Favorite non-NF self improvement website?

[timbarber142]

Mine is I Will Teach You To Be Rich (iwillteachyoutoberich.com)

I resonate with everything Ramit Sethi does, but he doesn't tickle my nerdy side enough.

 

How about you guys? Any recommendations?

[Oramac]

Definitely Art of Manliness.  Obviously it's got a pretty specific demographic (males), but it's a fantastic website for us to get our manly stuff from.  

[kaelvan]

StumbleUpon can really help (atleast for me).

 

http://zenhabits.net/

 

http://dailyzenlist.com/

 

http://goinswriter.com/

 

http://zenpencils.com/(sometimes a great quote can help)

 

http://lifehack.org/

 

http://www.missminimalist.com/

 

http://ted.com/

 

http://www.marcandangel.com/(few of these posts literally made me sit and cry over)

[Steppinon D'Arrows]

HabitRPG, definitely! So much fun!

[timbarber142]

Oramac, ArtOfManliness is such a fantastic resource. I couldn't agree more wholeheartedly!

 

 

kaelvan: what a list! ZenHabits is a classic. Lots of good choices here!

Lots of sites with Zen in the name... Haha.

ZenPencils... I love it when people bring this one up! My favorites:

http://zenpencils.com/comic/128-bill-watterson-a-cartoonists-advice/

http://zenpencils.com/comic/124-taylor-mali-what-teachers-make/

http://zenpencils.com/comic/161-shonda-rhimes-a-screenwriters-advice/

I've never heard of Marc and Angel - what can you tell me about it? Why do you like it?

 

And as for HabitRPG, I have heard SO MANY good things; what do you like most about it? Can you actually make yourself adhere to the rules and move forward? What's missing?

[kaelvan]

Oramac, ArtOfManliness is such a fantastic resource. I couldn't agree more wholeheartedly!

 

 

kaelvan: what a list! ZenHabits is a classic. Lots of good choices here!

Lots of sites with Zen in the name... Haha.

ZenPencils... I love it when people bring this one up! My favorites:

http://zenpencils.com/comic/128-bill-watterson-a-cartoonists-advice/

http://zenpencils.com/comic/124-taylor-mali-what-teachers-make/

http://zenpencils.com/comic/161-shonda-rhimes-a-screenwriters-advice/

I've never heard of Marc and Angel - what can you tell me about it? Why do you like it?

 

And as for HabitRPG, I have heard SO MANY good things; what do you like most about it? Can you actually make yourself adhere to the rules and move forward? What's missing?

Yeah it seems like the sites with zen in it tend to be good.

 

Marc and Angel's blog tends to focus on small changes to make your outlook on life more positive and getting the most out of your life. I still have what is left of my depression and I'm trying to change my mentality of life.

 

Few of the articles really hit home to me. Like this one

http://www.marcandangel.com/2012/04/02/10-signs-its-time-to-let-go/

I know it's obvious, but at the same time not

[metakiiro]

I don't spend much time improving myself, it seems. I'd love to say that's because I'm already awesome...but alas, that is likely not so.

 

I like lifehacking sites and visit several.

 

I also like Mark's Daily Apple, but don't visit often these days.

 

I like Brain Pickings for personal enrichment/thought porn.

 

YouAreListening.to is pretty weird, but I enjoy the ambient meditative qualities of it while writing or meditating.

 

My favorite self-improvement/thought porn is actually my Pocket account. I save all kinds of tidbits there and sometimes I surprise myself by finding timely nuggets of wisdom there.

[Becoming-Bane]

There are others?

[Jakkals]

James Clear

 

 

Barking up the wrong tree

 

Farnam Street

 

Jonathan Fields

[Oramac]

Another one I like that's not specifically self-improvement, but is quite interesting is http://willowhavenoutdoor.com/.  Basically it's a lot of camping and outdoorsy articles for "preppers", even though it's useful to pretty much anyone who ever goes outside.  

[Oramac]

"The problem with self-improvement is knowing when to quit." - David Lee Roth

 

Simple.  Never quit.  We can always become better people. 

[DrVornoff]

Simple.  Never quit.  We can always become better people. 

 

It could also be taken as a comment on the self-help industry.  Some good sites have been listed here, I don't dispute that.  I just approach the self-help industry with caution because 90% of the stuff published under "self-help" is just a knock-off of Dale Carnegie or Tony Robbins at best, a lot of unhelpful or even counter-productive woo at worst.  There's no cop on the beat regulating the self-help industry.  A lot of people have narrowed it down to creating an endorphin rush that gets you addicted to buying the books, DVDs and seminars these people are selling.

 

None of this is to take anything away from Nerd Fitness or Zen Habits or whathaveyou.  But there's a difference between practicing real self-improvement with good teachers and just being an info junkie.

[Oramac]

But there's a difference between practicing real self-improvement with good teachers and just being an info junkie.

 

True.  And you've actually pointed out the difference in your post: action.  If you (generic you) read self-help material simply to read it, but take no action on it, of course it's worthless.  But so is everything else not acted upon.  The real difference is made when you (generically) pick up self-help material and take action on it.  That is the difference.  

[timbarber142]

I agree with you both.

I would say that a great deal of self-help stuff is poorly researched nonsense. But some of it is incredible, and really ANYTHING is better than sitting around being dissatisfied or even feeling hopeless.

 

To go back to the art of manliness, from earlier this year:

http://www.artofmanliness.com/2014/05/19/10-overlooked-truths-about-taking-action/

[jfreaksho]

  But there's a difference between practicing real self-improvement with good teachers and just being an info junkie.

And by "info junkie" you mean "underpants gnome", right?   http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/04/05/underpants-gnomes/

 

Honestly, I shouldn't even be in this thread.  I spend a fair chunk of time here, and on Marksdailyapple, and on gymnasticbodies.com and on http://crazystrength.com/community/ now that the Stronglifts forum has shut down.  Art of Manliness is awesome, but I keep forgetting about it, which isn't the worst thing ever.

 

I spend too much time online and need to stop.  More websites to look at is not what I need.

[BlackTezca]

I love me some FitnessBlender; their workout videos are so varied and accessible and you can see their personality shine through the workouts (as well as their pain.  Kelli readily admits how much she looks forward to the cool down, and Daniel screws up his balance in a lot of the warm ups.  I guess I like seeing people suffer along with me  ).  I also really like their video logs and their advice on fitness, diet, and overall health.

 

Though Dr Nerdlove has a focus on 'Helping the Nerd get the Girl', I really like his articles on self-confidence, relationship maintenance, etc.   I may not be the primary audience, but I resonate with the articles and considering the importance of my relationship with my hubs, I really enjoy his articles on maintaining the relationship, showing love, etc.

[DrVornoff]

And by "info junkie" you mean "underpants gnome", right?   http://www.nerdfitness.com/blog/2012/04/05/underpants-gnomes/

 

Totally forgotten about that.  Good catch.  And yeah, that is pretty close to what I was getting at.  One real-estate-based self-help guru said that very few of the people who took his courses ever went into real estate.  They'd rather read and dream about it than do it.  Not that he minded, because they were still making him rich buying his products and seminars.  I actually worked with a business coach at one point who sadly embraced that idea.  He has multiple different ventures and revenue streams going, but only a couple of them that he puts any real thought into beyond how to sell them.  I'm working on a short book right now.  He said it should have taken me a weekend to finish, but after a weekend's worth of work I could not bring myself to publish that piece of shit.  So I've been re-doing it from the ground up the last three weeks.  I don't have to do a good job, but I'd prefer to.

[timbarber142]

It's like that zenpencils comic I posted earlier in the thread! (Here's the link so you don't have to scroll up.)

http://zenpencils.com/comic/161-shonda-rhimes-a-screenwriters-advice/

 

Dreaming, and doing, and then doing well are all separated equidistantly in importance - taking action is better than wishing you would, and learning how to get better at directing your efforts is better than just taking action indiscriminately.

 

Kudos to you on your commitment to quality, and helping people!