Your Weekly Friday Brief, Fresh Off the ‘Net

Every Friday at The Inspired Solo, we deliver a collection of links representing the best of the web in the past week, nicely categorized and presented for your reading enjoyment. We do the work so you don’t have to, because that’s just how we roll.

Blogging

• Problogger.com: “Develop an Editorial Calendar for Your Blog” — this post is part of Darren Rowse’s ongoing series “31 Days to Build a Better Blog.” Watch TIS in the upcoming weeks, because we’re planning something very similar here aimed specifically at lawyers!
• WebWorkerDaily: “What Do RSS Subscriber Numbers Really Tell Us?” — excerpt: “But how are RSS subscriber numbers calculated, can they be trusted, and what do they really tell us? And while FeedBurner is certainly the industry leader in “burning” RSS feeds for web publishers and providing subscriber counts, what are the alternatives?”
• Blogging Without a Blog: “What Susan Boyle Can Teach Us About Blogging” — If you haven’t seen the Scottish phenomenon who brought the world to its feet and made grown men cry, you definitely need to read this post.
• DoshDosh: “Marketing Your Website Without Search Engines” — Maki at DoshDosh always delivers thoughtful insight into blogging and web-based marketing.

The Entrepreneurial Spirit

• Lateral Action: “An Interview With John T. Unger” — One of our “not exactly law-related but inspirational nonetheless” selections. Take a look and see what you get out of Unger’s story.
• The Blog of Tim Ferriss: “Stoicism 101: A Practical Guide for Entrepreneurs” — Normally, you won’t find links to Tim Ferriss’s blog on TIS. His approach to business and entrepreneurship just doesn’t mesh with what we’re about at TIS. But this guest post by Ryan Holiday (whose campaigns for American Apparel generate lots of debate) offers an interesting take on the Ancient Greek philosophy for business owners.

The Healthy Solo: Mind, Body, Life

• Dumb Little Man: “Enjoy Life More: Schedule Your Leisure Time” — hey, whatever gets you out of the office and into the fresh air is OK by us.
• Lifehacker: “Learn Willpower Techniques From the Marshmallow Test” — Willpower is vastly overrated in my book. Making changes is all about making decisions, choices. But this post gives us some great insight into how we can resist the temptations that threaten to derail us from our goals.
• The Happiness Project: “Ten Tips for Being a More Light-Hearted Parent” — Any lawyer with kids knows what it’s like to bring home a bad day in court. Here’s how to keep that from happening. (Bonus tip: best parenting advice I ever got? “Let your kids see your eyes light up when you see them after any absence.”)

Tales from the Trenches

• “Prof’s Tragedy Inspires Law Grads to Seek Spirit of True Success” — 3Ls get some inspiration before they head out into the profession
• “Five Reasons Lawyers Get Into Silly Fights At Work”
• “Lawyer Laid Off At Skadden After Surviving Hudson River Landing”

That’s it for this week! What are you planning to do this weekend to recharge the batteries? I’m thinking a rousing game of Monopoly with my daughter, if we can keep the cat off the board this time.