The Best Self-Improvement Blogs to Start a Successful Year

The very best self-improvement blogs available out there.

With a virtually endless amount of self-improvement blogs, aspiring niche bloggers might feel overwhelmed and wonder what exactly makes each one worth learning from.

This is especially important if you wish to start a new personal growth blog in 2021 and hit the ground running.

For this reason, I have compiled some of the top personal development blogs available out there. While many carry similar topics and themes, you will soon notice that not every website is created equal.

Let’s get started!

Steve Pavlina

Steve runs one of the most popular self-improvement blogs out there. Steve Pavlina focuses on “being a more conscious human being,” which he believes can accelerate growth in all aspects of life.

Notable feature: This blog covers everything from relationships to work-life balance to core decision-making skills. And it’s not merely a jack of all trades, as every blog post has so much detail you will likely come back to reread them a second time.

Zen Habits

Zen Habits has always been a fan favorite, and for good reason. Not only does it deliver a minimalist style, but its “no fluff” policy means readers can focus exclusively on learning without wasting a single second of their time.

Notable feature: Zen Habits has always remained true to itself. It’s never gotten shady with overly promotional material or with other intrusive tactics.

Chris Guillebeau

Chris started as a means of logging his travels, but his blog soon morphed into a highly successful website about self-reflection and empowerment. Here you’ll find topics on eliminating self-limiting beliefs and approaching personal matters in both practical and unconventional ways.

Notable feature: Chris spends much of his time traveling, writing books, and doing public speaking. If you aspire to be like him but fear there isn’t enough time, I suggest you follow in his footsteps all the way.

Michael Hyatt

Michael covers everything you might expect from a great self-improvement blog. One article in particular, How to Achieve More than You Thought Possible in 2021, is a short piece that packs quite a punch. Let’s face it, we could all use a pick-me-up after a very rough 2020.

Notable feature: Michael’s blog posts are often short, but this just proves that longer isn’t necessarily better. You’ll always walk away feeling more enlightened regardless of article length.

Mark Manson

Some people view Mark Manson as a cocky individual, while others have sworn their entire life changed for the better thanks to him. In any case, we could all learn from his unconventional thinking about dealing with society, work, and life itself. After all, The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**k became a bestseller for a reason.

Notable feature: Mark is rather unapologetic/blunt, and his blog posts show that. Some of us could benefit from this and learn to be more authentic without the fear of stepping on anyone’s toes.

Brain Pickings

Maria Popova is simply mesmerizing; her articles are sometimes weird and unbelievably thorough – but I mean that in the best way possible. She tends to combine history with modern life lessons to help you see the world in a different perspective and hopefully improve your daily life as a result. I suggest you digest one of her articles each day without fail.

Notable feature: I admire the donation and subscription section that appears after every article. She’s not afraid to ask for assistance, and the work on her blog is worth every penny.

Scott Young

As Scott Young says in his bio, “I don’t promise I have all the answers, just a place to start.” Despite not having all the answers, you can find a vast amount of high quality content based on personal and professional matters alike. The 10 Fundamental Practices for a Good Life is a personal favorite of mine, as it’s gotten me to improve in several areas that were severely lacking.

Notable feature: Notice how big the blog font is. The entire blog is welcoming, highly inviting, and easy on the eyes. This makes it easy to digest multiple articles in one sitting.

Tiny Buddha

Lori Deschene has a passion for everything about mindfulness, friendship, relationships, and especially overcoming difficult challenges. Her no-nonsense policy has slowly gained her quite the loyal following, as you can see from the passionate comments people often leave on each blog post.

Notable feature: Tiny Buddha has a forum! This means you can meet and interact with like-minded individuals and take your friendships to another level. Forums are slowly dying, but hopefully this blog will keep it going for a long time to come.

Goodlife Zen

Mary Jaksch is a well-rounded psychotherapist who embraces health, wellness, productivity, and overall personal growth. She also published Youthful Aging Secrets, which focuses on living a great personal life regardless of your status.

Notable feature: Most articles have a positive and go-getter feel to them, which has helped over one million readers stay tuned for all her latest content throughout the years.

Science of People

Science of People mainly focuses on improving communication skills and overall human behavior. Vanessa strongly believes that personal growth can largely be attributed to the way we engage and connect with others. I can’t help but agree, considering we are social creatures and actively rely on one another in our daily lives.

Notable feature: This website is a perfect mixture of a personal blog and an online store, which helps bring a healthy dose of blog traffic each month. Do you plan to follow suit? I suggest you adapt a similar theme and learn from the blog’s overall style/presentation.

Make 2021 All About You (and Others)

There are far too many websites out there, though the above can undoubtedly help you start a successful personal development blog and effectively leave 2020 behind you.

On that note, I encourage you to also follow each and every one of these authors on social media for the occasional exclusive content, which will ultimately help you (and your website) grow exponentially.