130 Powerful Resources for a Gigantic Growth
There are many factors that affect the quality of your life. Your health, your sleep, your attitude, your knowledge, your memory, your mood, your productivity, your schedule, your motivation, your relationships… All this and much more has an influence on the quality of your live. Some factors have more impact on your life, some have less.
The more factors you use in the correct way, the more growth and progress you will experience. Your quality of life will increase. If you know and use positive factors, you will make better decisions in your personal journey. Do you agree with me?
My goal here is to create a massive, detailed and deep research about the most positive factors for your growth, in order to improve your knowledge about the important factors.
As far as I know, no one has ever brought such a massive survey on growth in one article. I put a lot of time and effort into this project.
The result is list with over 130 free, stunning and fantastic success factors resources that will help you to understand the factors that affect your growth. I put a short description for each resource. I personally examine each resource in depth and detail.
Do not expect to read all in one day. First, scan the article looking for resources to which you are most interested in, and concentrate on them. Record and analyze your results and grow! Let’s take a look at the most useful online resources for personal-development and gigantic growth…
[Update: August/24 2010 - Pictures added, title changed]
problem-solving
- Problem Solving Techniques, Mind Tools — A lot of tools to solve problems more successful.
- Problem Solving Techniques, Virtual Salt — The web’s ultimate guide on techniques for solving problems. At first glance, the text seems long, but I think it should be read from beginning to end, that way you will experience real growth.
- Introduction to Problem Solving, Virtual Salt — Readable, magnetic and extensive guidance on “Problem Solving.”
- Human-Factor Phenomena in Problem Solving, Virtual Salt — In this article you will find the list that will serve you for a better understanding of problem solving and why we have such a solution.
- Creativity and Innovation Techniques – an A to Z, Mycoted– An extensive set of articles which go beyond the problem-solving techniques, but it is more valuable to mention the entire category.
- Problem-Solving, Ohio Literacy Resource Center — A nice little site which you can explore in a short time and learn about solving problems.
- Study Guides and Strategies, Thinking like a Genius — A nice information on thinking productively and creative solutions.
- 5 Whys, Wikipedia — Learn more about this question-asking method.
decision-making
- Introduction to Decision Making, VirtualSalt
- Decision Making Techniques, VirtualSalt
- Decision Simplification Techniques, VirtualSalt
Three detailed, informative articles about decision-making, from VirtualSalt. I highly recommend this.
- Decision Making Techniques, Mind Tools — Many articles on decision-making techniques.
- Decision making, Wikipedia — Wikipedia offers a very informative article about decision-making.
- How to Make a Decision Using a Quantitative Scoring System, wikiHow — 9 steps to quantitative scoring system, tips and warnings.
- Decision-Making Models In Web Development, Smashing Magazine — Very detailed and informative article about decision-making, especially for web designers.
- The Art of Complex Problems Solving – If you prefer pictures above article, I recommend this very well made site.
self-discipline
- Will Power and Self-Discipline, SuccessConsciousness.com — Definitions, benefits and exercises about will power and self-discipline.
- Self-Discipline, Steve Pavlina — Six part series by Steve Pavlina on self-discipline.
- Developing self-discipline, Study Guides and Strategies — A very clear article about self-discipline.
- Your online guide to developing self-discipline — An interesting and detailed website dedicated to self-discipline
- Self-Discipline: The Foundation of Productive Living, Life Hack.org — Life Hack blog has also touched upon issues of self-discipline.
diet
- SparkPeople.com — Very useful and free tools if you want to lead healthier live! This website is well known with over 8 million members.
- 3 Fat Chicks.com — Well-known, free, weight loss website…
- Diet Reviews and Investigations, Diet-Blog.com — A lot of information about diets.
- What Do 300 Calorie Meals Look Like? Diet Blog — If you slightly decrease calories, little by little, you will lose weight. It is so easy. How it will look a meal with 300 calories? In this article you have descriptions of 10 such meals, and their images.
- Vegan Beginner’s Guide, Soulful Body & Mind — A very detailed guide for all who are interested in a vegan diet.
exercise
- ExRx.net — Exercise Prescription on the Net provides you with many free informations for professionals and enthusiasts…
- Body Building.com — This is one of the most popular sites about bodybuilding. In addition to the popularity has a lot of useful content, from the first-class photographs and articles to successful bodybuilding transformations.
- Cycling Performance Tips — On this website you have training, nutritional, and equipment tips for improving your cycling performance.
- Runners Rescue — On how to treat running injuries.
- Aerobics Frequently Asked Questions — A list of Frequently Asked Questions about aerobics.
- Sports Psychology, Mind Tools — List of articles on the MindTools.com on sports psychology.
- Sport and Competition, Psychology Today — A lot of articles about winning and losing by Psychology Today.
courage
- The Courage to Live Consciously, Steve Pavlina — Article that will help you to better understand courage, and two methods to build courage.
- Courage, Wikipedia — Wikipedia offers an informative article about courage.
- Show Me Your Battle Scars, Steve Pavlina — It can be difficult to find the strength for brave deeds and risks. This article will help you with that.
- Security, Ram.org — Useful and interesting view of the security.
- How to Build Courage Through Personality Traits and States of Mind, PsyBlog — Article about the connection between courage, three character traits and four states of mind.
- 10 Revolutionary Acts Of Courage By Ordinary People, Brave New Traveler — Read 10 stories about the brave deeds.
- How to Have Courage, wikiHow — Short tips for those who want more courage
- The Courage to be Wrong, Copyblogger — About the courage to be wrong. (Blog about copywriting is the last place from which you would expect an article about courage, but I like this article.)
- The Courage to Take Action (Brian Tracy), Nightingale — Here you have an interesting text about courage written by Brian Tracy. (Brian Tracy is a world famous author of many books about productivity, goals, success.)
goals
- Personal Goal Setting, Mind Tools — A very comprehensive article from Mind Tools on goal setting.
- Keep Your Goals in Front of You, Steve Pavlina — A very important thing, crucial in my opinion, when it comes to goals.
- 30 Days to Success, Steve Pavlina
Two excellent articles about goals from the well-known personal development blogger.
- How to Make the Time for Your Personal Goals, Zen Habits — 11 tips from Leo Babauta on finding the time to take the necessary steps.
- SMART Goal Setting: A Surefire Way To Achieve Your Goals , Goal Setting Guide — About SMART goal setting.
- Joe’s Goals — A simple tool for monitoring your growth.
- Tips for Breaking Bad Habits and Developing Good Habits, PickTheBrain — 13 helpful tips
- 85+ tools to manage projects, Event Manager Blog — Links to 85 tools for managing time and projects. From software to blogs.
procrastination
- Procrastination, Student Academic Services, Cal Poly — Very detailed article about procrastination.
- Procrastination: Ten Things To Know, Psychology Today – Ten things you should know about procrastination
- Overcoming Procrastination, Steve Pavlina – Steve Pavlina has brilliantly covered the topic here with 8 point.
- 11 Causes and Cures for Procrastination, John Place online – Eleven common causes and tips for procrastination.
values
- The Power of Personal Values, GROWTH ONLINE – Very, highly, detailed and comprehensive article on personal values.
- Living Your Values, Steve Pavlina – Excellent (two part) article. Create the life you truly want.
- List of Values, Steve Pavlina – An important step is to determine your values. Here you can explore a list of 374 values to find inspiration.
- Checklist for Personal Values, SelfCounseling.com – A good exercise for finding the basic values.
leadership
- Leadership, Wikipedia — From basic definitions to the history of leadership, a comprehensive article from Wikipedia.
- Concepts of Leadership, The Performance Juxtaposition Site – An interesting and detailed article on leadership.
- Management, About.com – Articles on management. You can also see the section, “Leadership.”
- Leadership Skills, Mind Tools – A lot of articles that will help you with leadership.
- The Eleven Skills of Leadership, White Stag Leadership Development – 11 things you should know about leadership.
- leadership, businessballs.com — An exceptional guide on leadership
neuro-linguistic programming (NLP)
- Neuro-linguistic programming, Wikipedia — Basics of NLP, especially good for beginners.
- nlp (neuro-linguistic programming), businessballs.com – Easy-to-read article on NLP. Detailed and clear.
- NLP Connections Forum – If you are interested in the discussion about NLP you can visit this forum.
- What exactly is NLP, New Oceans – Informative article on the basics of NLP
- Articles About NLP, NLP Comprehensive – Plenty of articles on NLP.
- Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP), Buzzle.com – Here you can find a lot of articles on NLP.
stress
- Understanding Stress, Helpguide.org — One of the leading article about stress.
- Stress, Helpguide.org – Resources on stress.
- Stress Management Techniques, Mind Tools — A lot of articles about stress, understanding of stress and different stress management techniques.
- Understanding Stress and Depression, SelfCounseling.com
depression
- Understanding Depression, Helpguide.org – Causes, signs and help with depression.
- Depression Treatment, Helpguide.org – What to do?
- When Depression Hurts, Psychology Today — On painful symptoms of depression.
- The Different Faces of Depression, Psychology Today — On the different subtypes of depression.
philosophy
- The Internet Encyclopedia of Philosophy — Everything you wanted to know about philosophy… for your mental growth.
- The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy – A lot of quality articles.
minimalism and simplicity
- mnmlist – One of the best blogs about minimalism as a way of life, from minimalist eating to minimalist fun… by Leo Babauta.
- Becoming Minimalist – Blog about minimalism with quality posts.
- stonesoup – Minimalist approach to cooking.
- Inspired by Minimalism: 52 Awesome Resources on Simplicity – One of my posts with 52 resource resource about simplicity and minimalism.
Some other blogs about minimalism as a way of life are:
self-confidence & shyness
- Self-Confidence, Counseling Center at University of Illinois — About self-confidence and ways to build it.
- LACK OF SELF-CONFIDENCE, A View on Buddhism – Detailed article that discusses the topic of self-confidence.
- 20 Ways to Attack Shyness, Think Simple Now – Comprehensive article on how to overcome shyness by Think Simple Now.
- Internet Shyness FAQ – Website with excellent articles on shyness and how to overcome it.
social & communication skills
- Improve Your Communication Skills, Mind Tools — A lot of articles on communication skills.
- Succeed Socially.com — Website with a lot of articles on “social skills and getting along with other people.”
- Mastering Failure and Rejection (Part 1 of 3), Evolution of the Self, Psychology Today — The first of three parts article about failure and rejection by Leon F. Seltzer, Ph.D.
- Toastmasters International — Toastmasters International is the nonprofit organization that teaches public speaking through a network of clubs.
- Do you make these 10 mistakes in a conversation? The Positivity Blog — Ten mistakes in communication and suggestions how to resolve them.
- Body Language and Nonverbal Communication, blifaloo.com — Some interesting articles about body language.
- How To Initiate Conversation, Lifehack.org — Suggestions about how to start the conversation.
- How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie’s summary of his book, westegg.com — Summary of a great book, “How to Win Friends and Influence People” by Dale Carnegie
- How to be a Brilliant Conversationalist, Lifehack.org — Article with 7 quality points and explanation of each.
- Ten Ways to Improve Your Communication Skills, Open Loops — Ten clear ways to improve your communication skills.
- Better Communication with Employees and Peers, Inc.com – For entrepreneurs and business people.
(friendship)
- A User’s Guide to Fabulous Friendships, Zen Habits – Guest article by Kelly Rigby with a good points about friendship.
- Theories about friendship, Changing Minds.org — A lot of articles on friendship.
- Friendship: The Laws of Attraction, Psychology TodayFriendship: The Laws of Attraction, Psychology Today
- Some Thoughts on Building a Successful Friendship, The Simple Dollar – Interesting article about friendship. You have some valuable points here.
beliefs
- Beliefs, Changing Minds.org — A lot of articles for the research of beliefs.
- Installing Empowering Beliefs, Steve Pavlina – On beliefs, how to experiment with them and how to change them in order to obtain better results.
- 20 Powerful Beliefs That Will Push You Toward Success, Dumb Little Man – The list of 20 beliefs that can improve your life.
- 6 Steps to Eliminate Limited Beliefs, Think Simple Now
- Changing Beliefs, Scott Young
- How to Change Your Limiting Beliefs – The Ultimate Guide, Fun Life Development
- 10 Steps for Transforming Negative Thoughts into Positive Beliefs, The BridgeMaker
family
- Family, Wikipedia – informative article about the family, history, types etc.
- parent hacks — tips for parents.
- Simple Marriage – On creating a better marriage by using simple things.
- Zen Family Habits – A sister site to Zen Habits, “Zen Family Habits is a celebration of all things family.” Pay particular attention to the “Best Posts” section.
- How to be a Great Dad – 12 Awesome Tips, Zen Habits – See what Leo Babauta thinks it’s necessary to be a good father.
- About.com Marriage – A lot of information about marriage.
- 50 Ways to Be Romantic on the Cheap, Zen Habits – Learn how to be romantic and not spend too much money.
- 35+ Sites Made for Web Savvy Families, Mashable – 35 useful websites for you and your family.
fear of failure and mistakes, atychiphobia
- #44 – How to learn from your mistakes, Scott Berkun – Comprehensive article about making mistakes.
- Trial and error, Wikipedia – About the method of trial and error.
- Overcoming the Fear of Failure, Goal Setting Guide — Overcome your fear of failure in eight steps.
- Don’t Let Fear of Failure Stop You From Starting a Small Business, About.com – When you establish your first small business, fear of failure is one of the most common factors for withdrawal. In this article you will find two things you can do to remove this fear.
- Overcome Fear of Failure, Part I — Building the Right Mindset, Litemind – First article of a two-part series on eliminating fear of failure.
- Overcoming the Fear of Making Mistakes, Dr. Ben Kim – Six points to remove the fear of making mistakes.
sleep
- How to Become an Early Riser, Steve Pavlina – Interesting, practical and simple idea on how to get out of bed early from the famous Steve Pavlina.
- 10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It, Zen Habits – In this article, from Zen Habits, you have 10 reasons for the early rising, and how to become an early riser.
- 15 Good Practices for Getting a Good Nights Sleep, Just Keep The Change
- 15 practical tips for better sleep, Spine-Health – Detailed written article with the steps to better sleep.
- Good sleep, good learning, good life, supermemo.com – Most detailed article about sleeping on the Internet.
- How to nap, The Boston Globe – Information about napping
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Wow Marko, this is an excellent resource. This must be the big project you were talking about. I am thoroughly impressed!
I like to reemphasize health & well-being. If you are not healthy, physically, mentally & spiritually then anything above that is a more ruthless challenge.
Thank you for compiling this and the mention (o:
Saved as a favorite in my Reader….
Thank you Ali… yes, this was the big project on CalmGrowth.com
I mentioned your article because I think that these types of articles have the greatest impact on the growth of readers (who are interested in a vegan diet)…
Take care…
Marco,
Wow, you have outdone yourself, this is one great massive list with great information. You are right, I have to bookmark it for a reference. Lucky for me, I already read a few sites mentioned here and others I will be happy to learn from.
Thank you for creating a such a useful list, must have been a huge work!
Thank you for the kind words Preeti…
I am glad to hear that you already know some of the sites… yes, that was a big job, it took me a couple of weeks of research to find, read and explore each resource. However, it was fun and educational.
Thanks again, I am always glad to hear from you…
Marco,
I forgot to write captcha code and lost my long reply!
This post does show your hard effort and I for one sure appreciates it. It is on my favorite bookmarked site to go to place in future. Thank you!
It is always good to come and check your post and learn something always. Thank you.
I’m sorry for the problems with the captcha code, I am aware of the problem, it happened to me on some sites, I will definitely see how to fix it.
Thank you for the support Preeti it means a lot to me…
Wow Marko. This is a tremendous resource. I have already clicked through a couple of links. I can see this was a ton of work and a great labor of love. Thank you for this great contribution.
Thank you Rob… I am glad that you like this post…
This is such a great list, Marko! You obviously put tons of work into it, and it is a wonderful service to offer out to people.
Thanks Gail, yes, that required a lot of time and effort, but it was definitely worth it. And it was so much fun.
I must say, except to emphasize growth factors for anyone who wants to grow, with this I wanted to give credit to all the people who created this wonderful, powerful resources…
Marko: Wow … that is an amazing post you put together loaded with great information. I can only imagine how long it took you to do this research so thanks so much for sharing and passing it along. It by all means is worth book marketing and taking your time to work through each article. It really looks like you have some great ones here.
Thank you so much for taking time to visit CalmGrowth.com and go through the list Sibyl!
Have a great day!
Marko,
Wow!! What an awesome list. You must have gone through many resources and tool to come up with such nice list of technique and tips for us. Decision Making and Problem Solving is probably my favorite sections. I’m going to take my time on them and later go through each section one by one. Thank you for sharing such an awesome list!
Hi Justin, I am glad to see you here, thank you for the nice words
Marko,
Don’t worry about Captcha code, I just need to see more before hitting any buttons on my or other people’s websites. Sometimes I am too quick
Marko,
I hit sent button quickly again! You took out the captha?
Thanks but you did not have to do it!
No problem Preeti, my goal for Calm Growth is to be easy and simple to use.
I see the site as an amusement park, a visitor comes, go through the whole system, and leaves. Will he be back depends on many factors, one is easy to use content.
So I appreciate the comment… 
Mind blowing! You time, work and insight is very appreciated. This is truly priceless. Thank you.
Marco,
I think this site is much more than amusement park, it is place for growth, calm growth for personal improvement. And I like to see myself as not as a visitor but as a online friend.
If that is okay!
@Tess
Thanks Tess… Since you are a person who is responsible for a great blog, I am glad that you like this post.
@Preeti
Of course you’re my (unfortunately only online) friend Preeti, I wanted to say that what bothers you, is going to annoy the visitor too
Marko,
This is a very comprehensive list! I am going to re-read it to get the most out of it. I see several areas in my life where I could use these strategies. Becoming the best version of yourself takes work and dedication – but it’s worth it.
Thank you Marko!
Thank you Angela, for your comment… You are right, to grow and build yourself requires time and hard work, but it’s worth!
Excelente material.
Great info, thanks for useful post. I’m waiting for more