Happy New Year everyone! It’s the first week of 2011 and many of us are getting ready to kick off the brand new year with a big bang. As we start off 2011 with our new resolutions and goals, let us now look back at the best posts at Lifehack in the past year.

In this review post, I have gathered 100 of the best LifeHack articles in 2010. These articles have been selected based on your votes and how much YOU have talked about them in social media (Facebook and Twitter). I have categorized these 100 articles into 11 main categories of Overall Personal Growth, Maximizing Productivity & GTD, Lifestyle & Habits, Inspiration & Motivation, Goal Achievement & Success, Emotional Mastery, People Skills & Relationships, Communications & Writing, Business & Career, Creativity & Inspiration, Family and Miscellaneous.

Do not attempt to read this whole post at once! Instead, bookmark this mega list post and come back time and again to read the articles relevant to you at that point in time. I’ve ranked the posts within each category in order of popularity, with the most popular post being #1. I’ve also included the (1) author name and (2) total number of retweets and Facebook likes/shares beside the article, so you can gauge how well-received the article was among the LifeHack readers.

Let me start off with the top 10 most popular life hack posts out of the 100s of posts published in 2010. Each of them is a gem in itself. Be sure to check each of them out!

Following which, I’ll present the 100 top articles presented in the 11 catetgories. Enjoy! And remember to share this to others via the retweet and Facebook buttons above! :)

Top 10 Most Popular Posts in 2010:

42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself (by Celestine Chua, 2176)
Kitchen Hack: One-Minute Bread (by Seth Simonds, 2126)
The Not-Do List: 9 Things You Need To Stop Doing (by Celestine Chua, 940)
Newbie Fashion Tips for Grown-Up Men (by Dustin Wax, 924)
7 Things you should stop doing at work (by Seth Simonds, 845)
11 Practical Ways To Stop Procrastination (by Celestine Chua, 823)
63 Ways to Build Self-Confidence (by Steve Errey, 754)
13 Strategies To Jumpstart Your Productivity (by Celestine Chua, 700)
Twitter Hack: 5 Ways To Up Your Visible IQ (by Seth Simonds, 505)
20 Quick Tips For Better Time Management (by Celestine Chua, 497)

Overall Personal Growth

42 Practical Ways To Improve Yourself (by Celestine Chua, 2176)
Why Being A Perfectionist May Not Be So Perfect (by Celestine Chua, 367)
The Quickest Way to Create a New Mindset (by Craig Harper, 263)
The Law of Attraction is a Dangerous Delusion (by Paul Sloane, 249)
7 Ways to Make Life Changing Decisions (by Hulbert Lee, 236)
5 Steps To Move Out Of Stagnancy In Life (by Celestine Chua, 150)
What Do You Need To Let Go Of? (by Craig Harper, 132)
How To Save Thousands on Personal Development (by Craig Harper, 114)
Can You Transform Without Getting Uncomfortable? (by Craig Harper, 99)
Do Your Beliefs Empower You or Limit You? (by Craig Harper, 97)
9 Ways To Tell If You Are A Self-Help Junkie (And What To Do About It) (by Celestine Chua, 90)

Maximizing Productivity and GTD

The Not-Do List: 9 Things You Need To Stop Doing (by Celestine Chua, 940)
11 Practical Ways To Stop Procrastination (by Celestine Chua, 823)
13 Strategies To Jumpstart Your Productivity (by Celestine Chua, 700)
Twitter Hack: 5 Ways To Up Your Visible IQ (by Seth Simonds, 505)
20 Quick Tips For Better Time Management (by Celestine Chua, 497)
How To Tweet in Just 5 Minutes a Week (by Seth Simonds, 229)
A New Productivity for the Smartphone Era (by Francis Wade, 222)
5 Types of Emails You Should be Automatically Filtering (by Sid Sivara, 170)
12 Useful Ways To Get Out Of Ruts (by Celestine Chua, 164)
Are You Becoming a “Productive” Moron? (by Francis Wade, 163)
Staying Organized: 8 Tips for Daily Sanity (by Debbie Bowie, 160)
Productivity Pr0n: 5 Unusually Useful Notepads (by Dustin Wax, 151)
How I’m Getting a Smartphone, While Avoiding Crazy Habits (by Francis Wade, 144)
7 Ways To Stay Grounded by Staying Organized (by Debbie Bowie, 127)
Fight Bad Cellphone Habits For Better Time Management (by Francis Wade, 124)
Are You a Productive Person? Look at the Number of People Waiting (by Francis Wade, 121)

Lifestyle and Habits

7 Caffeine-Free Ways to Increase Alertness (by Seth Simonds, 369)
6 Steps To Remove TV From Your Life (by Celestine Chua, 357)
5 Tips For Becoming An Early Riser (by Seth Simonds, 290)
Do You Have A Morning Ritual? (by Seth Simonds, 279)
7 Effective Ways To De-Junk Your Life (by Seth Simonds, 254)
6 Proven Ways To Make New Habits Stick(by Celestine Chua, 242)
9 Tips For Better Sleep (by Seth Simonds, 213)
Sleep Hack: A Simple Strategy For Better Rest In Less Time (by Seth Simonds, 187)

Inspiration & Motivation

5 Simple ways to live a life you love (by Seth Simonds, 692)
20 Inspirational Quotes To Brighten Your Day (by Celestine Chua, 573)
7 Ways To Demonstrate True Strength (by Seth Simonds, 407)
8 Life Lessons You Should Learn Today (by Mike Brown, 275)
What Advice Would You Give To Your 18 Year Old Self? (by Seth Simonds, 157)

Goal Achievement & Success

11 Reasons Why You Aren’t Getting Results (by Celestine Chua, 368)
11 Simple Ways To Avoid Burnout (by Seth Simonds, 348)
Brilliant Thinkers Relish Ambiguity (by Paul Sloane, 340)
Top 10 Resolutions To Set For The New Year (by Celestine Chua, 304)
How To Be In The Right Place At The Right Time More Often (by Seth Simonds, 239)
How To Start and Run a Mastermind Group (by Sid Sivara, 208)
10 Tips to Create a High Performance Environment (by Debbie Bowie, 161)
Change Your Focus For Better Results (by Craig Harper, 155)
How To Walk On Water (by Seth Simonds, 130)
How to Do What You’ve Always Wanted (by Steve Errey, 130)
Education Should be More than Academic Basics (by Craig Harper, 115)

Emotional Mastery

63 Ways to Build Self-Confidence (by Steve Errey, 754)
7 Simple Ways To Be Happier (by Seth Simonds, 509)
7 Quick ways to turn a bad day around (by Seth Simonds, 449)
11 Reasons to be Cheerful (by Paul Sloane, 430)
5 Simple Ways To Spread Positivity (by Seth Simonds, 272)
How Much Stuff Do You Need To Feel Happy? (by Seth Simonds, 254)
5 Ways to Stop Second Guessing Yourself (by Steve Errey, 169)
5 Ways to Brighten A Cloudy Day (by Seth Simonds, 110)

People Skills & Relationships

9 Helpful Tips To Deal With Negative People (by Celestine, 760)
9 Ways To Manage People Who Bother You (by Celestine Chua, 554)
5 Simple Ways To Be A Better Listener (by Seth Simonds, 357)
Top 10 Ways to Lead More Effectively with Humor (by Mike Brown, 236)
5 Steps To Conquer Any Networking Event (by Seth Simonds, 183)
5 Keys To A Better Love Life (by Seth Simonds, 178)
5 Keys to Building Networks Over Time (by Alexandra Levit, 122)

Communications & Writing

11 Paradoxes of Being a Better Public Speaker (by Mike Brown, 326)
9 Expert Tips For Better Writing (by Seth Simonds, 240)
10 Ways Blogging Can Improve Your Life (by Annabel Candy, 232)
9 Ways To Handle Interruptions Like A Pro (by Seth Simonds, 211)
8 Qualities of Powerful Writing (by Dustin Wax, 182)
31 Proven Ways To Get More Comments On Your Blog (by Seth Simonds, 167)
Develop Your Greatest Skill – Language (by Paul Sloane, 106)
How to Tell a Funny Joke (by Hulbert Lee, 96)

Business & Career

7 Things you should stop doing at work (by Seth Simonds, 845)
8 Ways To Bring Your Creative Passions to Work (by Mike Brown, 238)
9 Strategies to Make Selling Your Ideas More Successful (by Mike Brown, 192)
How to Be Successful When You Can’t Plan Ahead (by Mike Brown, 190)
Wise Money – 5 Tips From Billionaire Investor Warren Buffett (by Seth Simonds, 171)
5 Things You Should Know About Personal Finance (by Ibrahim Husain, 137)
8 Ways to Recharge a Tired Old Job (by Mike Brown, 121)
How to Shine in a Job Interview (by Steve Errey, 110)
It’s Time to Manage Your Online Personal Brand (by Dan Schawbel, 107)

Creativity & Inspiration

9 Great Ways to Be Exceptionally Boring (by Paul Sloane, 387)
How to Feel Inspired When You’ve Lost Motivation (by Hulbert Lee, 308)
12 Tips for Being Good Feng Shui (by Debbie Bowie, 256)
Stop Trying To Be Creative (by Seth Simonds, 182)
How to Kill a Radical Idea (by Paul Sloane, 132)

Family

The Secret to Helping Your Child Excel in School and in Life (by Erin Kurt, 183)
11 Way to Instill a Love of Reading in Your Child (by Erin Kurt, 182)
Parenting: 6 Myths You Should Know About (by Erin Kurt, 165)
8 Reasons Why Children Misbehave (With Solutions!) (by Erin Kurt, 158)
How “Fun” Can Be Your Best Discipline Technique(by Erin Kurt, 119)
4 Ways to Spend Time with Your Kids When You Have No Time (by Erin Kurt, 115)

Miscellaneous

Kitchen Hack: One-Minute Bread (by Seth Simonds, 2126)
Newbie Fashion Tips for Grown-Up Men (by Dustin Wax, 924)
11 Sinfully Easy Sangria Recipes (by Seth Simonds, 257)
Kitchen Hack: 7-Minute Chocolate Covered Strawberries (by Sarah Joy Albrecht, 112)
4 Tips for Getting Started and Self-Publishing a Book (by Debbie Bowie, 100)

Last but not least, here’s a special thank you to Leon Ho (founder of Lifehack.org) and all the writers at Lifehack who have contributed the articles above and more. LifeHack would not be where it is today without all of you. Thank you so much everyone! :)

Image ©

I'm Celes and I write at The
Personal Excellence Blog on how to achieve our highest potential
and live our best life. Get my free ebook 101
Things To Do Before You Die by joining my free
newsletter (unsubscribe whenever you want). Get my RSS feed and add me on Twitter @celestinechua.

While millions head to the gym for the next two weeks, there’s cause to consider some things to avoid in the coming year. Here are 11 things you might do well to avoid in the coming year and beyond!

1. Withholding forgiveness
If the person who wronged you really cares about you they’ll have beaten themselves up sufficiently before asking for your forgiveness. Don’t risk the health of your relationship by withholding forgiveness. That’s a vengeance that tastes good on the way down and breaks your heart on the way back up.

2. Using your job as an excuse
Far too often the phrase, “I’m doing this for my family!” is given as an excuse for neglect. If you are actually indispensable your employer will, perhaps begrudgingly, give you the time you need to get your relationship with family and friends back on track. You’ll be glad you did and so will your employer!

3. Eating for all the wrong reasons
Don’t eat because you’re tired, bored, thirsty, or anxious this year! You might consider those four different things to avoid but they all lead to the reason you probably resolved to hit the gym more often this year. Consider the notion of eating with purpose and see where it takes you in 2011.

4. Assuming that you always know the entire story
You don’t. Ask more questions. Listen. Ask more questions. Give yourself an out and don’t back others into corners when you give your final answer.

5. Self-loathing
Most aren’t aware of just how much they beat themselves up over things. Note this: You set an example for others as to how you should be treated and appreciated. Respect and take care of yourself and most will follow your example. This is one of those wildly simple yet agonizingly difficult things to accomplish. Try to get a solid start this year!

6. Blaming anything on gender
For example: I was in an argument recently (imagine that!) and my partner in the argument forcefully uttered the remark, “typical male!” in response to something I said that was admittedly unkind (imagine that!). This created a predicament in which my subsequent apology would be not just for my comment but also for my gender. I can’t change my gender (really, not an option) so I’d be apologizing for being myself. Crazy, right? She doesn’t do that because she’s a woman. She does it because she’s an imperfect human. He doesn’t do that because he’s a man. He does it because he’s an imperfect human. Things are simpler when we approach conflict with as few stereotypes as possible.

Such an approach will change things. I promise you.

7. Needless exhaustion
Try to be better about skipping the late-night TV or web browsing when you have work early in the morning. You’ll be more useful at work, more fun as a friend, and it’ll be easier to hit the gym or whatever your new year’s resolution was!

8. Neglecting your mind
You’ve talked about taking a class, joining a book club, working on more challenging projects, and taking time to read more or even start a blog. You’re officially done waiting. Congratulations!

9. Putting off your dreams
Look at your big dreams and identify what makes them so appealing. Is it the free time, the nice things, the great relationships, or being in the best shape of your life? Identify something you can do this year that will allow you to enjoy some of that dream without all the extras. Save up some cash and splurge on that amazing purchase or take some unpaid time off. Treasure the time you have and don’t wait until you’re loaded to start savoring the world around you.

10. Not asking for help
You’d be stunned if you knew just how many people are ready and willing to help you if only you’d clearly define your need and directly ask for help. Don’t ask for help like the friend who begs people to help him move but has nothing put in boxes when they show up. Ask for help like the friend who has done everything in his power to achieve and needs only that final push from a buddy to reach success. We want to be a part of your success!

11. Taking so many moments for granted
Time is limited my friend. Seize the moment. Try to freeze it and own it, squeeze it and hold it. (Eminem) We’ve not been promised another year. Only this moment right before our eyes, between our hands, and in the breaths of those we love.

Here’s to an amazing 2011, friends! Stay blessed!

Image: Today is a good day
Greetings, loved ones! I'm the founding editor of Real Zest and spend far too much time asking questions on Twitter. Say hello and stay blessed!