We’ve all had grand notions of crossing all the “t”s and dotting all the “i”s in our life, and self improvement blogs can be a valuable asset in that pursuit.
When we look at all the areas where we fail, be it money, health, habits, etc., dreaming of the day we can juggle life, eat well, exercise, smile, save the whales and pet the dolphins… the road there can feel a thousand miles long. But having strong resources and support can make the quest considerably easier.
There are three main ways you can make self help blogs your ally on this journey: information, community, and motivation.
Information
Information is the most obvious one. The age of the internet has exploded information sharing, and personal development blogs have not fallen behind. The problem is that it’s easy to get overwhelmed with information, especially when visiting some self improvement blogs for the first time.
Two suggestions to combat information overload:
First, go to your interests. It doesn’t make sense to subject yourself to information that doesn’t inspire you. If you’re interested in what is being said, you’ll internalize it better. Do a quick search (most sites have a search function – look in the top right or in the menu area) and see what the blog has to offer for your particular interest.
Some examples are: “how to stay on track, how to stay focused, my best year, planning for a new year“.
Second, join the personal development blog email list. Bloggers, in general, want you to join their email newsletter, so they will sweeten the deal with goodies. Sometimes it’s a self improvement PDF with self improvement tips or tricks, other times it’s some of their content in a distilled form. I’ve even gotten some ebooks out of it, win, win, win. Being on the email list will also keep you abreast regarding any new content from the author.
Community
It can be argued that having a strong community behind you when trying to accomplish anything is imperative, if not essential.
When you’re in the middle of your personal development journey things can begin to feel bleak very quickly and the desire to scrap your plans and go back to comfort can be overwhelming. This is the point where a word of encouragement from a friend or just the knowledge that people are going to be asking you how things are going can keep you from giving up, and inspire you to try one more time.
Self help blogs are the ideal place to look for this kind of community since they draw similar types of people trying to achieve similar goals. So how do you accomplish said community? Although there may be some interaction in the comment section, your best bet may be the Facebook page or group associated with the site. Sometimes groups are only accessible with a membership charge, that can actually be a good thing since the quality of the community is going to be better and you won’t have the sideshow stuff that can be prevalent in comment sections.
Motivation
Motivation works in conjunction with the previous two points: Information helps us find out how to get from point A to point B, and community provides people to walk with us and make the journey easier.
Motivation is then the “oomph” that keeps us moving forward and pushing us to not just do the bare minimum, but to go above and beyond. That’s why knowing where the goal is, is so important. Otherwise, it can feel like you’re just on a hamster wheel – tiring out but not getting anywhere.
Best Self Improvement Blogs to Support Your Personal Development
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One of the best well-rounded or full-service self-improvement blogs out there is Michael Hyatt’s site. Beyond the articles, there’s a podcast, monthly subscription box, coaching, courses, and more.
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Another self-help blog worth checking out is by Tim Ferris, who tests out all sorts of self-improvement hacks, from physical to mental and everything in between. He was one of the people we were first intrigued by years ago when we discovered his book, The 4-Hour Work Week.
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Zen Habits (about finding simplicity and mindfulness in the daily chaos of our lives… clearing the clutter so we can focus on what’s important, and creating something amazing) is authored by (fellow minimalist) Leo Babauta, who incidentally doesn’t copyright his stuff. (hello, Epoch way of the future?)
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I first ran across Marie Foreleo many years ago when she was just starting to get into video, if I remember right. Her brand has totally blossomed and is focused on “helping you become the person you most want to be“.
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If you’re interested in getting an idea of how much more is possible with unconventional methods of self-improvement, I recommend checking out Scott H. Young’s blog. The MIT Challenge (learning the 4-year computer science curriculum in 1 year without taking any classes), and the Year without English (learning Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, and Korean in 3 months each) are particularly remarkable. I’m impressed with the Mandarin accent since I spent part of my teenage years in China and know how difficult Chinese is to learn initially. Scott does a very good job of documenting his projects.
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Eric Barker’s blog cuts right to the point with hard-hitting headlines and delivers well-backed info.
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The Live Your Legend site looks like a great place to connect with community and increase purpose.
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I would be remiss if I didn’t put a bit of a plug for our site here… Besides our personal takes on various topics on this blog, we also curate messages from many cutting-edge communicators in the Epoch Library.
There are certainly many more blogs worth checking out (we’d love your recommendations!), but these contain some real powerhouse content that’s sure to inspire and motivate.