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<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nThe last year was a big one. I celebrated the birth of my second child, Julia<\/a>. I finished the manuscript for my second book, Get Better at Anything<\/em>, which will be published in the spring of 2024. We also spent our first year in our new house, having moved in shortly before my last birthday.<\/p>\n Finishing a book while having a new baby kept me busy. The first few months were a kind of synchronized chaos. I got used to the rhythm of waking up, getting my toddler to daycare, going to the office to write all day, coming home, cooking, cleaning, and getting my son to bed before passing out myself for a handful of hours of intermittent sleep.<\/span>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n In spite of all that, I found myself less stressed this year than I was the previous year. Reality rarely reflects our anticipations of it. Doing the work was less stressful than imagining it\u2014especially as I wrote more chapters and felt increasingly confident about how it was shaping up.<\/p>\n By May, I had handed in my manuscript and Julia hit her three-month milestone, leading to a relatively relaxed summer. I\u2019ve been taking Fridays off to spend more time at home with my kids. I even managed to do some painting and sketching\u2014something that had been on hiatus for a few years.<\/p>\n Aside from publishing the book, I have a few things I want to work on next year.<\/p>\n One is to do more of my weekly writing ahead of schedule. While I find essay writing enjoyable, the task has grown since my more informal days years ago. Now, each piece goes through multiple edits, I often do illustrations, and we record podcast<\/a> and YouTube versions<\/a>.<\/p>\n The weekly essay writing of the blog isn\u2019t a full-time job, but it\u2019s not trivial either. It tends to absorb a lot of time. This effect is compounded by having kids\u2014even weekends at home can feel incredibly busy. Thus, one experiment I have for the next year is to batch more of my writing so I can deliberately cultivate some longer stretches to work on new projects.<\/p>\n Another goal is to travel more. Between the pandemic and having two small kids, I haven\u2019t traveled as much as I\u2019d like. But I agree with Tyler Cowen, who sees travel as an essential part of his work, not just leisure. Writing for a worldwide audience is hard if you\u2019re always stuck at home.<\/p>\n Finally, I\u2019d like to rebuild some exercise habits that atrophied in the last year. Firmly in my thirties now, I feel there are greater costs to my health and energy levels from having bad habits compared to when I was younger. Since busyness is ever present, just going to the gym \u201cwhen I have time\u201d is chronically insufficient.<\/p>\n Figuring out what I want to do with my life has never been a single decision. Instead, it\u2019s always been a constant back-and-forth of pursuing new directions and recommitting to old ones.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/painting-1-812x1024.jpg\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\nPlans for Next Year<\/h2>\n
The Path Ahead<\/h2>\n