A couple of times each month I encounter a very familiar situation when interacting with direct reports, peers, or friends. Another person will ask some version of “What books would you recommend if I want to grow?”, or “What are you reading right now to grow yourself?”. If you’ve paid attention to my most recent blog posts, you know that books have fallen down the list for me when talking about growth-focused content. In their place, articles now sit atop the leaderboard as #1. Articles are much shorter and provide more value per sentence than most books. 

A few follow up questions that I often receive are “What specific articles are you reading? Where do you find articles at?”. I’m excited to share the answer to the latter question here with you in this post!

Top 5 Sources

#1: The 3-2-1 Newsletter: Every Thursday the author of Atomic Habits, James Clear, blasts out the most content-rich email that I believe exists. This resource from the “habit guru” himself consists of 3 ideas, 2 quotes, and 1 question. If I could only take part in one source of growth-focused content each week, this would be it hands down. Read time = 3 minutes.

“Savor the little victories as much as you criticize the little mistakes.”

#2: The Brain Food Newsletter: Every Sunday the author of Clear Thinking and creator of the Farnam Street blog, Shane Parrish, blasts out a newsletter that is chocked full of valuable resources. Made up of Tiny Thoughts, Insights, and a Mental Model of the week, Brain Food is a fantastic source for valuable content. For fun, don’t ever miss the weekly P.S. section at the end! Read time = 5-10 minutes.

“Great outcomes aren’t built on great days, but on consistent ones.”

#3: Friday Forward: Every Friday the thought leader who produced the Ted Talk “It’s Time to End the Two Weeks Notice”, Robert Glazer, blasts out a singular message that’s helpful and thought-provoking for every reader. Glazer’s writing style is clear and easy to read, and his content is highly valuable! Read time = 5 minutes.

“We are often quick to criticize leaders who achieve desired results but use tactics considered harmful or ruthless. However, we are too slow to criticize the opposite archetype: leaders who treat people well and whose methods we admire, but who consistently fail to deliver meaningful outcomes. In organizations, these are managers who are well-liked but consistently miss key objectives, leaving their teams stuck in mediocrity.”

#4: Your Next Breakthrough: Every Monday the author of The Subtle Art of Not Giving a $%&#, Mark Manson, blasts out an email message in the form of Things to Think About, Things to Ask Yourself, and Things to Try This Week. This message is compact and helpful while often attacking unhealthy underlying assumptions that we as people can hold to. Read time = 2 minutes.

“Criticism is proportional to impact.”

#5: 5-Bullet Friday: Every Friday the author of the 4-hour Workweek, Tim Ferriss, sends out by far the most interesting and entertaining weekly newsletter on this list. 5BF is extremely random, ranging from helpful articles full of 100 pieces of life advice to parody podcast shorts that Ferriss himself has recorded and published. While the quality of content rises and falls drastically from week to week, the value is still there without a doubt. Read time = 5-10 minutes.

“Where you live—what city, what country—has more impact on your well being than any other factor. Where you live is one of the few things in your life you can choose and change.” – Kevin Kelly via 5BF.

BONUS: Morning Mantra: This daily email blast is not one that I can rank, because I produce it! Taking content from 10+ years of books, podcasts, articles, and more, I have put together the absolute best of the best content and deliver it every weekday morning. Read time = 15-30 seconds.

“When you hold hire/fire power over someone, you hold the keys to their psychological kingdom”. – Jeff Hunter

In Closing

I hope that these sources of growth-focused content can bring as much value to your life as they have to mine. Along these same lines, I hope that you are able to pass along these resources to those in your sphere of life as well. Remember that what you take in today is what you will become tomorrow!

“Almost every idea that you have is downstream from what you consume.” -James Clear