{"id":12818,"date":"2020-12-28T08:00:00","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T16:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?p=12818"},"modified":"2020-12-28T20:12:35","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T04:12:35","slug":"best-essays-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2020\/12\/28\/best-essays-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"My Best Essays of 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s been quite a year. In January, I became a father<\/a>. In March, the entire world went into lockdown. I also wrote some essays.<\/p>\n

Here’s some of the best writing I did in the last twelve months:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Do the Real Thing<\/a>. Success largely boils down to a simple distinction. It\u2019s glaringly obvious once you see it, but also easy to find ingenious ways of ignoring it: do the real thing and stop doing fake alternatives.<\/li>\n
  2. An Interesting Book You Probably Shouldn’t Read<\/a>. My deep dive into one of the most unusual philosophers of all time. <\/li>\n
  3. Two Types of Excellence<\/a>. Is being the best more like winning a footrace or being a butterfly?<\/li>\n
  4. The 10 Foundational Practices for a Good Life<\/a>. Where should you start in improving your life? I tried a lot of stuff when I first got started, but knowing what I know now, I’d recommend different practices.<\/li>\n
  5. The Surprisingly Narrow Path to Success<\/a>. What does authoring a book, starting a company and becoming an academic have in common? <\/li>\n
  6. What’s Beyond Self-Improvement?<\/a> Why does success often feel empty? What do you do after you’ve fixed the problems in your life?<\/li>\n
  7. Success is Stamina: To Win Means to Keep Playing<\/a>. Life isn’t dominated by races with winners and losers, but by long stretches of road where some people keep on running.<\/li>\n
  8. How Fast Should You Be When Learning?<\/a> Quick sketches, or extended studies? Slow down your process, or speed it up to get more feedback? Here’s how to think about an important consideration in your learning strategy.<\/li>\n
  9. How to Rebuild Your Confidence<\/a>. Why rebuilding can be harder than doing something new, and what to do about it.<\/li>\n
  10. The Complete Guide to Motivation<\/a>. My biggest piece in 2020, this is my review of scientific research on motivation. If you wanted to get an up-to-date understanding of what science thinks moves you to action, this is a good place to start.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    My book Ultralearning<\/a> crossed 1000 reviews on Amazon this year. It’s been gratifying to hear from all the people who enjoyed reading it. (Although it certainly makes the prospect of writing book #2 more daunting!)<\/p>\n

    For those looking to dive deeper, I also released a new course with Cal Newport this year, Life of Focus<\/a>. We had an amazing first session. It was great to work with people over a full three months as they refocused work, lives and minds. If you’re interested, we’ll likely have a session in early 2021 (be sure to add your name on the waiting list<\/a> to find out).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    It’s been quite a year. In January, I became a father. In March, the entire world went into lockdown. I also wrote some essays. Here’s some of the best writing I did in the last twelve months: Do the Real Thing. Success largely boils down to a simple distinction. It\u2019s glaringly obvious once you see […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-12818","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-personal-development","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nMy Best Essays of 2020 - Scott H Young<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"I wrote 50+ essays in 2020. 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