February 25th was a very special day, for it was the day the first article was posted on GenerallyThinking.com! Since then, I’ve made 110 posts to the site including this one, and the majority are in-depth, 1,000 word+ articles rather than single-serving internet distractions.
The blog is now reasonably popular and attracts over 10,000 unique visitors each month. Most visitors come in through search engines, but there is a small contingent who visit Generally Thinking several times per week, and I would like to thank you regular visitors for reading my articles, because without you I’d just be talking to myself (and I do enough of that when I’m not sat at a computer).
As is customary when a blog gets a year older, here are the highlights of the last year:
My top five personal favourites (in this order)
1) Five things everybody needs to know about materialism
My favourite post, mainly because I get to put a picture of Tyler Durden in it. There will be much more to come on this topic as I’m writing my dissertation on it (materialism that is, not Tyler Durden).
A run-down of the various studies looking at priming. Very interesting stuff, particularly the ‘fountain of youth’ section, which still blows me away (the research, that is, not my writing skills). See also practical priming, a follow up which offers some suggestions for applying priming to your benefit.
I really liked this post, and it took weeks to research and write, revise and find suitable images for. Unfortunately it didn’t receive the attention I thought it deserved, and despite my best efforts, it only reached about page 20 of Google for some reason, yet it’s better than 95% of the articles that sit in front of it.
An overview of intrinsic motivation and self-determination theory, which one commenter referred to as “one of the best posts I’ve seen on motivation on the web.” Also includes practical suggestions. Two teachers told me they have recommended this article to their students, which I was immensely happy about.
What is this crazy little thing called love, and why does it have such a maddening effect on us? See if you can spot the titles of love songs that I hid in this article…
Other highlights (in chronological order)
The vert first post to the site, and I still think it’s a good discussion of this topic.
I was surprised that this more practical article didn’t take off more, although at 4,500 words its length probably puts some people off. But you’re not supposed to read it all at once, instead, come back and try different things at different times.
No this isn’t a mistake. Noticing that the above post was a little long, I made this little pdf which does about the same thing in about 20% of the words. It’s available for free download, and lets be honest, most people would make you pay for something like this, or you’d at least have to give up your email address! But none of that here. It’s yours for nothing.
“You can do anything you set your mind to” Vs “Stick to your strengths”
A folk-wisdom title fight.
By far the most popular article on this website, owing more to its popularity with search engines more than anything else.
Where to find good information online
Another massively popular post, and pretty useful too even if I do say so myself.
Six Success-Enhancing Behaviours that Good Moods Bring You
The tried and true ‘list’ formula proves its worth again in this popular post looking at happiness from a different angle.
If you’re studying or involved in positive psychology in any way, you should bookmark this post!
A very popular article looking into what happens when you put Tibetan monks with 20,000+ hours of meditation experience into a brain imaging machine…
Differential Susceptibility – are some brains more plastic than others
A look at the work of Michael Pluess and Jay Belsky, who are looking at the Diathesis-Stress model in a new way.
Looking at the emotional impact of flowers, and why we might like them so much.
Thanks again for a good first year!
