Yes, it’s April 1st, which means it’s April Fool’s Day. Sorry, but I don’t have an April fool for you, just some awesome articles that I’ve read lately have either inspired me, motivated me, taught me something new, or made me think. Enjoy!

I’m off to Toronto for a week of visiting friends and renewing my aquaintance with the city again. I desperately need this vacation away. I’ve been using Chris Guillebeau’s excellent Travel Hacking Cartel to rack up some frequent flyer miles so I’m happy that I didn’t have to pay for this flight. If you haven’t checked out the Travel Hacking Cartel, you really should – especially now that they’ve added lots of new deals and their community forum. I’m learning tons of travel tips.

Have Inspired Me:

Tired Of Thinking Like An Ugly Sister? Step Into Your Cinderella Slippers and Rock! from A Different Kind of Work

And:

Hell Yes You Should Quit Your Job from Corbett Barr

And:

Accepting False Beliefs from Seth Godin’s Blog

Have Taught Me Something New:

How to Complete Your eBook Masterpiece – Even if You HATE Writing from Steve Scott Site

Have Motivated Me:

50 Things You Need to Give Up Today from Marc and Angel Hack Life

Have Made Me Think:

Your Dissatisfaction is a Gift from Illuminated Mind

And:

10 Rules for Achieving Perfect Life/Work Balance from Location 180

What have you read this week that has inspired, motivated, taught and/or motivated you? Share with us!

Related Posts:

1. How to Motivate Yourself in Times of Stress
2. The Secret Stress Buster No One Dares Tell You About – Guest Post
3. Seven Friends You Need In Your Life
4. Succeeding Means Loving Yourself – Guest Post
5. 10 Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Life

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As you probably have noticed, I’ve been MIA for a while. I’ve been dealing with some personal and family issues lately. Things have calmed down a little on this end so you should be seeing me post more often (knock on wood).

Even though I haven’t been in the right mindset to post positive articles doesn’t mean that I haven’t been reading some great stuff on my RSS Reader.

Here are some fantastic articles that have inspired me and made me think (or in some cases, re-think some of my beliefs). Enjoy!

Have made me think (or re-think):

Computer Effort Is Not Enough from Mind Adventure

And:

How to Recognize an Idea Worth Pursuing from Prolific Living

And (a two-fer from Seth Godin):

Are You Making Something? from Seth Godin’s Blog

Reject the Tyranny of Being Picked: Pick Yourself from Seth Godin’s Blog

And:

When Pride Gets in the Way of Success from The Simple Dollar

Have inspired me:

New Series: How to Stay Serene When Faced With…Life from Insanely Serene

And:

How to Deal with Your ‘Get a REAl Job’ Devil from Powered By Intuition

And:

12 Steps to Make a Dream a Reality from Marc and Angel Hack Life

And:

The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Effortlessly Overcoming Unworthiness from Wake Up Cloud

What awesome, inspiring, thoughtful, entertaining, enlightening and wonderful articles have you read lately? Share with us!

Related Posts:

1. Warning: These Emotions May Be Affecting You More Than You Think
2. Stop Lying To Yourself
3. Invest In Your Most Important Asset – Yourself
4. 10 Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Life
5. What Are You Waiting For?

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Even though I have been super-busy with changes happening in my life, I would be remiss if I didn’t share with you some of the great articles that I’ve been reading lately.

These articles have made me think, have entertained me, have made me go: Hmmm, have taught me something new, have inspired me, and have exposed me to new wonderful sites.

Have made me think:

11 Ways To Make Big Change With Small Steps from Passive Panda
 

Have entertained me:

How To Survive a Zombie Apocalypse from Nerd Fitness

Have made me go Hmmm:

The Key to Your Psychological Jail Cell from Mind Adventure

Have inspired me:

An Unconventional Guide to Kickin’ Ass in 2011 from Murlu

And:

101 Inspirational Quotes to Light Up Your Life from Always Well Within

Have taught me something new:

25 Ways to Jack-Up Your Success Using Intuition from Powered By Intuition

And:

10 Ways to Never Stop Learning from Jimi Jones

Have exposed me to new wonderful sites:

24 Blogs To Watch In 2011 from The Big Red Tomato Company

What awesome, inspiring, thoughtful, entertaining, enlightening and wonderful articles have you read lately? Share with us!

Related Posts:

1. 50 Inspirational Quotes
2. Stop Lying To Yourself
3. Do You Need To Let Go And Forgive?
4. Are You Being Your True Authentic Self
5. What Are You Waiting For?

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I read a lot of articles through my RSS feed. Some good, some okay, some really good, some really horrible. Here are the best ones that I’ve read this week that I thought that were particularly really, really good. I don’t think you should miss them so I’m happy to highlight them here.

You know how everyone is saying that you should quit your job and just travel the world? Well, Murray has some great advice (better than the just abandon your life advice many others tell you to do) in his article, Accepting the 9-5: How to Get More in Life While Working a Full-time Job. What I like about the article and what spoke to me was it’s okay to keep plugging away at your 9-5 but that you can still design your optimum lifestyle.

Speaking of designing an optimum (and fearless) life, I enjoyed reading Ash from The Middle Finger Project’s guest-post from Jenna Tros (Fear, Exposed – Fearing Jenna Tros) and how she pushed through her fear and went after what she wanted to do in life. I love reading these real-life stories because not only are they inspirational but they make you feel like you’re not the only one who is searching for more meaning in life. Make sure you check out Ash’s other Fear, Exposed interviews, too.

We all have limiting beliefs and we frequently need reminders to shine the light on them. Yaro from Entrepreneurs-Journey wrote a very inspirational article, 3 Limiting Beliefs You Must Eliminate From Your Mindset, that I thought really spoke the truth, especially about competition and how we can hold the best of ourselves back because of fear.

Fear and procrastination come hand in hand. I can personally attest to this truth. I try not to procrastinate, but when I do, I know that it’s because I have fear inside of me. Marc from Marc and Angel Hack Life has written 7 Common Causes and Proven Cures for Procrastination that I thought laid out extremely well why we procrastinate and what we can do about it. 

Being stuck in a rut. I know how that feels. I’m sure you do, too. Justin from Ignite Your Essence knows what it’s like, too and offers some great advice about How to Pull Yourself Out of a Rut. I enjoyed watching his two videos and I’m sure you will, too. The 2nd video was very creative – well done, Justin!

There were some amazing other articles that I read this week, too, but I can only include so many here. What have you read that really inspired you or made you think this week? Share with us in the comments below. Thanks!

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Just in time for Thanksgiving and Black Friday, Chris Guillebeau from The Art of Non-Conformity is having a sale on all the items in his estore, including his wildly-popular, Create Your Own Freedom: Break Out of 9-5, Frequent Flyer Master, Freelancing 301, and even his premier product, Empire Building Kit (where you get help creating your very own business) is on sale.

Everything in the Unconventional Guides store is 15% off using this discount code: PUMPKIN in the checkout screen. And, of course, Chris, being the wonderful and giving person that he is, is matcing the 15% contribution to charity: water to help people in developing countries drink clean water.

Now’s the time to buy because Chris’s wonderful products don’t go on sale very often and the sale ends on Monday Nov 29th, 2010 at midnight. 

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It’s Friday and you know what that means – it’s time for me to share with you some of the articles that I’ve read about the net this week that I thought were particularly thought-provoking, interesting, enlightening and otherwise, share-worthy. It’s a hard job, but someone has to weed through all the great articles and writers and highlight the ones that I think you should check out.

I have some sad news. For those who know and love to read Hulbert Lee’s articles, there may not be anymore for a while. Hulbert let us know this week that he may have posted his Last Post from Bottom Up. There’s a ton of fascinating articles that Hulbert spent a lot of time researching on his site. Plus, he’s gathered some very interesting perspectives from so many different people with his podcast series (me included, can you imagine?). If you missed some of the excellent articles and podcasts, now’s your chance to check out his site and offer your support. Of course we wish Hulbert all the best during this transition time in his life.

I’ve been super-jealous of Raam Dev’s recent travels. It looked like he also had some transformational adventures on his 6-month travels overseas. Now that he’s back in the States, he reminds us about the 9 Nomadic Principals for Everyday Life. I particularly agree with his principals of Embracing Change and Living in the Moment. Check out the rest of the Principals at his site. While there, make sure you read his travel articles – his writing and wonderful pictures almost convince you that you went along for the journey, too.

Did you know that $75,000 is the magic number for happiness? Both Steve Scott Site and JD Roth highlighted the Princeton University study that has determined that this is the household amount necessary for happiness. Steve’s brother Gene gave us some suggestions on earning more money in his article Can Money Buy Happiness? The $75, 000 Question while Sierra Black, a staff writer at JD Roth’s site Get Rich Slowly wrote How Much Is Enough? On Average $75,000 A Year. I couldn’t pick between the two excellent articles so I’ve included them both. What do you think? Is $75,000 too much or too little?

We have a two-for-one this week, because I had to include another excellent article from Steve Scott Site. This time it’s from Melissa of ShortHairDiva who guest-posted and wrote an interesting and useful article called How to Become a Freelance Writer. I’m bookmarking this one and I think you should too, particularly if you are (or will be) interested in writing freelance soon. I like learning from people who actually know what they’re talking about and since Melissa makes a living with her freelance writing, you can trust her 7 suggestions.

Finally we have Ayo from Discovering Purpose who tirelessly and selflessly create each month his The Life Skills Magazine which is a “collection of personal development and lifestyle articles from various personal development bloggers/writers with the aim of creating a purpose driven life.” This is the eight edition that Ayo has put together. I’m very lucky and honoured to be included in this month’s edition. Make sure that you subscribe to Ayo’s site to download and read some fabulous articles by some fabulous writers. Oh, and if you want, make sure you check out July’s issue. You might see a familiar face in that edition, too.

In case you didn’t know, Dragos Roua has released his Assess-Decide-Do: Natural Productivity ebook today, which is based on his unique productivity framework. You don’t have to buy his companion iAdd app (but I did for my iTouch) – it’s work like a charm to help manage a lot of tasks and projects in my life. I particularly like the Assess stage where I can just do a brain dump of all the things that I want to do, but I don’t have to decide right then when to do them. It’s a neat little system that Dragos can explain better than I can: Assess-Decide-Do: Natural Productivity. If you’re looking for a great, easy system for natural productivity, check out Dragos’ ebook or, if you like to fill up your iPhone/iTouch with useful apps, his iAdd app.

What have you read this week that is particularly share-worthy? What gems have I missed? Please keep in mind that I can only select a few ones to highlight among so many great articles.

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It’s been a while since I had one of my Friday’s Links articles and I thought it was about time that I shared some great articles that are definitely share-worthy.

First up is Glen Allsopp from ViperChill who wrote a pretty in-depth article called Living Self-Employed Online: The Manual They Forgot To Give You. In this very extensive article, Glen provides 13 lessons from 18 months of self-employment. Glen has been a master at his marketing and niche website craft for several years now and provides so much fantastic information on blogging. I  have learned a lot from his articles and if you haven’t discovered his site by now, you owe it to yourself to check out his writings. I always learn something new every time he deems to write an article, which is usually one per week. He’s a very busy guy and is one of the people who is definitely walking his talk online.

Next is Henri’s article from Wake Up Cloud who wrote on a similar theme to Glen in his article Debunking Myths: 13 Untruths About Being Successful Online Destroyed. Henri has been making a living on the internet for a few years now and certainly has a way with words. I really appreciated this article because it shows you what some of the myths that Henri and others have debunked to make a living online. Henri is also someone who is definitely walking the talk, too.

I loved this quote from Raam Dev at his site, Raamdev.com:

So ask yourself, what have you failed at recently? If the answer is nothing, then you’re probably not pushing yourself hard enough. If you haven’t made any mistakes or learned any big lessons lately, then you’re probably playing it too safe.

This quote was from Raam’s article called Fear of Failure as a Barometer for Success. I love articles like these that make me think about how I’m living my life and what I can do to take some risks in my own life. I have taken some big risks is my life lately, but the fear of failure is always there lurking in the corner of my mind. We shouldn’t be coasting through life being scared of failure. Without failure, we wouldn’t have a chance for success.

Speaking of fear, Tim Brownson (actually Tim informed me that it was John Strelecky who wrote the article) from A Daring Adventure wrote a very powerful article called It Should Never Come To This about the choices we have in life. It may seem like we don’t have choices and that our present circumstances will always be the same, but that’s a fallacy. We all have choices, if we can only see them. While the article is definitely not one of Tim’s more uplifting ones, it’s very thought-provoking and motivational. I feel such sympathy for people who are left after their loved one’s have taken their own lives.

And now for something completely different, Jean over at Virgin Blogger Notes had a special guest post from Arvind Devalia who wrote 12 Reasons Why Bloggers Make The Best Lovers. I had to laugh at the reasons and I’m sure that you will find them pretty humourous (and true), too! I thought that this was pretty cheeky:

And if you are single and looking for a lover, surely it’s high time you hooked up with a blogger?

Of course it’s all true. Oh, by the way, in case you don’t know, I’m single

Go check the articles out for this week and let me know what you think of them by leaving a comment. Thanks!

Related Posts:

1. 4 Best And Worst Things About Being An Entrepreneur – Guest Post
2. The Secret Stress Buster No One Dares Tell You About – Guest Post
3. From Homeless To The Infopreneur – Guest Post
4. Succeeding Means Loving Yourself – Guest Post
5. How To Stop Thinking And Start Doing – Guest Post

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I’ve been feeling sort of at odds this week as my aunt died last week and I had to go back to my hometown to attend her funeral. Thankfully, Jennifer at Gurls Asylum stepped in with a great guest-post where she shared her struggles with self-love.

But, even though I haven’t been feeling quite up to par this week, I have had time to check out some great articles.

First, we have Ayo Olaniyan from Discovering Purpose who brings us The Fifth Edition of The Life Skills Magazine. Read online or download the latest version of this fantastic resource. You have No Excuses not to read this edition, especially as it contains a bumper crop of extra articles. I bet you recognize some of the great writers inside this magazine. Ayo has really raised the bar by putting out this personal development resource every month!

After you read Ayo’s great magazine collection, then make sure you check out Ross Hudgens fantastic article called 10 Bloggers Talk About Personal Development. A little bit of self-promotion here as Ross included me as part of the 10, but it’s fascinating to read what other personal development bloggers have to say about the niche. Go check this article out and let me know what you think. Ross did an awesome job with this article!

Steve Scott has been on an absolute writing binge lately. He’s running a great series about blogging that you should definitely check out, but I wanted to highlight his article called Wherever You Go, There You Are. We’ve all heard the saying, but Steve seemed to capture the essense of it really well this week. Or maybe I was just in the right frame of mind to listen to his article, particularly this part:

The point I’m trying to make here is that moving or travelling probably isn’t going to change who you are, especially if you’re unable to deal with certain problems that you’re having.   Real change comes from identifying what’s on the inside and proactively taking steps to fix whatever you feel like you want to escape from. — Steve Scott

If you’re in the mood for some productivity tips, like I was this week, then you’ll really enjoy Luciano from Litemind’s article called 6 New Productivity Principles to Live By.  Go check it out and see if you agree with his 6 principles or if he’s missing one or two.

Finally, we have Krishna who wrote an excellent guest-post over at 6aliens.com called Refuel Inspiration to Charge Your Passion. I enjoyed reading this article, particularly this week, and I know you will, too. Krishna did an great job offering some strategies to renew your passion.

What have you read this week that was particularly share-worthy? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Thanks!

I should be back to my normal self next week. Thanks for sticking around.

As always, have a fanastic weekend.

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There are so many great articles that were written lately, that I just had to bring back my Friday’s Links series for today.

What articles have I read lately that I thought were particularly share-worthy? These ones:

Steve Borgman guest-posted at Advanced Life Skills and wrote a compelling article about How To Stay Emotionally Strong in Times of Adversity, which I thought gave excellent advice. Let’s face it, life has it’s ups and downs and being able to stay strong during those down times is an essential life skill to have.

Ash lived up to her usual inspirational standards by laying it on the line with her article called The Surefire Way to Save Yourself from Mediocrity (That You Already Know, But Don’t Do). Check it out and Save Yourself!

John Sherry really made me think when we wrote  about The Treasures of Life’s Simple Pleasures at his site Real Simple People. I think he will inspire you and make you reconsider life’s simple pleasures, too.

Justin at Ignite Your Essence always provides very inspirational and thought-provoking videos. This week was no different when he told us to Stop Worrying About What People Think. I know that I can fall into that trap very easily. Justin provides some strong advice about not worrying about other people.

Walter from Lion Slinger writes such intense and in-depth articles that I always leave his site pondering his articles. His article called How to Make a Difference in your Life didn’t disappoint. Go check it out and see if you can make a difference in your life.

What have you read this week that inspired you? Let us know by leaving a comment below. Thanks!

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It’s Friday and my usual day of providing some great articles from around the blogosphere that I think you should be reading for some inspiration and motivation on our journey of personal development.

First up is Henri from Wake Up Cloud who I first thought was a little over-the-top with his title, The Most Empowering Post You’ll Ever Read, but I have to admit that if it’s not the Most Empowering, then it’s certainly pretty high up on the list. Read this article if you want to be empowered and motivated.

If you weren’t motivated before, then Robb Sutton will tell you 39 Reasons Why You Suck. How badly do you suck? I particularly like #8 – “You talk about how easy others have it without knowing the full story”. It all seems so easy for other people, except when it’s not.

Speaking of when it’s not easy, I really enjoyed John’s article at JetSetCitizen who wrote about his life and struggles in his article Why I Am So Successful (Hint: It’s Not Because Of My Oversized Ego). What I really liked about John’s article was this part (which is so bloody true!):

Here is the Secret to my Success. The short answer is … I am not successful. Most people, myself included, tend to glamorize or even exaggerate successes and hide set backs or negative aspects of their lives. Don’t believe everything you read or hear because you are only getting the positive side of the story.

I am not rich. I am not famous. I am not particularly smart or talented either. I am just an ordinary person that is not afraid of hard work. – John at JetSetCitizen.com

Since we’re on the topic of motivation, Oscar wrote a very motivational post at Freestyle Mind to quiet your lizard brain so that it doesn’t stop you from being remarkable. Check out his 10 Motivational Sentences That Will Kill Your Lizard Brain. If you are interested in further information about your lizard brain, check out my book review of Seth Godin’s Linchpin Are You Indispensable? 

I buy a lot of ebooks, sign up to various forums, buy books, download course materials and basically try a variety of different ways to bring my blogging to the next level. But, I’ve decided to have a moratorium on buying anything until this site can pay for it. Which is why I really enjoyed reading Glen Allsopp’s guest-post onThe Smart Passive Income Blog titled The Realization That Enabled Me To Make A Living Online. There really is no magic bullet.

You are the magic bullet. You just have to put yourself to good use. – Glen Allsopp

I hope you enjoy reading the articles that I selected for you this week. Check them out and let me know what you think. If you read something particularly thought-provoking or inspirational this week, let me know by leaving a comment. Thanks!

As always, have a fantastic weekend!

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The days are flying by! It’s Friday again and this is the day that I get to share some of the articles that I’ve read during the week that are particularly thought-provoking and made me stop and think.

You know that there are so many sites that rehash the same few topics over and over again? Well, these sites don’t and they offer something fresh to read.

I hope you enjoy this week’s offerings:

I’ve been getting sick of all the chest-thumping, fist-waving bromances out there in the blogoshere lately. Apparently, I haven’t been alone as Maria over at Maria Muir felt the same way and wrote a fantastic rebuttal called Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves – Move Over Fellas. I’m including this article not because I’m mentioned along with a couple of other wonderful women, but because Maria had the courage to write what I’ve been feeling. Based on  it’s response, I know many other women have felt the same, too. Go check it out and provide some support to us.

Tim at A Daring Adventure made me think when he questions whether we should Lower Your Standards. Having such high standards sets up for failure, in my opinion. We obviously have to have some standards, but are we setting them too high? Check out Tim’s article and be your own judge.

I discovered Luciano and his Litemind site recently. What a find! I particularly enjoyed reading this article:  The Relatively Mind Trap: How Comparisons Can Lead Us Astray. We can’t get away from making comparisons, but we can we become cognizant of judging ourselves and others using unfair comparing variables. Check out the article and let me know if it made you think as much as it did me. He has written some very thoughtful articles, so check out his Archives, too.

Paul over at Diary 4 Life shows up on my Friday’s Links series frequently. That’s because he writes articles that stand out and make me think. This week was no exception. I enjoyed reading his Just Do It Anyway article because that’s what I need sometimes. I need the kick in the pants to Just Do It Anyways when I’m feeling unmotivated or frustrated. Paul offers some great ways in the article so that we can Just Do It Anyways. Go read the article. Just Do It

For those of you who prefer to watch videos for your dose of personal development, Justin over at Ignite Your Essense has a treat for you. He gathered 10 inspirational videos from around the net on his site and offers 10 Must See Personal Development Presentations. I haven’t seen most of these videos and I’m glad that they are all in one place. Fair warning that you can be watching the videos for a while, but I think they’re worth it, particularly as the videos are from people like Jack Canfield, Les Brown, Wayne Dyer, Tim Ferriss and other great speakers.

Those are just 5 of the great articles that I’ve read this week. I wish I could include them all, but I have to pare down the best for this week. Enjoy!

As always, have a great weekend!

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