Tuesday, November 13, 2007

100 Sites I Seek Inspiration From


  1. Free Rice - An online vocabulary game that doubles as a charitable donation tool
  2. lifehack.org - Daily digest and pointers on productivity, getting things done and lifehacks
  3. Wired - Wired magazine and its corresponding website is what I wish local and national news programs would look at for inspiration
  4. 43 Folders - Personal productivity, life hacks, and simple ways to make your life a little better
  5. A Brief Message - Design opinions expressed in short form—200 words or less
  6. Endless Innovation - The blog content on this one is fine, but what is amazing is the links list on the left side of the page
  7. getFreshMinds - "Ideas so fresh - they should be slapped!"
  8. kottke.org - Liberal Arts 2.0
  9. Lifehacker - Tech tricks to "turbocharge your day"
  10. Presentation Zen - Garr Reynold's blog on issues related to professional presentation design
  11. scottberkun.com - Scott Berkun's blog on creativity, innovation and managing people
  12. TED - Inspired talks by the world's greatest thinkers and doers
  13. Pop!Tech - A network of remarkable people, extraordinary conferences, powerful ideas & innovative projects that are changing the world
  14. iStockPhoto - a phenomenal resource for inexpensive images to splash up your presentations, blog posts, or other designs
  15. Template Monster - I love looking around the designs on this site to get inspired when I'm trying to figure out a design layout for a website or a PowerPoint presentation
  16. SparkBugg.com - Showcasing ideas that deserve to be shared - so many ideas go no further than a person's mind, so I love seeing them going to good use
  17. Dan Pink's blog - author of "A Whole New Mind", which is currently one of my very favorite books
  18. Seth Godin's blog - I'm still figuring out if I think this guy is a genius or a complete lunatic (or both), but meanwhile I sure enjoy thinking about what he has to say
  19. Idea Sandbox - Blogging about remarkability, creative problem solving, and brand building
  20. ChangeThis - "A form of media that uses existing tools (like PDFs, blogs and the web) to challenge the way ideas are created and spread"
  21. bad banana - Just a great ideas/inspiration blog, mostly about making things better than creating from scratch
  22. Better Than New - A smattering of interesting links every day, lots of food for thought here
  23. Wishful Thinking - "Creativity, coaching and business, how they fit together and whether the seams show"
  24. Asgeir Hoem blog - A Blog on Design, Typography, Creativity and Randomness
  25. Before & After - Jumpstarting the creative process in business
  26. Outside Innovation - Letting customers lead the design of business processes, products, services, and business models
  27. HELLO, My Name is Blog - Scott Ginsberg's blog about approachability
  28. Innovating to Win - Observations from the front line on building the high performance innovation organization
  29. NussbaumOnDesign - Innovation and Design articles from BusinessWeek
  30. Virtual Economics - Seamus McCauley on the collision of news publishing, digital media and technology
  31. Creative Class Group - Richard Florida and the Creative Class Exchange
  32. Edge Perspectives - "The Only Sustainable Edge:Why Business Strategy Depends on Productive Friction and Dynamic Specialization"
  33. AdPulp - Daily Juice from the Ad Biz
  34. Innoblog - Innosight's blog is kind of all over the place about innovation but it definitely works, and is becoming a very regular read
  35. Talent Imitates, Genius Steals - My favorite innovation sites think like I do, finding the relationships between things you normally don't think of as being related, and pulling an innovative idea out of that strange marriage
  36. Rough Type - Nicholas Carr's blog, mainly about the business and cultural implications of information technology
  37. Social Media with Bud Caddell - marketing, social media, and web development
  38. On Social Marketing and Social Change - News and views about, well, what the title of the site says
  39. Marginal Revolution - Small steps toward a much better world
  40. Logic + Emotion - By David Armano, I recommend just clicking and looking instead of listening to any words about this I can try and convince you with
  41. ThinkExist.com - My favorite resource for quotes, the first place I go to for a better, more succinct way of saying something
  42. BrainStore - A rather fun "IdeaFactory" to rummage through and see what strikes your innovation fancy
  43. Idea Generator - A tool that generates the spark for countless ideas
  44. Games for the Brain - Play these games and get exercise on a regular basis and your brain will be amazing well into your wrinkly years
  45. Read/WriteWeb - Web Technology news, reviews and analysis
  46. IdeaList - A place to post your ideas (and read the ones others have posted)
  47. Crowdsourcing - taking a job traditionally performed by a designated agent (usually an employee) and outsourcing it to an undefined, generally large group of people in the form of an open call
  48. 50 Most Innovative Companies List - This one is interesting to look at and think about each company and why they made it (and, perhaps, why the one you work for didn't, and how to change that)
  49. Slow Leadership - Returning humanity to working life, this one is a good place to go when your work-life balance is misaligned
  50. 26 Reasons What You Think is Right is Wrong
  51. Innovation Zen - More interesting ways to look at innovation, somewhat by questioning what we think we know as truth
  52. Everybody Loves Free Stuff - A blog about interesting, unique free promo swag
  53. Stop Death By PowerPoint - Seriously, cut it out
  54. From Where I Sit - Michael S Hyatt's blog, with lots of great tips on maximizing life
  55. Beyond Bullets - The supporting website for the Beyond Bullet Points books, an excellent resource for making presentation slide decks meaningful
  56. Bootstrapper - Amazing site of helpful lists and tips that are very much in line with what I'm trying to learn and teach myself
  57. SlideShare - A multitude of presentation slide decks, on many different subjects (several, interestingly, on making better slide decks)
  58. Litemind - A great blog about using not just our minds, but our time, more effectively
  59. Think Simple. Be Decisive. - Simple steps to positive change and outcomes
  60. Amazon - This might seem like an odd inclusion, but if you bounce from one book on a topic you're interested in to another for a while, you'll quickly find a treasure trove of information and new resources in the process
  61. Firstgiving - A wonderful tool for raising money for charity, as well as finding charities you might be interested in supporting
  62. Escape From Cubicle Nation - I believe I can be successful as an entrepreneur (a.k.a. the book I am writing) as well as cubicle dweller at the company I have come to love working for, and I love sites like this because they make me take a "run it like you own it" attitude to any endeavor I take on
  63. tompeters! - I aspire to one day create something half as amazing as his book Sixty (his took sixty years so I have time to work on it I guess)
  64. Chief Happiness Officer - Totally want this job now
  65. Made to Stick - A blog by the authors of the book sitting on my shelf waiting to be the very next one I read (promise)
  66. Brazen Careerist - "Advice at the intersection of work and life" by Penelope Trunk
  67. Church of the Customer - Never lose sight of the customer, especially if you are in a cubicle-infested business environment
  68. The Freak Factor - "Discovering uniqueness by flaunting weakness" - a unique blog concept by David Rendall that works to make you a better you (instead of someone else)
  69. Mind Moleskine - Great techniques and suggestions for making the most of your mind
  70. Creative Think - Roger von Oech's blog, maybe the funniest I have read when it comes to creativity
  71. Apple.com - I spend oodles of time sifting through the Downloads section for new toys to improve my life (or give me a false sense they are doing so, anyway...)
  72. slickdeals.net - Another site I didn't think would be on this list when I started it, but it's a one stop shopping place for helping me make sure I get the best price on the tools I use to create with
  73. Comixtalk - Since I am planning on intermingling sequential art (a.k.a. "comics") in the book I'm working on (and since I used to be a contributing writer of the site and passionate webcomics enthusiast), I come back here often to stay in touch with industry goings-on
  74. The Cranking Widgets Blog - A unique perspective on many of the topics discussed on Getting Things Done (GTD) related blogs, with the unique ability to turn things inside out for a different perspective
  75. Organize IT - Advice on organization that hopefully leads to productivity, which we could all use more of yes?
  76. zen habits - implementing good habits for good living
  77. Ian's Messy Desk - He spells his name incorrectly (ahem), but other than that I can't fault his helpful and fun blog
  78. Your Best Just Got Better - Jason Womack seems to think a lot like I'm thinking lately... I think
  79. Weight Watchers - I've dropped almost 40 pounds so far, and I enjoy my food more than ever - I am inspired daily by the new abilities I have resulting from weighing less (like waking up in the morning without fierce pain in my back)
  80. What's the next action - Another terrific GTD blog, with one of my favorite features of a blog - links to other terrific sites in virtually every post
  81. LifeDev - The passion of the writing on this site comes through like few other productivity-related sites I've read
  82. The 2Time Mgt Blog - Be more productive by your own standards
  83. Matt's Idea Blog - A personal productivity consultant and blogger specializing in "modern workflow techniques", I find he writes on a lot of things other similar blogs miss
  84. Free Business Cards - As in, set them free from your constrictive view of what they are and imagine what they might be, the potential they hold
  85. Successful Blog - That's the goal, after all... one of them anyway
  86. Innovation Tools - A must visit (frequently) for people passionate about the exploration and creation of innovation
  87. Brain Based Biz - Bridging the gap between business and art, via your mind
  88. Creating Passionate Users -
  89. The Happy Burro - "Maximizing organizational performance" via a consistently entertaining and enlightening blog
  90. All Things Workplace - I'm constantly striving to maintain passion for what I do in my cubicle job, and sites like this help keep me going
  91. Creative Inspiration - Blogging by Deborah Khan about creativity leading to better communication
  92. The Think Different Challenge - I encourage you to take it (I will be doing so myself in the coming few days)
  93. The Ripple Effect - Your actions, thoughts, and words ripple, both inwardly and outwardly, and this blog helps me become more aware of that
  94. Rethinking - Donna Steinhorn is a success coach and blogger, both of which I am in some capacity now, both of which I ought to learn from others like Donna to become better at
  95. The Onion - Because we all need some humor in our days
  96. NPR - Because I like to have my sources for "The News" and "The Latest on Britney Spears" separated clearly in my life
  97. soupornuts.com - We are responsible for defining our own success, here's a blog that tries to sincerely help with that responsibility
  98. Perspectives - Donna Karlin is obviously committed to helping new leadership grow, and frankly there is never enough encouragement of leadership greatness, regardless of who you are referring to or what position they hold in a company, at school, or in life
  99. ProBlogger - I'll need to seriously look to this and other blogs like it as my book proceeds, to make sure I reach who I want to reach with it
  100. 100 Sites I Seek Inspiration From - Hey now that I have this great list, why wouldn't I come back to it for inspiration?!

8 comments:

Dee said...

Nice list. There are a couple of sites I know and look at regularly but many I haven't heard of. :-)

David Rendall said...

Great list. I agree with a lot of your rankings. I subscribe to Seth Godin's blog and Dan Pink's blog. I read Godin every day and there is always something that I can use or share with a friend.

Thanks for making The Freak Factor #68. I'm glad you like the concept.

David Rendall
www.daverendall.typepad.com

JOEL said...

What a wealth of information! No doubt this is one of the bests blogs I visited today. I'll recommend it.

Ellen said...

Iain, thanks for sharing this list! Really an inspiring one, on a broad range of topics, with a number I haven't visited before.

thanks!!

Ellen

Sam said...

great stuff. Some very useful sites here. I am a big believer in giving out useful and insightful knowledg for free.

Knowledge should be shared, and some of these sites certainly live up to this important tenet.

Sam

Mindsportlive.ocm

Chris said...

Thanks for including soupornuts.com in your list at number 97. I really appreciate it.

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