I waste a lot of time clicking the back button on a lot of blogs that consist mainly of recycled information apparently gleaned from self-help books. These blogs often have a zillion comments telling the author how brilliant they are and how much everyone agrees with the platitudes they offer and how much they love their writing. Now, saying that opens me up to scrutiny in such a way that I might be labeled a cynical critical hater of blogs that see more action than mine. Just to show you that’s only true 99% of the time, I’ve put together this short list of three blogs that I get excited about every time a new post comes across my RSS reader. To be fair to a lot of other blogs, I got tired of cropping and rotating screenshots at whimsical angles before I exhausted the entire list of blogs I do like and appreciate. Perhaps I’ll put together a series of posts gushing about other people. Perhaps not.
Once you realize that 2 of the 3 on this list are from Philly, you may wonder if the underlying motive is to incite an east coast / west coast rivalry in the lifestyle design blogging community. Was I that transparent? Don’t get all technical and say, “But Andrew… what about the fact that the east coast / west coast analogy breaks down when multiple continents are added into the mix?” I don’t know the ins and outs of rivalry ethics. Write a fremium eBook about it and I’ll get back to you.
- The blogs on this list are here because they meet all of the following Criteria:
- Their authors are characters who write frankly and with a clear voice
- Their content always entertains and/or informs
- They
always agree with memake me think - They inspire me to step up my game
Muse Life
(David Walsh) – “Muse creation, personal outsourcing, ultramobility and the new rich lifestyle.”
MuseLife.com
“Muselife focuses on providing resources for creating streams of passive income to support a more liberated lifestyle.”
If you want to take the muse concept to the next level, read as much of David’s stuff as possible. He’s so focused and to the point, the writer of the next blog on the list seems to have a mild fear of him. While I’ve yet to develop a fear of David, I did experience a mild bit of anxiety when he didn’t post anything for the 55 days between 08.29.09 and 10.23.09. I mean… Not like I was paying attention or anything.
- Here’s some of David’s content you should check out immediately:
- Lifestyle design needs an intervention
- His ridiculously valuable outsourcing eBook Source Control
- Video post featuring (the also recommended) @robgranholm and @shosko talking about outsourcing your new business pipeline among other things.
Live Uncomfortably
(Derek Johanson) – “Self-Improvement, Lifestyle Design, Travel”
LiveUncomfortably.com
“This is my blog and “live uncomfortably” is my motto. These simple words are what I now base my life and everyday decisions around.”
Did Derek include this blog in his My Favorite Blogs (At The Moment) list? Sure. Did that influence my decision to include him in this list? Not even a little. Derek’s content is such a refreshing break from the norm that I’m hard pressed to figure out what to recommend.
Edit: I meant to include that in the first version, but got distracted by Photoshop. The entire reason I decided to write this post when I did was because of something directly related to Derek’s blog. I haven’t posted on my Adventure Travel Blog for about six weeks. One huge reason for that… I’ve since realized that I hate when people shift from writing posts with useful information to just writing about where they are. That always comes across as clinical and yawn inducing. It’s helpful for people traveling to that place, but not much else. Derek’s posts about places are on a completely different experiential level.
- Try these for starters:
- My Life Is Threatened In Colombia (2 of 2)
- Biking The Pacific Coast Route (Video Journal)
The Middle Finger Project
(Ashley Ambirge) – “Rejecting the Status Quo & Rebelling Against Mediocrity”
TheMiddleFingerProject.org
“In essence, The Middle Finger Project is about flipping a cordial bird to the shoulds.”
Um… Ashey’s blog has been online for less than two weeks and she has more stellar posts than most blogs that have been online for two years. Sure, some of her writing is a direct look into her Freudian obession with me, but is that really so hard to understand? She’ll probably have five more posts up before I finish writing this, so I’ll hurry…
Get moving people… You’ve got some reading to do. Oh hey… before you go, link me up to some of your faves below.
Andrew Caldwell
9 months ago
Ash at number three? Pfft… In my next blog post I'm going to write a sordid tail about me on your yacht. Nah that'd be too weird… Middle Finger Project makes a lot of the other self help touchy feely 10 ways to be awesome blogs out there look dismal.
Andrew Caldwell
9 months ago
I also enjoy http://www.livecollarfree.com
Andrew MacPherson
9 months ago
Agreed. James is cooler than sliced bread.
Clay
9 months ago
I have been a lurking reader of your blog for a little bit now. In fact, I have erased and rewritten this exact sentence about sixteen times now because all my other attempts came across sounding super creepy and lustful towards you. That's what your writing does to me, if that clears anything up.While every other post you've put up has made me cry out in joy over (finally!) signs of personality and opinions in the “traveling and Lifestyle Design” blog world (I hate using the phrase Lifestyle Design), just the first two sentences alone in this post had me celebrating in the streets, hooting and hollering and firing guns in the air. I absolutely hate inexperienced bloggers writing about stuff they know nothing about because they read it on someone else's blog. I then get double-pissed when I read comments from other lame bloggers who stroke the authors' dong while, really, their only goal was placing a link in their comment back to their own boring, re-hashed junk blog, and really they don't care at all about the content. Ask the West Coast guy from your “favorite blogs” list up above – I've ranted to him about this, on average, twice a day for the last two months.I'll be honest, most of the blogs I subscribe to, I read for practical advice they give (and none are amateur “self-improvement” blogs, I swear). Yours is the only one that I read specifically because your opinions and perspective are interesting. I really normally hate blogs that take interesting views on common topics because, honestly, they're usually really boring, but you are (so far) the exception in my RSS reader.I'm done for now. I really don't post like this on every guy's blog, I swear. Long story short, I just wanted to let you know, “Cool post, bro!”
derekjohanson
9 months ago
Andrew – This sentence: “Derek’s content is such a refreshing break from the norm…” reminds me of a quote from Forgetting Sarah Marshall (which has become my favorite movie now after 30 views).Aldous Snow: It kind of reminded me of like a dark, gothic Neil Diamond.Peter: That is like, exactly what I'm going for. Like Clay said, I don't want a re-hashed blog. That's like exactly what I'm going for.
Andrew MacPherson
9 months ago
I've started typing a reply in three different sessions since 17 minutes after you posted it. I decided to give it a little time to set in because I'm pretty sure you took me from A1 to C1 in four paragraphs and I wasn't thinking clearly.Since I posted this, I've had more than one conversation about the sorts of posts/bloggers you and I love to hate. That damned advice about guest posts being the best way to get traffic amplifies the situation. The same person gets to post the same drivel on their own blog and soil a bunch of others. Thanks!Seriously, thanks for this comment. With the popularity of some of the blogs in question, it's nice to know I'm not judging too harshly.
Andrew MacPherson
9 months ago
I'm pretty sure I've limited my talk show viewing to only the episodes that have Russell Brand as the guest.I meant to put in a bit about one of the specific reasons I find your blog non-re-hashed originally. The missing paragraph has been added in the last few minutes.
@dvdwlsh
7 months ago
Andrew, god I'm so behind the game on thank-you's right now. Seriously, huge thanks for putting Muselife on here. I'll be working my ass off in 2010 to keep your anxiety to a minimum via cranking out more regular content. We need to do a video from your boat. Seriously. I'm game if you are.
Andrew MacPherson
7 months ago
Thanks! If there's one thing I don't need more of, it's anxiety. God knows the hours of drinking coffee in the sun can get stressful.
And… A video from the boat might be the best idea ever.