I’ve read that the #1 cause of stress in general is living life outside of your values, and how else to recognize that stress than to first recognize your values?

At my job, The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People is required reading. Part of that process is to create a personal mission statement. The idea is that any decision, any life goal can be measured against this statement. It’s incredibly powerful and I highly recommend it.

The following is a recap of one of my favorite SXSW Interactive panels – “Balance is Bullshit” featuring Stephanie Klein (author of Straight Up & Dirty and Moose: A Memoir – who blogs on stephanieklein.com) and Jenn Lancaster (former dot com executive, author of Bitter is the New Black and Bright Lights, Big Ass – [...]

My first SXSW panel! Presenter is Josh Knowles – anscillate.com – here’s the recap: Game designers design for those “weirdly satisfying interactions” – found in classic arcade games, recalling random trivia, etc. Increase the activity, make it better for the user. How these translate to every day life – on and offline American Idol – [...]

My favorite new iPhone app – YounicornOriginally uploaded by QCait I don’t often pay for iPhone apps, but I have made a few exceptions.  I’ll pay for games after months spent with the demo  (see: Words with Friends)… or cheap, novel apps that make me laugh. Two of my favorite recent app purchases are both [...]

I have been reading all kinds of lists lately – lists on how to relieve stress over the holidays, list of things I didn’t know about my cats, lists of what gifts to buy for my favorite Geeks, even lists about lists. And don’t forget lists of things I’ve committed to do before 2012 – and the lists of blog posts I keep trying to write.

Well, here’s my list. Things that honest to goodness make my life easier. These are tools I’m using the crap out of this holiday season. I’m hoping at least one of these things will make your life easier too…