The Web's Best on Effectiveness: Blogs

Jul 28

Web’s Best on Effectiveness: Blogs

The Blogosphere on Effectiveness, in a Nutshell

This is part II of III of our research on available online publications, blogs and online discussions.

Blogs on personal effectiveness and productivity are some of the most viral on the internet. Bloggers who are passionate about the subject pick up on the latest trends in personal success and post their experiences with them. These posts often reach thousands of like-minded readers, many of whom start their own blog on the subject, adding their own unique perspective to the blogosphere.

The result is a massive resource of success principles, productivity systems, best practices, tips and guides on almost everything.

In our research to extract the web’s best on life design, Whakate will be sifting through hundreds (if not thousands) of blog posts to deliver the most important and interesting posts for the week. We hope that this digest will save you the time and effort you would otherwise need to search through the teeming blogs for valuable bits of information.

In this article, we will be discussing our research and core sources. Please feel free to let us know your thoughts on them and if we can do better by adding some of your favourite resources to this list. Your contributions will go far in shaping the direction of our research as we move forward in discovering the web’s best on life design. That is how important your feedback is to us.

A Note on Ranking the Blogs

At Whakate, we evaluate both the content and popularity of the blog (or, in the case of our weekly review, the blog post). In this article, we have ranked the blogs according to their traffic ranking (courtesy of Alexa.com). In further articles, we will assess the value of posts by referring to the Alexa.com traffic ranking and the reader reactions to the post.

(Author’s Note: Reader reactions may be quantified and qualified by reader comments posted on the blog, and the blog’s ranking on sites like Technorati and digg.)

A Note on Categorising the Blogs

We acknowledge that a blog’s content can cover a variety of topics. In fact, it is not uncommon for posts to deviate from the authors’ original themes (in guest posts, for example). Hence, the categories we are using only indicate the general tone of the blog, and should not be taken too rigidly.

Under “Personal Effectiveness,” we cover blogs that talk about successful living in all aspects, such as life management, time management and personal development.

Under “Personal Productivity,” we mean to talk about a microcosm of successful living, which includes productivity systems, “lifehacks,” tips, guides, and “how-tos” (personal productivity has been growing immensely in popularity in the recent years).

Under the “Productivity Gurus,” “Finance and Money Management” and “Career Effectiveness” categories, we grouped the blogs that specialised in producing content for those respective areas.

Please note that these categories are not fixed; in fact, we expect to see them evolve as we endeavour in our research. We hope that this grouping structure provides clarity, but also that it presents a simplified perspective to understanding the entire blogosphere regarding effectiveness and productivity.

Blogs on Personal Effectiveness

Blogs in this category cover a mix of topics in achievement, success, interpersonal relationships, work-life balance, spirituality, setting goals, and managing priorities. Bloggers usually adopt a particular theme and post their thoughts and experiences on implementing their ideas. Their readers contribute by giving their views on the posts. Blogs also feature reviews on books and productivity systems, as well as interviews with effectiveness experts.

Some blogs, like the popular “ZenHabits.Net,” have put an interesting spin on popular effectiveness systems, merging them with principles of minimalism and simplification. Steve Pavlina’s blog, a long-time favourite among personal development aficionados, gives insight on many aspects of successful living in terms of life-changing habits. He also adds a dose of new-age spirituality in some of his entries. The “Change This” blog publishes manifestos on society, written by some of today’s influential thinkers.

Worth mentioning is an emerging trend among effectiveness blogs that shows bloggers reacting to the recent “personal productivity” phenomenon (see “Productivity” category below). “The Growing Life,” “Precision Change,” and “Productive Flourishing” are blogs that focus on “anti-hacks for living” (The Growing Life, 2008). These writers encourage people to stop searching for the latest productivity fad (which they claim distracts people from the reality that they are overworked) and start living a balanced and fulfilling life.

We have also included notable figures in the field of effectiveness, such as Stephen R Covey, author of the best-selling book 7 Habits of Highly Effective People. His blog discusses his books and ideas on living out a successful existence.

Blogs on Personal Productivity

Blogs on lifehacks, tips, “how-tos” and guides have been prolific in recent years, thanks to the cult success of David Allen’s GTD system (see “Productivity Gurus and Their Productivity Systems” below). As a result, there is an entire internet subculture of productivity geeks who engineer efficient and interesting ways to do many of life’s mundane tasks. These tasks range from peeling tomatoes, to changing diapers, and even to organising your fridge.

While some of the productivity tips seem trivial, there are some immensely helpful tips and practices for getting through important tasks such as keeping up with e-mails, goal setting, overcoming procrastination, and task management.

Chief among these blogs is the popular productivity blog, Lifehacker. Lifehacker aggregates many of the new productivity tips across the internet and compiles them on their blog. They review software and workflows that boost productivity as well. The sum of their efforts is available in print, in a book called Upgrade Your Life. (The writers at Lifehacker have made their content available on their blog.)

Other blogs like “Email Overloaded,” “How to Wake Up Early,” “Hawk Wings” (productivity on Mac Operating Systems) and “Family Hack” take a single activity or group of activities and expound on the various best practices related to them.

Finance and Money Management

Many of the financial blogs have excellent guides and tips on how to optimise the management of dollars and cents in your life. While their focus remains on providing sound financial advice, your life-designing efforts would surely benefit from including their money management tips on debt elimination and developing good saving habits. We have also included a blog on legal issues, whose author occasionally posts advice which may be of interest to productivity fans.

Productivity Gurus and Their Productivity Systems: David Allen, Laura Stack, Timothy Ferriss, Mark Forster and Stephen Covey

These blogs deserve special mention because beyond simply discussing tips and best practices, they are based on the blogger’s productivity systems and workflows.

David Allen, author and creator of the Getting Things Done method (GTD), started something of a productivity phenomenon with his system. GTD, which promises “stress-free productivity,” has spawned hundreds of blogs all over the blogosphere. Outside of writing books, Allen blogs occasionally on “The Huffington Post.” He also endorses the authors of “Simply GTD” (Kelly Forrister) and “GTD Times” (various contributors) to expand on and build upon the GTD system. Together, these blogs form an authoritative resource for users using the GTD method.

Stephen Covey works with writers to produce content for his blog, usually written in an interview style. The blog, which started in November 2007, currently serves as a platform to delve deeper into the ideas covered in Covey’s books.

Mark Forster, author of the book Do It Tomorrow, writes on the many facets of modern urban life. His blog posts are mostly essays on productivity and living, though Forster also posts reviews on productivity tips and systems consonant with his philosophy.

Laura Stack and Tim Ferriss have written best-selling books on their productivity systems and ideas (Leave the Office Earlier and The 4-Hour Workweek, respectively). Their blogs, books and interviews have spun off lively and informative discussions in the blogosphere. On their blogs, Stack and Ferriss expand on key ideas from their systems and share stories about other people who have found success through the methods in their books.

(At the time of writing, 18,056 results were found on “Google Blog Search” with “Allen” and “Getting Things Done” as search key words. To make sense of these results, consider that “Covey with “7 Habits” returned with 11,731 results, “Ferriss” with “4 Hour Workweek” returned with 1,852 results, and “Stack” with “Productivity Pro” returned with 247 results. While these figures do not verify the actual popularity of the systems, it does give a sense of how many people are discussing these systems and how often.)

Career Effectiveness Blogs

Today’s careers can take up anywhere from 20 to over 60 hours per week (lifehacker.com). It is no wonder then that many productivity experts tackle career management before any other activity.

Career blogs give important insight on implementing productivity systems from the corporate office to the home office. Generally, these blogs give excellent tips on being more efficient and effective as a worker. However, not all these tips can be said to be universally true for all jobs, as most of them have a white-collar bias.

Many of the blogs featured in our list are written by life coaches. For example, Matthew Cornell is a coach who teaches office productivity and leadership. David Rock, who founded a global consulting and coaching firm (Results Coaching Systems) is also the author of the acclaimed book Quiet Leadership, and writes about the impact of applying his unique neurological approach to executive and life coaching.

In Conclusion

The lists of blogs in this research effort highlight some of the best the internet has to offer. We do not claim these lists to be comprehensive, though we believe they represent most of the effectiveness and efficiency blogs on the internet. If we have missed out on your favourite blogs on effectiveness and efficiency, feel free to share them with us. We look forward to hearing from you!

Links to Our Blog Resources

(Blogs are listed in descending order of traffic ranking.)

Productivity Gurus and Their Productivity Systems: David Allen, Tim Ferriss and Laura Stack

Tim Ferriss’s Blog
Simply GTD with Kelly
David Allen - Living on The Huffington Post
GTD Times
Get Everything Done (Mark Forster)
Stephen R. Covey
The Productivity Pro(R) Blog

Career Effectiveness Blogs

The Chief Happiness Officer
Web Worker Daily
Trizle - Rock Your Business
Slacker Manager
The Management-Issues Workplace Blog
davidmaister.com
The Personal MBA
Slow Leadership
Matt’s Idea Blog
Effective Collaboration
Flipping Heck!
The Home Office Organizer
Be Excellent®
Timeback Blog | TimeBack Management
CONDUIT
David Rock
Water Cooler Wisdom

Author: Adrian Koh

Whakate welcomes your views, please rate this article or leave a comment.

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10 Responses to “Web’s Best on Effectiveness: Blogs”

Katy Says:
July 30th, 2008 at 1:54 pm
A very comprehensive round up and an interesting read.

Also, thank-you for the link. I’m honoured to be included with the list of blogs that you have here!
Matthew Cornell Says:
July 30th, 2008 at 4:11 pm
Thanks for the link - good luck with your project!
Steve Olson Says:
July 30th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
Nice list,

Thanks for including me.
Andre Kibbe Says:
July 30th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
Not only is this a very comprehensive aggregation, but the commentary on each trend and angle on productivity and self-development is very astute. This is a great resource, and I’m grateful for the inclusion.
Brandie Says:
July 30th, 2008 at 8:02 pm
What a great list, and an honor to be included in such company. Thanks!
K Stone Says:
July 30th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Thank you for the compliment of including Life Learning Today in this list of great blogs, many of which I know and highly respect. I also look forward to discovering the ones which I’ve never seen before!
Mark Forster Says:
July 31st, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Great stuff. Thanks for including me. I know a lot of the other blogs already of course, but I’m going to enjoy investigating the ones which are new to me!
Kate Davis Says:
August 2nd, 2008 at 11:56 am
Thank you for including a link to my blog in such a comprehensive list.

Although I already subscribe to many of the other sites you have included, there are several I have not come across before so I expect my feedreader is about to get several new subscriptions!
@Stephen Productivity in Context Says:
August 6th, 2008 at 11:37 am
Thanks for the link, and good luck with your project. You may want to consider adding http://worklifecreativity.net - a new forum on creative and innovative ways of accomplishing your goals and tasks so you can get on with your life.
Dwayne Melancon Says:
August 20th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
Thank you very much for including me in this list - this project is very useful. There is so much good stuff out on the internet and pre-screened lists like this are great guidebooks.

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Web’s Best on Effectiveness: Blogs

The Blogosphere on Effectiveness, in a Nutshell

A Note on Ranking the Blogs

A Note on Categorising the Blogs

Blogs on Personal Effectiveness

Blogs on Personal Productivity

Finance and Money Management

Productivity Gurus and Their Productivity Systems: David Allen, Laura Stack, Timothy Ferriss, Mark Forster and Stephen Covey

Career Effectiveness Blogs

In Conclusion

Links to Our Blog Resources

Blogs on Effectiveness

Blogs on Personal Productivity

Finance and Money Management

Productivity Gurus and Their Productivity Systems: David Allen, Tim Ferriss and Laura Stack

Career Effectiveness Blogs

10 Responses to “Web’s Best on Effectiveness: Blogs”

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