Sources of Insight is one year old. It’s hard to believe. Sometimes, it feels like I just launched yesterday. Other times, it feels like it’s always been there. Time is funny like that. My first post was Fear of Weaknesses, Fear of Failure, and Fear of Who You Are. This post is a walk through some of my highlights and lessons learned over the past year, and a look to the future.
Top 3 Lessons
These are my top 3 lessons learned from a blogging perspective:
- Get up to bat a post at a time. How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time. How do you build a great blog? A post at a time. Getting up to bat is part of the game. Sometimes you strike out. Sometimes you knock it out of the park. Each post is a chance to master your craft, inspire somebody you didn’t know, or create a new “ah-ha” moment, that makes somebody’s day.
- Working on your blog is working on your life. The more you blog, the more you learn about yourself. For example, you learn your motivations and where your energy really comes from. You learn more about your ideas by thinking on paper. To be sustainable, it’s a continuous process of finding what drives you. It’s really a journey thing.
- Blogging is a team sport. It’s all the people that make blogging worth it, including the people behind the scenes. The more you give, the more you get.
Perhaps a way to summarize these lessons is, “give your best, where you have your best to give.”
Top 3 Posts
These are my top 3 posts based on pageviews:
My Top 3 Favorite Posts
With the way I use 3 all the time, you would think my favorite post is The Rule of 3. It’s up there alright, but these are my top 3 favorite posts:
I think You 2.0 is especially important. I’ve used it to help a lot of people unleash their best. It’s a way to get a fresh start, get back to the basics, and find your personal success formula. It cuts right to the heart of things. Living Your Process is a quick read and it summarizes some personal success patterns. It was input for You 2.0. Lessons Learned from Bruce Lee surprised me. It touched a lot of people’s lives and for many Bruce became a new hero.
Featured Guests
I’ve had the honor of several guest posts by some people with great insights:
- Al Reis, author of The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding on Left Brainers and Right Brainers.
- Dr. Ken Sylvester, professional negotiator, on Top 5 Characteristics of Leaders.
- Dr. Rick Kirschner (aka Dr.K), author of Dealing with People You Can’t Stand, on Top 10 Lessons Learned in Interpersonal Skills and How To Design a Fulfilling Life.
- Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, on Top 10 Lessons Learned in Happiness.
- Janine de Nysschen on Discover Your Why and
Discover the How to Your Why. - Jay Heinrichs, author of Thank You for Arguing, on The 10 Best Ways to Persuade.
- Jim Kouzes, author of The Leadership Challenge, on The Top 10 Leadership Lessons and Questions and Answers on the Top 10 Leadership Lessons.
- Michael Michalko, author of THINKERTOYS, on Choice.
- Steven Nelson, the Louis L’Amour of computer books, on The Five Small Business Success Formulas.
My Guest Posts on Other Sites
I haven’t done much guest posting. I know I’m supposed to, and I will. Here are my two guest posts from this past year:
- How Do You Measure a Life?
- Finding Your Eye of the Tiger
I wrote them a little bit differently than my style on Sources of Insight. Every now and then I have to stretch my wings.
Quotes Collections
While I don’t have a lot of quotes collections yet, I regularly use the ones I have for inspiration and insight:
They were a one-time effort that seems timeless and priceless.
Tag Line
My tag line is … “Stand on the shoulders of giants!”
Vision, Mission, Values
My vision, mission, and values have a simple theme:
- Vision – World’s best insight for work and life.
- Mission – Improve the quality of life for as many people I can, as long as I can.
- Values – Growth, learn and move on, success is a journey, not a destination.
Really, it’s about lifting others up by sharing patterns and practices for skilled living. It’s going from ordinary to extraordinary using proven practices, insight, and action.
Guiding Principles
I summarized these in my About page, but I wanted to list my guiding principles here for convenience:
- Life’s not a spectator’s sport.
- Absorb what’s useful; reject the rest.
- It’s not what’s on your plate, it’s how you eat it.
- Don’t take life too seriously, or you’ll never get out alive.
- Success is a journey, not a destination.
- Live more, laugh more, learn more, love more.
- Roll with the punches.
- Whatever doesn’t kill you, makes you stronger.
- If you fall down, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, carry the lessons forward.
- Don’t seek to be better than others; seek to be better than yourself.
Stats at a Glance
I haven’t hit the tipping point yet, but It seems to be slow but steady growth. Slow and steady wins the race, right? Here are my stats at a glance:
- Page Rank 4.
- 1400+ subscribers.
- 162,000 visits.
- 285,000 page views.
- 207 posts.
Here is a look back at the stats from the six month mark …
- Page Rank 4.
- 650+ subscribers.
- 56,000 visits.
- 110,000 page views.
- 110 posts.
The Future
What does the future hold? I’ll continue investing in the hot spots for life:
- Mind
- Body
- Emotions
- Career
- Financial
- Relationships
- Fun
I plan to find and share the best patterns and practices in these areas, that actually make a difference. I’m a fan of skills. While skills aren’t everything, the right technique, at the right time can be the game changer. On my immediate horizon, I’m organizing some key techniques for skilled thinking. Thinking is one of those things that really impacts so much of your day. I have a large collection of techniques, but I’m trying to turn them into a simple but effective set that you can put to use right way.
My Related Posts
- Sources of Insight is 10 Months Old
- Sources of Insight is 6 Months Old
- Sources of Insight is One Month Old
Photo by Clearly Ambiguous.
Mirror Neurons: Cells That Read Minds