“The greatest good you can do for another is not just share your riches, but to reveal to him his own.” — Benjamin Disraeli
It was a powerful year for Sources of Insight. I’ve added 190 posts on topics ranging from improving your productivity to sharpening your thinking skills. My quest is simple – find and share the best of the best insight and action for work and life. From quotes to featured guests to lessons learned — it’s all about improving your effectiveness and leading a better life from the inside out.
Here’s a tour of the best of Sources of Insight for 2009 …
Top 10 Posts of 2009
I cherry picked the ones that either had the most traffic, or a ripple effect on the Web or that I heard the most about in the hallways at work. Some of these surprised me. For example, # 8 below is simply a response to a friend who challenged me to write a quick post of insights I’ve learned from movies. Here are my top 10 posts of 2009:
- 3 Thinking Techniques to Improve Your Intellectual Horsepower – Solve tough problems, win friends, and rise above conflict, simply by learning three techniques for thinking and getting curious.
- Don’t Always Go for the Long Shot – You’ll miss all the beautiful middle along the way.
- How To Think Like Bill Gates – Yes, thinking is a skill and who better to learn from than the guy that’s applied deliberate practice to the power of thinking over a life time.
- Living Your Process – Tired? Listless? Rundown? … Do you poop out at parties? …. what you need is an approach to get your groove on and life life on your terms. It’s the power of your personal process.
- PM Skills for Life – Project Management is both an art and a science, but you can use the power of project management to make things happen in your life.
- Productivity Personas – Are you a “starter” or a “finisher”? … “maximizer or simplifier”? … “achiever or day dreamer?” … Use the productivity personas to improve your self-awareness and get a new lens on productivity.
- The Power of the Pause – OMG, Vered’s Peanut Butter Cookie’s look so good! But wait … let me use the power of the pause and to *choose* my best response … OK, so peanut butter cookies turns out to be my best choice after all, but now it’s a mindful choice and I’m responding over reacting.
- What 16 Movies Teach Us About Life and Leadership – Just when you thought you had safely escaped reality, low and behold, there are insights everywhere. From 300 to Raiders of the Lost Ark, there’s something to bring back to the real world and take your game up a notch.
- What’s Your One-Liner Super Hero Power – Everybody has one. Whether it’s “making others great” or “powerful connector” or “writing weird songs,” find your super hero power and make it your differentiator to make your unique contribution to the world, play to your strengths, and stand out in the marketplace.
- You 2.0 – This is arguably my most important post for the year. It’s a very simple way to find your purpose, live your values, and play to your strengths. It’s your core. It’s your firm foundation. It’s also a way to reinvent yourself by dropping what’s not working for you, and carrying the good forward. It really is, You 2.0.
Ultimately, my top posts are whatever ones helped you find a new way to kick some arse, get your inner-mojo going, or wrinkle your brain with a new “ah-ha.” So tell me, what was your favorite post?
Featured Guests
Who better to learn insights and action from than some of the world’s best selling authors and some experts at the top of their game? This past year I had some amazing people share some of their best lessons learned:
- Al Ries – Best selling author of The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding shares Left Brainers and Right Brainers.
- Gretchen Rubin – Best selling author of The Happiness Project shares Top 10 Lessons Learned in Happiness.
- Janine de Nysschen – Change maker extraordinaire shares Discover Your Why and Discover the How to Your Why.
- Jay Heinrichs – Best selling author of Thank You for Arguing shares The 10 Best Ways to Persuade.
- Ken Sylvester – Master of negotiation strategies shares Top 5 Characteristics of Leaders.
- Noah Blumenthal – Best selling author of Be the Hero shares 8 Ways to Be Heroic.
- Rick Kirschner (a.k.a. “Dr.K”) – Best selling author of Dealing with People You Can’t Stand shares shares Top 10 Lessons Learned in Interpersonal Skills and How To Design a Fulfilling Life.
- Steve Nelson – Best selling author of QuickBooks for Dummies shares The Five Small Business Success Formulas.
Lessons Learned … “Stand on the shoulders of Giants”
“If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of Giants” … great words from Isaac Newton.
I’m a fan of standing on the shoulders of giants over starting from scratch. With the power of the Web, we can learn from everybody around the world, from the unsung hero, to the every Joe, to heroes of the past and present. We can all stand on the shoulders of giants:
- Lessons Learned from Bruce Lee – He was more than a martial arts master and movie star. Bruce was also a personal development master and a philosopher with amazing words of wisdom who taught us to be our best, push the envelope, and live life on your own terms.
- Lessons Learned from Colin Powell –Colin cuts right to the chase on what it means to be a great leader and he gives us 18 powerful lessons we can use for leading our self and leading others.
- Lessons Learned from Guy Kowasaki – Guy teaches us to make meaning and “don’t worry be crappy.” He also teaches us it’s about the experience and to align your interests.
- Lessons Learned from John deVadoss – John teaches us “if you’re explaining, you’re losing” and “everybody has flaws.” He has a way with words and a great way of boiling things down to their essence.
- Lessons Learned from the “Last Lecture” – Randy Pausch teaches us to choose between Tigger or Eeyore and to live our childhood dreams. He also teaches us leadership skills from Captain Kirk, how to apologize properly, and that if you lead your life the right way, your dreams will come to you.
- Lessons Learned from Oprah Winfrey – Oprah teaches us to live your best life, declutter your life, and surround yourself with an A-team. Oprah is a master of her own destiny and helps lift others up.
- Lessons Learned from Peter Drucker – Drucker is the man when it comes to management and effectiveness. He was ahead of his time and he paved a beautiful trail of wisdom and insight for time management, productivity, and knowledge work.
Quotes
Quotes are a great way to share the wisdom of the ages and modern day sages. This last year, I put together some quotes collections for important topics. If you study the collections, some of the words might just sing to your heart or give you the just insight you’ve been looking for:
