Photography: Hipster PDA by karindalziel.

Lifehacks, the bread-and-butter content of sites such as Zen Habits, Lifehacker, 43Folders and Lifehack.org, are tips and tricks to help you be better, happier, faster, and more productive. These are things all of us want, so it’s no surprise that this kind of content has seen the above four sites explode in popularity over a relatively short period of time.

The question I want to answer here is: how can we bring a lifehacks mentality to our own content, and how can we make it relevant to our niche?

A quick search, with help from the Zen Habits Tumblr link-log, brought up some great examples of theory in practice. It’s not necessary that you read each article (though it may be helpful): the titles should get across what I’m trying to communicate.

• The Art of Living in Small Spaces
  Featured on a site about self-reliant living.
• Your DIY 4Ghz Dual-core Gaming Rig for $720
  Featured on a site about computer hardware.
• 10 Essential Email Skills For Any Freelancer
  Featured on a site about freelancing.

In essence: there are great lifehacks waiting to be written for every and any topic.

If you’re still not sure you have a handle on what qualifies as a lifehack, I suggest reading this short article from TIME magazine: “Hacking Toward Happiness“.

Why write lifehacks?

The most valuable content you can write has the potential to change the way people think or the way people act. Lifehacks have the potential to do both.

Lifehacks are content that is active rather than passive: they’re not simply about a specific topic, they help readers become better at it.

For the above reason, lifehacks also have the potential to be very popular with your readers.

Imagine you’re someone who’s passionate about basketball. You head to your favorite basketball site and read a tip suggesting ways to improve your ball-control. You put the tip into practice and find it permanently improves your game. You’d probably be very grateful. Readers will feel the same way when they read a great lifehack you’ve written.

Lifehack your niche

Lifehacks are simple ways to do something better. Think about how this could apply to your niche by starting with the following questions — the answers to which could all be potential lifehacks.

Do you know something now that you wish you knew then?

Example: A trick someone told you to avoid hand-cramping in written exams. Suitable for a site about student life, or studying.

Is there a simple thing you do which has made you more efficient in your niche?

Example: A great filing system you use to keep your loose sheet music organized. Suitable for any site about playing music.

Where/how do you do most of your own improvement?

Example: Many authors say their best writing tip is to carry a notebook with you everywhere, to jot down ideas and practice writing. Suitable for any site about writing.

Which tools or practices have made involvement in your niche more enjoyable or less frustrating?

Example: a library of CSS terms you refer to at least once a day when coding websites. Suitable for any site that covers CSS design.

Where do you find free stuff for your niche?

Example: while researching a new book by your favorite author you find that she’s made four chapters of the book available as a free .PDF file. Suitable for any site about the author or books in that genre.

How do you make something useful for your niche?

Example: you discover that a simple contraption made of cheap materials keeps you more organized than an expensive, heavy PDA. Suitable for any site about organization and productivity.

Where do you find inspiration?

Example: you discover a vast online gallery of drawings by accomplished illustrators. Suitable for any site about drawing or illustration.

Jot down your answers to each question, keeping the your website or blog’s niche and readers firmly in mind. The result should be a handful of lifehacks to get you started.

The more lifehacks you read in other topics the better you’ll get at thinking of and communicating them yourself.

If you write any lifehacks after reading this post feel free to link to them in the comments section. I look forward to reading what you come up with.

Further reading:

• Zen Habits Tumblr link-log: Leo Babauta’s lifehack bookmarks.
• 100 Lifehacker blogs: aside from the websites mentioned in this article these blogs should provide you with plenty of inspiration for your own lifehacks.