“Life is a big canvas, throw all the paint on it you can.” — Danny Kaye
“Too soon old, too late smart.” — Gordon Livingston
“It’s never too late to be what you might have been.” — George Eliot
These are the best sites I follow for inspiration and insights.
The Web is a fountain of knowledge, especially if you know where to drink from.
This post is a quick tour of some of my favorite sources of inspiration and insight that make me feel, think, and act.
I hope they help you, too.
Top 10 Best Sites for Inspiration and Insights
I draw from a lot of sources. One of my tag lines for years on Sources of Insight has been “Stand on the shoulders of giants.”
I like helping people draw from great books, great people, great quotes and more.
With that in mind, here are 10 sites that inspire me, make me think, and inspire new ideas:
1. Change This
ChangeThis is focused on spreading important ideas and changing minds.
2. Charlie Rose
Charlie Rose engages America’s best thinkers, writers, politicians, athletes, entertainers, business leaders, scientists and other newsmakers in one-on-one interviews and roundtable discussions.
3. The Huffington Post: Good News
Daily Good news. Positive, uplifting, inspiring stories from the Huffington Post.
Happy news that shows the good in the world around us.
4. Freakonomics
Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt, authors of Freakonomics, keep the conversation going from their best-selling book that explore the hidden side of everything.
Freakomoics applies economic theory to diverse subjects not usually covered by “traditional” economists.
5. Gates Notes
Gates Notes is where Bill Gates shares his thoughts, his learning and his travels.
6. MIT Open Courseware
Free lecture notes, exams, and videos from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
7. NPR
The NPR talk show brings fresh voices and perspectives to public radio from the opinions of global newsmakers to listeners’ personal experiences of life-changing travel…the wisdom of renowned thinkers, activists and spiritual leaders…and intimate dispatches of daily life around the world from NPR News correspondents on the ground.
8. HBR.Org
At Harvard Business Review, we believe in management. If the world’s organizations and institutions were run more effectively, if our leaders made better decisions, if people worked more productively, we believe that all of us — employees, bosses, customers, our families, and the people our businesses affect — would be better off.
So we try to arm our readers with ideas that help them become smarter, more creative, and more courageous in their work. To do that, we enlist the foremost experts in management theory and practice, collaborating to express their thoughts in the most influential way possible.
9. Psychology Today
Commentary, Research and News that cover all aspects of Human Behavior, from the workings of the brain, to relationships and the larger cultural forces that influence our decisions.
10. Ted Talks
TED is a small nonprofit devoted to Ideas Worth Spreading. It started out as a conference bringing together people from three worlds: Technology, Entertainment, Design.
Their mission is spreading ideas. They believe in the power of ideas to change attitudes, lives and ultimately, the world, so they built a clearinghouse for free knowledge and inspiration from the world’s most inspired thinkers, and also a community of curious souls to engage with ideas and each other.
3 Bonus Sites for Insights and Inspiration
Here are a few more sites for the over-achievers where 10 sources is just not enough. Enjoy 🙂
1. Barking up the Wrong Tree by Eric Barker
Featured in the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal, Wired Magazine and Time Magazine, BARKING UP THE WRONG TREE provides science based insights on how to be awesome at life.
2. Optimize (YouTube Channel) by Brian Johnson
Optimize your life. Actualize your Potential. Did you know that the word Optimize comes from the Latin optimus which literally means “the best”?
Yep. In our case, we’re talking about helping YOU be your absolute best self. That’s what I obsess about all day every day and why I do what I do.
3. Tim Ferris Show
Each episode, Tim Ferris deconstructs world-class performers from eclectic areas (investing, sports, business, art, etc.) to extract the tactics, tools, and routines you can use.
This includes favorite books, morning routines, exercise habits, time-management tricks, and much more.
Just Start…Here are a Few TED Talk Examples You Can Start With
TED Talks are a quick way to dive deep into the pool of possibility.
After all, TED Talks are ideas worth spreading.
Here is a quick sampling of some of the interesting talks and life changing ideas:
How To Live Passionately — No Matter Your Age by Isabel Allende
Author Isabel Allende is 71. Yes, she has a few wrinkles—but she has incredible perspective too.
In this candid talk, meant for viewers of all ages, she talks about her fears as she gets older and shares how she plans to keep on living passionately.
How To Live to 100+ by Dan Buettner
To find the path to long life and health, Dan Buettner and team study the world’s “Blue Zones,” communities whose elders live with vim and vigor to record-setting age.
In his talk, he shares the 9 common diet and lifestyle habits that keep them spry past age 100.
The 3 As of Awesome by Neil Pasricha
Neil Pasricha’s blog 1000 Awesome Things savors life’s simple pleasures, from free refills to clean sheets.
In this heartfelt talk, he reveals the 3 secrets (all starting with A) to leading a life that’s truly awesome.
The Transformative Power of Classical Music by Benjamin Zander
Your passion can be contagious. A measure of how you inspire others is how you create “shining eyes.”
Benjamin Zander has two infectious passions: classical music, and helping us all realize our untapped love for it — and by extension, our untapped love for all new possibilities, new experiences, new connections.
Why I Read a Book a Day (and Why You Should Too) by Tai Lopez
In this talk, Tai Lopez reminds us that everyone wants the good life, but not everyone gets the good life because not everyone is willing to do what it takes.
What Inspires the Crap Out of You?
As Mary Oliver put it:
“Doesn’t everything die at last, and too soon? Tell me, what is it you plan to do. With your one wild and precious life?”
If you know what inspires you deeply, then great, do more.
If you don’t know, then go find it.
Find the sources of insight that light your mind on fire, help you explore the art of the possible, and expand what you are capable of.,
How will you use your one wild and precious life?
What are your favorite sources of insight and inspiration on the Web?
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