I’m a fan of Tim Ferriss and websites like lifehacker. In fact, my wife will tell you “he’ll do anything that Tim Ferriss tells him to.” I counter that it’s not true because Tim’s main flaw is a fairly selfish bent and basis for a lot of what and why he does things. Besides, to do everything he recommends is impossible, since you’d spend way too much time on it, and not adhere to the fundamental premise behind his book: simplify life (including income flow) so that you can enjoy life your way, not the way somebody else dictates. The same goes for lifehacker.

However, I feel that this underlying message resonates with those of us who are members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. We’ve been repeatedly told to simplify our lives and focus on the things that really matter. Thus for me, shortcuts, tips, tricks, and “lifehacks” that help me cut down on the garbage and focus on what’s most important, are a key part of becoming a better husband, father, ward member, home teacher, and the man Heavenly Father wants me to be.

I thought it would be great if somebody did a “Lifehacker for Mormons.” Part of the idea came from things like my information on how to pay your tithing online (which I posted as a page, instead of an article, because it didn’t seem to fit the purpose of this blog), or Travis’ great scripture study hack he called “spiritual cross-training” which helps keep daily study interesting and powerful. Since there are many very unique aspects of the way we live our lives, it would be great to have a place where people share their hacks for Mormon life.

I thought I’d search first to see if anyone else had done it, and found that Brett McKay (now the famous creator/chief editor of The Art of Manliness), had started a blogger blog called “Mormon Hacker” with exactly the same idea in mind. Several years ago, he faithfully posted an LDS lifehack each day for several months. At that point, all posting had stopped. I assume it was because of his focus on The Art of Manliness. I did some searching and was able to track him down (as well as find The Art of Manliness, which I think is an awesome site that promotes all the good things about being strong males and role-models). He kindly agreed to turn Mormon Hacker over to me.

For the next 3 months or so, I’m not going to do much with it, as I need to finish up some other projects first. However, to maintain the true spirit of lifehacking, I want lots of people to share articles and lifehacks when the time to re-launch comes. So please, if you’re interested in simplifying Mormon life, and would like to share with others, visit MormonLifeHacker.com to read more information on becoming part of the team. Then contact me so we’re ready to go with editors, articles, and more in about 3 months for the re-launch. Feel free to contact me as it says on Mormon Life Hacker, or through the comments on this post, or the contact page, here at Sacred Symbolic. You can also read through some of Brett’s original Mormon lifehacks to get a feel if you’re unfamiliar.

Please share this with friends and family, through facebook, email, twitter, etc., so that even if you’re not interested in becoming a contributor. That way those who are, will find out about it and can contact me to become part of the team.