I recently polled Ask Metafilter for the best personal development sites:

I want to compile a list of personal development and productivity sites. I’m looking for sites with real, practical information that you can use in your everyday life, sites that motivate you to be a better person, to try new things. Examples: 43 Folders, Steve Pavlina. Please point me to your favorites!

The suggestions included:

  • Lifehacker — The 300-pound grandmother of productivity blogs (and I mean that in a good way — I love Lifehacker). “Computers make us more productive. Yeah, right. Lifehacker recommends the software downloads and web sites that actually save time. Don’t live to geek; geek to live.”
  • Scott H. Young (”Get the most out of your life!”) — Written by a recent high-school graduate! “While you may not have the same obsessive passion for personal development that I do, I hope that what knowledge and enthusiasm I can share from my own research and personal experiences can help you make steps towards making your life the best it can be.”
  • To-Done (”Working to Live”) — “To-Done is a regularly updated collection of thoughts, writings, tips, tricks and information on personal productivity, work/life balance and getting things done.” Discontinued, though periodic columns appear at Lifehacker.
  • I Will Teach You to Be Rich is Ramit Sethi’s excellent weblog about personal finance and entrepreneurship.
  • Manager Tools — “Manager Tools is a weekly podcast focused on helping you become a more effective manager and leader. Each week we’ll be talking about new tools and easy techniques you can use to help achieve your management and career objectives.”
  • Open Loops (”Because it’s your time.”) — A weblog about efficiency and productivity.
  • Slacker Manager (”Paving the path of least resistance, so you don’t trip and fall.”) — A weblog for slackers who work as a living. “When you let a slacker do something they enjoy — and pay them for it — you’ve got the worlds best employee on your hands.”
  • The Lazy Way to Success — “Hard work is passé. The paradigm-shifting concept is “Smart Laziness” — where success comes through cleverly avoiding work but still getting the job done. In this oasis, we celebrate those magical ways where doing less accomplishes more. “
  • Chris Brogan features a “daily dose of ideas about self-improvement and creativity.”
  • Productivity Goal, which is “a discussion about work productivity, time management organization, tools and tips.”
  • Tricks of the Trade — Matthew Baldwin’s list of “professional secrets from those in the know”.
  • What’s the Next Action? (”A weblog about Getting Things Done”) — “This weblog deals with everything GTD and the five phases of project planning as written by Dave Allen in his book “Getting Things Done”. I will try to record and publish my thoughts and experiences with this system to really “Get Things Done” in my personal and professional life.”
  • Getting Back to Work: A Personal Productivity Toolkit, which is actually a single blog entry, but a useful one.

Since asking the question, I discovered Guy Kawasaki’s Signum Sine Tinnitu, a weblog on entrepreneurship and marketing. These are all great sites, but most seem to focus on the “getting things done” aspect of personal development. I was hoping for more suggestions. Maybe there aren’t any other quality sites.