popular tweets using #TFX, etc.In short, as Gary Oldman in The Professional would say:

IMAGES OF QUOTES & ANIMATED GIFS

Special thanks to Brendan Gahan, who helped organized the below materials.

Sharing any of the below helps ensure I can film more episodes for y’all. Thank you in advance! Much more content coming (about Jony Ive, actually) soon. Here goes…

If you feel so inclined, below are some images with quotes from the show as well as a few fun animated gifs for you to easily share. Please note, if you download the images and upload any of them your Twitter account directly, it will take up a bit more real estate in the newsfeed (and lead to more exposure for the show). Have fun and enjoy.

IMAGES

One of the best ways to learn something fast is to set stakes #TFX (IMAGE )
Innoculate yourself against making mistakes when you’re afraid #TFX (IMAGE 1) (IMAGE 2)
What other impossibles do I have in my life, that I should really question? #TFX (IMAGE 1) (IMAGE 2) (IMAGE 3)
D.I.S.S. Deconstruction, Selection, Sequencing & Stakes #TFX (IMAGE 1)
What’s up now David Lee Roth? #TFX (IMAGE 1)
M.E.D. The Minimum Effective Dose to unlock this song #TFX (IMAGE 1)

GIFS

Swewart showing me the ‘annoying things guitarists do’ (GIF)
That annoying thing guitarists really do, do #TFX (GIF)
The pressure. The pressure. (GIF)
The 80/20 rule (GIF)
Stewart drumming like he lives in The Matrix #TFX (GIF)

QUOTES TO TWEET

I’ve pulled some of my all time favorite quotes, as well as some memorable lines from the show. You can simply click to tweet.

Some of my all time favorites:

“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” – George Bernard Shaw #TFX (Click To Tweet)
“You have enemies? Good. That means you’ve stood up for something, sometime in your life.”#TFX – Winston Churchill (Click To Tweet)
“A life spent making mistakes is not only more honorable, but more useful than a life spent doing nothing.” #TFX – George Bernard Shaw (Click To Tweet)
“Worrying is like praying for what you don’t want.” #TFX via Aileen Norton Swift (Click To Tweet)
“A goal is not always meant to be reached. It often serves simply as something to aim at.” #TFX – Bruce Lee (Click To Tweet)
What other impossibles do I have in my life, that I should really question? #TFX (Click To Tweet)

Memorable lines from the show:

What other impossibles do I have in my life, that I should really question? #TFX (Click To Tweet)
What’s up now David Lee Roth #TFX (Click To Tweet)
I need to figure out the minimum effective dose to learning this song, the smallest piece I can focus on to pull this off #TFX (Click To Tweet)
One of the best ways to learn something fast is to set stakes. #TFX (Click To Tweet)
Innoculate yourself against making mistakes when you’re afraid #TFX (Click To Tweet)

Thank you in advance for your support. It’s what keeps me going.

Posted on December 1st, 2013

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The 12 Days of Giveaways: Day 8 – AgileBits

Well, we have reached the last week of our 12 Days of Giveaways. It’s been an exciting 7 days of some of the best productivity apps, services, and products that help you get things done, and today we are going to offer you one of the the best apps to keep your passwords and information secure from AgileBits.

But, before we do that we want to announce the winners of the David Allen Company’s three GTD Notetaker Wallets. Here are the three winning comments. The first is from Carl T. Holscher:

“The iPhone can be great for many things but I’ve never liked it for quick note taking. I love the feel of paper and the smooth ink as it glides across the page.

My wallet is 10 years old and falling apart and this will fill both voids, proper note-taking on the go and a lovely wallet I can be proud to own (and my wife will stop making fun of!)”

The next is quick and to the point from our friend Ammon:

“The addition of a ubiquitous capture tool would mean that 2012 will finally be the year I stop procrastinating and start “Getting Things Done”!”

And then this comment from our Facebook fan, Tim Stueve:

“I’ve been using my smartphone to capture things, but it would be more convenient to use the wallet/notepad, which I’ve been eying for some time. Goodbye battery failure/uncertainty, hello old reliable pen/paper!”

Hopefully your new notetaker wallets will help all of you capture things anywhere you are in 2012. Congratulations!

Try to guess that password!

AgileBits, the creator of the much loved password manager, 1Password and Knox, a leading solution for securing data, is today’s partner for the 12 Days of Giveaways. I have been using 1Password ever since I got my first Mac and like many of the other tools that we have given away, 1Password is an app that I can’t live without.

Most web users have more than one online account, whether it be for email, banking, social networks, forums, etc. But, the reality is that most people keep the same password for all their logons. This is a bad idea (hopefully as a savvy Lifehack.org reader we don’t need to tell you why!), but keeping a bunch of unique, secure passwords can be sort of a pain, especially when you have many online accounts.

Enter 1Password. 1Password is a secure password manager that allows you to create and store unique passwords that are protected by one master password. 1Password also integrates with your browser to allow for one click sign-on to any website that requires authentication. Another cool feature is that you can store credit card and bank account information securely. Also, if you have 1Password for your iOS device you can securely sync your password file with Dropbox.

Today, AgileBits is offering 100% off a single order up to $50 from their online store for one lucky Lifehack.org reader. That means you can pick yourself up a copy of 1Password (for Mac or Windows), or you can even pick up Knox if you are so inclined.

In order to enter to the giveaway, you need to leave a comment below or on our Facebook fan page that answers the following:

“What are the first 3 online accounts you would secure with 1Password and why?”

Leaving a comment on both our Facebook fan page and here at Lifehack.org will get you 2 entries, so but you need to give us two items that you like the most – no copying and pasting!

Employees of AgileBits and of Stepcase (including current independent contractors of both) are not eligible for this contest. The winning entry will be judged by the Stepcase Lifehack editing team and the winner will be notified on the platform in which their winning entry was placed (either on the Lifehack.org Facebook wall or by email through our commenting system here on the website). For those entering the contest with a comment on our site, in order to be considered eligible, you MUST leave a contact email when leaving a comment (it’s the only way we’ll know how to contact you). Entries must be submitted by 10 am Eastern the following weekday and winners will be chosen by 12 pm Eastern time on the same day. The winners will be announced the same day on Lifehack.org, and will be notified beforehand.

Good luck!

Chris is a developer, writer, tech enthusiast, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State Behrend. Chris is also interested in personal productivity, creativity and how to use technology to get things done. Check out his writing at devburner.net or follow him on Twitter.

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The 12 Days of Giveaways: Day 7 – The David Allen Company

Today is another day of Lifehack’s 12 Days of Giveaways where we feature some of the best productivity services, apps, and products that you can get your hands on. We really appreciate all of the entries so far this week and last, and after today’s awesome prizes from the David Allen Company we only have one week left. Don’t worry though; today there are three chances to win!

Before we get to what we and David Allen Company are giving away, let’s first announce and congratulate the winner of The Womack Company prize pack. Andrea Aresca, had this awesome comment here at Lifehack.org:

“I will be more INTENTIONAL in defining what I want to achieve in every “account” of my life.
I will be more SPECIFIC in describing the outcome of each one of my projects.
I will make the habit of FOCUSING a bit extra time daily on 1 very important thing I’ve chosen the day before.”

We at Lifehack hope that The Womack Company products are going to help you out in the new year, Andrea. Congratulations!

I’m very excited about today’s giveaway because I am a devout user of it and have been for about a year now. And, since we are in the spirit of giving, it feels great to share the awesomeness and ubiquitousness (it’s a word now!) of the David Allen Notetaker Wallet with 3 Lifehack readers.

First, The David Allen Company is a, “global training and consulting company, widely considered the leading authority in the fields of organizational and personal productivity,” as if you didn’t know. But, really, The David Allen Company and the GTD system (something that we are quite fond of here at Lifehack.org) are almost synonymous.

If you are a GTD follower in any way and have listened to Mr. David Allen wax about GTD outside of his books, then you have surely heard of his infamous Notetaker Wallet. The “evening module” or “UCT” (ubiquitous capture tool), as David Allen has aptly called the notetaker wallet, is a sturdy accessory with an awesome little paper pad and a “wicked cool” expandable pen. If you are a knowledge worker, or just someone that wants to get the next great idea, thing to pick up from the store, or current project’s next action out of your mind and into your system so you can concentrate on the work at hand anywhere you are, then you seriously need this tool.

Also, these wallets are super high quality. My Ballistics style wallet is the strongest wallet I have ever owned.

So, what are we giving away?

That’s right. The David Allen Company isn’t messing around and you won’t be either when you turn into a ubiquitous capturing machine with your new GTD Notetaker Wallet in 2012.

In order to enter to win one of the three GTD Notetaker Wallets, you need to leave a comment below or on our Facebook fan page that answers the following:

“How will the addition of a ubiquitous capture tool enhance your productivity this coming year?”

Leaving a comment on both our Facebook fan page and here at Lifehack.org will get you 2 entries, so but you need to give us two items that you like the most – no copying and pasting!

Employees of The David Allen Company and of Stepcase (including current independent contractors of both) are not eligible for this contest. The winning entries will be judged by the Stepcase Lifehack editing team and winners will be notified on the platform in which their winning entry was placed (either on the Lifehack.org Facebook wall or by email through our commenting system here on the website). For those entering the contest with a comment on our site, in order to be considered eligible, you MUST leave a contact email when leaving a comment (it’s the only way we’ll know how to contact you). Entries must be submitted by 10 am Eastern the following weekday (Monday 12/19/2011)  and winners will be chosen by 12 pm Eastern time on the same day. The winners will be announced the same day on Lifehack.org, and will be notified beforehand. The David Allen Company will ship you your Notetaker Wallet flat rate (even Internationally). The item will be marked as a “gift” and the winner will have to pay an taxes that are required by their country.

Good luck!

Chris is a developer, writer, tech enthusiast, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State Behrend. Chris is also interested in personal productivity, creativity and how to use technology to get things done. Check out his writing at devburner.net or follow him on Twitter.

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The 12 Days of Giveaways: Day 5 – TextExpander

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The 12 Days of Giveaways: Day 6 – The Womack Company

We’re at the halfway mark of Lifehack’s 12 Days of Giveaways holiday promotion and it’s been a great success so far. We’ve received plenty of entries with some great comments for each — it’s too bad we can only choose a limited amount of winners.

That said, there are still giveaways coming each weekday until the 23rd of December. There’s still lots of chances to take home something to help boost your productivity for the coming year, and we’re going to keep that going today with a giveaway from The Womack Company.

But before we get to that…here are the winning entries from yesterday’s giveaway.

Our questions was, “What text expansion or automation from TextExpander will save you the most time and why?”, and the two winning comments were submitted by Jasedit and Stef Gonzaga, who wrote (respectively):

“I have to write a daily status update for work, and it’d make my life far easier to be able to shortcut half the boilerplate. Plus I can imagine it making Markdown far easier to work with. Here’s to hoping!”

“Textexpander will save me time from inserting my byline for blog posts in HTML format, content for product descriptions, and shipping and billing info when shopping online. I sure hope I get a copy!”

Congratulations to both winners! Now…what’s up for grabs today, you ask?

Jason Womack and The Womack Company have a simple mission in mind:

“Improving your productivity, one day at a time, through implementing best-practices of psychology, sociology and technology.”

That’s it. Pretty simple, right? Not entirely…it takes a lot of expertise and the ability to inspire to see a mission like that through. The Womack Company has that in spades. The company has been around for nearly five years — not to mention that Jason Womack has worked with the likes of David Allen (among others) during many more years of study and service beyond that. The Womack Company focusses on workplace performance, individual productivity, talent development and continual improvement — and they deliver the goods to help those who work with them raise their games.

Now, The Womack Company is giving one Lifehack reader a chance to raise their game as well.

Today’s giveaway includes one copy of the following:

In order to enter to win this prize pack, you need to leave a comment below or on our Facebook fan page that answers the following:

“How do you plan to make your best even better for the coming year?”

Leaving a comment on both our Facebook fan page and here at Lifehack.org will get you 2 entries, so but you need to give us two items that you like the most – no copying and pasting!

Employees of The Womack Company and of Stepcase (including current independent contractors of both) are not eligible for this contest. The winning entry will be judged by the Stepcase Lifehack editing team and winners will be notified on the platform in which their winning entry was placed (either on the Lifehack.org Facebook wall or by email through our commenting system here the website). For those entering contest with a comment on our site, in order to be considered eligible, you MUST leave a contact email when leaving a comment (it’s the only way we’ll know how to contact you). Entries must be submitted by 10 am Eastern the following weekday and winners will be chosen by 12 pm Eastern time on the same day. The winner will be announced the same day on Lifehack.org, and will be notified beforehand.

Good luck!

(Photo credit: Three Colorful Arrow Signs via Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can follow him on Twitter, listen to him regularly on his podcast, ProductiVardy, and read more from him at MikeVardy.com and at Vardy.me.

View the original article here

The 12 Days of Giveaways: Day 10 – Evernote

Evernote T-Shirt Design

We only have a couple of more days left in our 12 Days of Giveaways where we have been giving away some of the best productivity apps, services, and products that the web has to offer. We are quickly approaching the end of our giveaway and today we have one of the best offerings to date from our friends at Evernote. But, we first need to congratulate the three winners of Patrick Rhone’s “Keeping it Straight” books.

First, aaron_z in the comments from yesterday’s giveaway talked about keeping college and life straight. He’s getting the ebook version of Keeping It Straight. Here’s an excerpt:

“Walking is like meditation for me. A morning walk will allow me to clear my head and focus on what I am going to do *today* and go to college with a smile on my face. :)”

Mario Kroll commented on Facebook about how he wants to clean the cruft out of his life. He’s getting the print version:

“I’m going to try and keep straight what is most important in my life, my work and my interpersonal relationships and focus on those, while passing on or reducing the many things that add very little value to those aspects or even take away from them.”

And then Erin Feldman commented on Facebook about responsibility. She’s taking home the signed copy of Keeping It Straight!

“… Another item is to stop apologizing when I shouldn’t. I need to learn to balance my own sense of responsibility with the realization that I’m not always to blame.”

Congratulations to our three winners! We hope you can gain some insight that helps you simplify your life and productivity in 2012.

I have been an on-again-off-again user of Evernote for years now and in the past few months I have added it back to my list of daily productivity tools (with some recommendation from Mr. Mike Vardy).

To be absolutely frank, Evernote is the best digital notetaking and information management application I have used to date. What makes Evernote so darn good is that I can use it on my Mac, my PC at work, my iPhone, or even my Android device. I can even use it with my Livescribe Pen. Talk about ubiquitous capture.

Evernote allows users to take notes (rich text too!), send and keep pictures, tag pretty much everything, create notebooks where you can combine notes, and much, much more. Also, Evernote has been picking up its game lately with the addition of the new Evernote Food (for tracking your food choices in Evernote) and Evernote Hello (for keeping track of all the faces of the pretty people you meet). These two apps show that Evernote is trying to place itself as the “one” app that you need to keep track of everything.

But, instead of me telling you about the awesomeness that is Evernote, we are going to be giving away some prizes that do that much better. Today we are giving away one lucky Lifehack reader

A 1 year subscription to Evernote PremiumA stylish Evernote t-shirt (Editor’s Note: If the winner is from outside the continental US, the shirt will not be part of the package due to shipping restrictions. Rather than limit the whole giveaway to this area because of this, we decided to make it global with this exception. Thanks for your understanding.)And the be-all-to-end-all getting started guide for Evernote, “Evernote Essentials” by the infamous Brett Kelly.

With this prize pack you will be set to use Evernote to become and stay more productive in 2012.

In order to enter to the giveaway, you need to leave a comment below or on our Facebook fan page that answers the following:

“How will you use Evernote in 2012 to stay more organized and become more productive?”

Leaving a comment on both our Facebook fan page and here at Lifehack.org will get you 2 entries, so but you need to give us two items that you like the most – no copying and pasting!

Employees of Stepcase and Evernote (including current independent contractors of both) are not eligible for this contest. The winning entry will be judged by the Stepcase Lifehack editing team and the winner will be notified on the platform in which their winning entry was placed (either on the Lifehack.org Facebook wall or by email through our commenting system here on the website). For those entering the contest with a comment on our site, in order to be considered eligible, you MUST leave a contact email when leaving a comment (it’s the only way we’ll know how to contact you). Entries must be submitted by 10 am Eastern the following weekday and winners will be chosen by 12 pm Eastern time on the same day. The winners will be announced the same day on Lifehack.org, and will be notified beforehand.

Good luck!

Chris is a developer, writer, tech enthusiast, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State Behrend. Chris is also interested in personal productivity, creativity and how to use technology to get things done. Check out his writing at devburner.net or follow him on Twitter.

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The 12 Days of Giveaways: Day 9 – Keeping It Straight

Now is the time of year where things can get pretty hectic — and likely already are. Today’s offering in Lifehack’s 12 Days of Giveaways is one that can serve to slow you down when you’re going to need it the most. It’s a great book by Patrick Rhone (Minimal Mac, the Enough podcast) called Keeping It Straight: You, Me & Everything Else, and it’s one of the best books I’ve read in a long time.

But before we get to that, let’s find out who won yesterday’s giveaway.

Our 8th giveaway was courtesy of AgileBits, and one lucky Lifehack reader had the chance to win 100% off a single order up to $50 from their online store. Since 1Password is the company’s most popular product, we asked the following question:

“What are the first 3 online accounts you would secure with 1Password and why?”

And the winning entry was left by goeasgles21, who was really specific when they said:

“1. iTunes – to finally thwart my teenaged daughter/hacker who likes to go on shopping sprees; 2. Amazon, to which I send a goodly portion of my income every year; and 3. My bank, so that what remains of my income stays where I put it.”

Definitely smart uses for 1Password. Congratulations!

Today, Patrick Rhone has offered different versions of Keeping it Straight to three lucky Lifehack.org readers. What is the book all about? I’ll let the book’s website describe it, as it does it best:

Keeping It Straight is Patrick Rhone’s very personal meditation on his own life and experiences. His clear insights identify the jumble and distractions of life today and offer simple and useful advice on how to discover and focus on what really matters. This collection of short essays is filled with clear, direct, and useful observations on productivity, life, and living.

Here’s what’s up for grabs, courtesy of the book’s author, Patrick Rhone:
1 ebook edition
1 paperback edition
1 signed hardcover edition

If you need to get some perspective into what you’re doing, how you’re doing it and — most importantly — why you’re doing it, then you absolutely must pick up Keeping It Straight. It is truly a holistic reading experience. I can’t wait to read his next book, Enough, comes out.

In order to enter to the giveaway, you need to leave a comment below or on our Facebook fan page that answers the following:

“What is one thing you are going “keep straight” in your life in the coming year?”

Leaving a comment on both our Facebook fan page and here at Lifehack.org will get you 2 entries, so but you need to give us two items that you like the most – no copying and pasting!

Employees of Stepcase (including current independent contractors of both) are not eligible for this contest. The winning entry will be judged by the Stepcase Lifehack editing team and the winner will be notified on the platform in which their winning entry was placed (either on the Lifehack.org Facebook wall or by email through our commenting system here on the website). For those entering the contest with a comment on our site, in order to be considered eligible, you MUST leave a contact email when leaving a comment (it’s the only way we’ll know how to contact you). Entries must be submitted by 10 am Eastern the following weekday and winners will be chosen by 12 pm Eastern time on the same day. The winners will be announced the same day on Lifehack.org, and will be notified beforehand.

Good luck!

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can follow him on Twitter, listen to him regularly on his podcast, ProductiVardy, and read more from him at MikeVardy.com and at Vardy.me.

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The 12 Days of Giveaways: Day 11 – Helvetindex Cards

As we head into the final days of our 12 Days of Giveaways promo, we’ve got some cool analog tools to offer. Today we bring you the excellent design and craftsmanship of Helvetindex Cards, which will not only help 5 lucky Lifehack readers get things done — but will give them some quality looking material to do it with.

But before we get to that, let’s take care of announcing the winner of yesterday’s 12 Days of Giveaways winner. We had a ton of responses to this one, which was an Evernote prize pack and a copy of the must-have companion book to Evernote, Brett Kelly’s Evernote Essentials.

The question we asked was:

“How will you use Evernote in 2012 to stay more organized and become more productive?”

And the winning comment was left by Anne Geissman Cartwright, who said:

“My life is about to go topsyturvy–my husband and I are launching a complete remodel of our house. But the rest of my life will continue on: freelancing as a book editor; taking classes at the local college (I just finished up with some graphic design and Emergency Medical Technician training), working in Search & Rescue. I need to stay on top of my schedule, my finances, various sorts of information. The mere idea of having everything I need for my Search & Rescue and EMT work always available in one handy place makes me quiver with delight. But to have everything else at hand as well, and organized–oh, bliss! I’d love to make Evernote a regular, can’t-do-without-it part of my life.”

Congratulations, Anne — I hope you get as much out of Evernote as I have. I’m an avid user; it’s a mainstay on all of my computing devices. I’m sure it will help you give your productivity a boost — and with all you’ve got on the go, it sounds like a boost will come in handy in 2012!

Now…on to today’s giveaway!

No matter how you slice it, paper is still a big part of a lot people’s productivity systems. There’s no compatibility issues, no software upgrades needed and it’s both portable and disposable. I’ve been using index cards as part of a Hipster PDA capture tool for years, and the cards I used were as cheap as they came. Oddly enough — or perhaps not — I treated the tasks on the cards as poorly as I treated the cards. Silly, perhaps…but it’s how it went. So I stopped using them and went to a different method of paper capture. I started using higher quality goods and stock, and soon everything I captured on them had more quality attached to them as well. But there were still no index cards that matched the quality of my other paper products, so I kept my binder clips in a drawer, unused.

Then Aaron Mahnke created Helvetindex Cards.

These cards are made of high quality stock and are a pleasure to use. There are spaces at the top of the card to mark with dates, topics or whatever your system dictates. Helvetindex Cards don’t force you into a system, they let you bring them into yours. I’m still working through my pack of 100 cards and my binder clips now have something to hold on to again. My Hipster PDA is back where it belongs: with me at all times…along with the Helvetindex Cards that I use to make it.

In order to enter to win one of the five bundles of Helvetindex Cards, you need to leave a comment below or on our Facebook fan page that answers the following:

“When do you find yourself reaching for paper over digital tools — and why?”

Leaving a comment on both our Facebook fan page and here at Lifehack.org will get you 2 entries, so but you need to give us two items that you like the most – no copying and pasting!

Employees of Helvetindex Cards and of Stepcase (including current independent contractors of both) are not eligible for this contest. The prize can only be shipped to addresses within the continental United States and Canada, so keep that in mind when entering. The winning entry will be judged by the Stepcase Lifehack editing team and winners will be notified on the platform in which their winning entry was placed (either on the Lifehack.org Facebook wall or by email through our commenting system here the website). For those entering contest with a comment on our site, in order to be considered eligible, you MUST leave a contact email when leaving a comment (it’s the only way we’ll know how to contact you). Entries must be submitted by 10 am Eastern the following weekday and winners will be chosen by 12 pm Eastern time on the same day. The winner will be announced the same day on Lifehack.org, and will be notified beforehand.

Good luck!

(Photo courtesy of Helvetindex Cards)

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can follow him on Twitter, listen to him regularly on his podcast, ProductiVardy, and read more from him at MikeVardy.com and at Vardy.me.

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The 12 Days of Giveaways: Day 2 – Toodledo for iOS

Today is the second day of The 12 Days of Giveaways at Lifehack.org where we are giving our readers some of the best productivity swag around. Mostly because we like you, but also because we love the products that we are giving away. And today is no different with one of the most ubiquitous and best to-do list apps around: Toodledo for iOS.

But first, yesterday’s Knock Knock “Hack Your Way to a Fresh 2012” winner is…

Lifehack commenter amyrosebrown with this excellent comment,

“A guy once hit on me at a bar using the High Five Nifty Notes, so I personally like those.”

Nice. And maybe now she can return the favor in 2012. Congrats amyrosebrown!

Toodledo for iPhone

Anywho, Toodledo has been around for a while now and has proven to be one of the best web apps for keeping track of your tasks and projects with its insane amount of features and ways to use it. If you haven’t seen Toodledo or used it yet and you are reading Lifehack, then you may be reading from under a rock, as we have featured it on many top GTD and productivity app lists.

Another thing to mention, especially for those out there that haven’t tried Toodledo since the middle of this year (2011), is that Toodledo has had a complete design overhaul. Now, not only is Toodledo a functional and awesome to use application, it is even better to look at on the web.

For today’s giveaway, Toodledo has given us 10  promo codes to provide 10 lucky Lifehack.org readers with Toodledo for iOS. The app is Universal and will work on both iPad and iPhone/iPod touch.

I’ve personally used Toodledo on-and-off for almost 3 years now and I still think that it is one of the best apps for getting things done. Here are just some of Toodledo’s features:

Use tags, folders, contexts, status, priority, due date, start date, etc. to organize and prioritize your tasks.You can use Toodledo pretty much anywhere be it web, iPhone, iPad, mobile web, and even some 3rd party apps for Mac and Windows support Toodledo sync. You can check out their 3rd-party list here.Toodledo also offers collaboration with shared projectsImport and export functions. This is important for those “data liberation type of zealot types” (like me).Ability to have subtasks (pro-account only)Excellent iOS app that gives you all the filtering and list “shucking-and-jiving” you could ever want. And hey, you have a chance to win this one!

But really, the best way to check out what Toodledo has to offer is to check them out for yourself.

In order to enter to win this Toodledo for iOS, leave a comment below or on our Facebook fan page telling us the following:

“How will you use Toodledo for iOS in the coming year to be more productive?”

Leaving a comment on both our Facebook fan page and here at Lifehack.org will get you 2 entries. Try not to copy and paste though, the better the comment, the better your chances of winning a Toodle for iOS promo code!

Employees of Toodledo and of Stepcase (including current independent contractors of both) are not eligible for this contest. These promo codes can only be used on iOS (so keep that in mind when entering). The winning 10 entries will be judged by the Stepcase Lifehack editing team and winners will be notified on the platform in which their winning entry was placed (either on the Lifehack.org Facebook wall or by email through our commenting system here at Lifehack.org). Please note that by submitting an entry, Toodledo and/or Stepcase may use your comments for promotional purposes, although neither entity will use your name without permission. Entries must be submitted by 10 am Eastern the following day and winners will be chosen by 12 pm Eastern time on the same day. The winner will be announced on Monday at Lifehack.org, and will be notified beforehand.

Good luck!

Chris is a developer, writer, tech enthusiast, and husband. He holds a degree in MIS and CMPSC from Penn State Behrend. Chris is also interested in personal productivity, creativity and how to use technology to get things done. Check out his writing at devburner.net or follow him on Twitter.

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The 12 Days of Giveaways: Day 1 – Knock Knock

On the first day of giveaways...

Today marks the beginning of our 12 Days of Giveaways promo, and up to bat first is a company that makes productivity really, really fun: Knock Knock.

If you haven’t heard of Knock Knock, they are a company that has a fantastic philosophy when it comes to putting together stuff to help you get things done. Whether you’re looking for general productivity items or paper products that cater to a specific theme, Knock Knock breathes life into what can be a very dry area of your life.

If laughter is considered to be the best medicine, then Knock Knock is the prescription you need to improve your overall productivity.

For the first day of our holiday promotion, Knock Knock has generously offered the chance for one lucky Lifehack.org reader to win a “Hack Your Way to a Fresh 2012” gift basket.

So, what’s in the basket? The included items (as described by the folks Knock Knock themselves) are:

Pro/Con Journal - The Pro/Con Journal represents decision-making technology at its finest! This efficient journal will help you make the right choice, and track the outcome of future (and better informed!) decisions.Idea Log - The Idea Life Log taps into today’s list-making, self-improvement zeitgeist by providing a clear, organized format in which to catalogue genius in all its forms. Containing a tracking grid for inspiration, brainstorming, and projects, it provides both breadth and depth in a compact, portable format.Pep Talks & Picker-Uppers for All Occasions - Everyone needs a little encouragement from time to time. Unfortunately, as our near and dear look to us for reassurance and wisdom, we often find ourselves at a loss for words. Pep Talks & Picker-Uppers for All Occasions provides verbatim lines to spread well-timed cheer and reality checks. With this pocket-sized prompter, your feel-good— or at least brilliant — advice is sure to give everyone, including yourself, a whole new outlook.High-Five Nifty Note - What could be more satisfying than congratulating someone with a classic high five? Unfortunately, this tried-and-true greeting is depressingly short-lived. Maximize avowals of approval with our High Five Nifty Note—guaranteed to outlast even the most overzealous verbal praise.Great Job On Sticky Note - Positive vibes for friends & coworkers alike. With these ultra-witty yet oh-so-useful Cubicle Notes, office communication has finally caught up with the sticky revolution. Express yourself the fill-in-the-blank way, then make it stick.Cook This Pad - For people to try/share new recipes. Cooking may be an art, but just like painting a masterpiece, creativity isn’t always enough. Making a tasty meal not only requires passion—it downright depends on planning. Forgo trial and error altogether and ensure every dish is a chef d’oeuvre! Knock Knock's "Hack Your Way to a Fresh 2012" gift basket

In order to enter to win this Knock Knock prize pack, leave a comment below or on our Facebook fan page telling us the following:

“What item in the “Hack Your Way to a Fresh 2012” gift basket appeals to you the most…and why?”

Leaving a comment on both our Facebook fan page and here at Lifehack.org will get you 2 entries, so but you need to give us two items that you like the most – no copying and pasting!

Employees of Knock Knock and of Stepcase (including current independent contractors of both) are not eligible for this contest. The prize can only be shipped to addresses within the continental United States (in other words, Alaska and Hawaii don’t count), so keep that in mind when entering. The winning entry will be judged by the Stepcase Lifehack editing team and winners will be notified on the platform in which their winning entry was placed (either on the Lifehack.org Facebook wall or by email through our commenting system here at Lifehack.org). Please note that by submitting an entry, Knock Knock and/or Stepcase may use your comments for promotional purposes, although neither entity will use your name without permission. Entries must be submitted by 10 am Eastern the following weekday and winners will be chosen by 12 pm Eastern time on the same day. The winner will be announced the same day on Lifehack.org, and will be notified beforehand.

Good luck!

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can follow him on Twitter, listen to him regularly on his podcast, ProductiVardy, and read more from him at MikeVardy.com and at Vardy.me.

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Celebrate the Season with Stepcase Lifehack’s 12 Days of Giveaways Promotion

'Tis the season for giving...

It’s the time of year where gifts are given and received, and the Stepcase Lifehack team wants to be one of those doing the giving.

Well, starting on Thursday December 8th at 1 pm Eastern Time, we’ll be offering the first giveaway in our holiday promotion, Stepcase Lifehack’s 12 Days of Giveaways! This is our way of thanking our readers for spending part of your day with us throughout the year. We hope we’ve helped you achieve improved productivity by visiting Lifehack.org, and this promotion is offering more in the way of resources that will help you level up your life even more.

So how does the 12 Days of Giveaways promotion work?

We’ve partnered up with some great software developers, merchants and authors to bring you holiday gifts for you that you can either start using right away or set aside for next year when you start to really rev up your personal productivity.

Some of the folks that we’ve partnered up for Stepcase Lifehack’s 12 Days of Giveaways promotion include:

…and that’s just the tip of the iceberg!

There will be multiple chances to win a prize on those days, so be sure to check out what you need to do enter on each day.

Each of the giveaways has a theme to it, and all of them serve to help you “hack life” not only faster going forward – but better as well. Speed just isn’t enough; thoughtfulness and mindfulness are huge factors in making a real lifehack in today’s world.

‘Tis the season for giving, so be sure to come back for the next twelve weekdays to enter Stepcase Lifehack’s 12 Days of Giveaways promotion. It’s our way of making your holidays that much happier – and hopefully much more productive.

(Photo credit: Christmas Decoration by Shutterstock)

Mike Vardy is a writer, speaker, and "productivityist". You can follow him on Twitter, listen to him regularly on his podcast, ProductiVardy, and read more from him at MikeVardy.com and at Vardy.me.

View the original article here