{"id":17536,"date":"2025-08-19T07:26:00","date_gmt":"2025-08-19T15:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?p=17536"},"modified":"2025-11-13T11:15:30","modified_gmt":"2025-11-13T19:15:30","slug":"im-37","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/","title":{"rendered":"I\u2019m 37"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today is my birthday. Every year, since I turned 18, I\u2019ve written a blog post with some personal reflections on the previous year and some plans for the future.<\/p>\n

\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

This year was notable for the conclusion of my twelve-month Foundations project<\/a>, which I technically finished last month. I decided for logistical reasons to work on and write about my own Foundations project three months ahead of the Foundations course<\/a> and articles published here. So even though this year was largely centered around the project, to avoid confusion, I\u2019ll save my thoughts for when the course wraps up at the end of September.<\/p>\n

I had a good year. I traveled to Mexico and North Macedonia, which gave me a chance to use my Spanish and Macedonian again. I ran my first marathon. I read over a hundred books.<\/p>\n

More than anything, this year had a good work-life balance. Since having kids, I\u2019ve definitely softened in my ambitions. Many of the potential achievements that would have been enticing in my early twenties now feel like traps in disguise. I\u2019m reminded of a quote I heard somewhere that, at the end of your career, the only people who are going to remember you worked overtime are your kids.<\/p>\n

At the same time, I\u2019m acutely aware that balance is a luxury. I have friends with businesses similar to mine who have had to downsize considerably. Good fortune, as much as hard work and smart decisions, matters in this line of work. I\u2019m grateful that mine has continued thus far.<\/p>\n

Plans for the Next Twelve Months<\/h2>\n

I have a number of projects I\u2019m hoping to finish over the next year.<\/p>\n

For work, one of my biggest is going to be holding the second session of Foundations<\/a>. We\u2019re planning on running the course to line up with the 2026 calendar year, letting in students in November. Last time the course felt like it started a bit abruptly, so this extra time should help us properly prepare the students.<\/p>\n

This time, we\u2019re also trying to create a book\/journal\/habit-tracker with some of the vital information about the project to accompany the course. We plan to make it available for those who are unable to join, so they can follow along.<\/p>\n

I also have some future course projects I\u2019m going to start researching for next year. While the Foundations<\/a> launch was a great success that propped up our business over the last year, it\u2019s clear that we waited a bit too long between offerings\u2014Life of Focus<\/a>, my previous offering with Cal Newport, is almost five years old.<\/p>\n

Outside of work, I\u2019m going to continue running. I\u2019m hoping to run the Vancouver half marathon next year, along with a local 16 km race that starts at sea level and winds up at the top of a mountain. I\u2019d also like to try a triathlon at some point. I feel fairly confident with swimming and running, so it will mostly be a matter of building more confidence on the bike.<\/p>\n

Intellectually, I\u2019m hoping to use this year to expand my breadth in reading a bit. I had set such a high bar for my reading within the project last year that it made it hard to find time for off-topic books.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m also hoping to cycle through the Foundations<\/a> project for a second time, pushing myself in a few of the areas I want to deepen and firming up a couple of the areas where I want to do a better job.<\/p>\n

More than anything, I feel incredibly grateful. My life has been good, and I know that I owe a lot of that to the support from readers like you. I hope you\u2019ll continue to follow me next year, and I\u2019ll do my best to share whatever I learn with you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today is my birthday. Every year, since I turned 18, I\u2019ve written a blog post with some personal reflections on the previous year and some plans for the future. This year was notable for the conclusion of my twelve-month Foundations project, which I technically finished last month. I decided for logistical reasons to work on […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"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-17536","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-personal-development","7":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nI\u2019m 37 - Scott H Young<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I\u2019m 37 - Scott H Young\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today is my birthday. Every year, since I turned 18, I\u2019ve written a blog post with some personal reflections on the previous year and some plans for the future. This year was notable for the conclusion of my twelve-month Foundations project, which I technically finished last month. I decided for logistical reasons to work on […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Scott H Young\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AuthorScottYoung\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-19T15:26:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-11-13T19:15:30+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/birthday-cake.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"245\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Scott Young\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@scotthyoung\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@scotthyoung\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Scott Young\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Scott Young\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e\"},\"headline\":\"I\u2019m 37\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-19T15:26:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-13T19:15:30+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":651,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/birthday-cake.png\",\"articleSection\":[\"General\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/\",\"name\":\"I\u2019m 37 - Scott H Young\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/birthday-cake.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-19T15:26:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-11-13T19:15:30+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/birthday-cake.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2019\\\/08\\\/birthday-cake.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":245},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/19\\\/im-37\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"I\u2019m 37\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Scott H Young\",\"description\":\"Learn faster, achieve more\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e\",\"name\":\"Scott Young\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Scott Young\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.scotthyoung.com\\\/blog\\\/author\\\/vatadmin\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"I\u2019m 37 - Scott H Young","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"I\u2019m 37 - Scott H Young","og_description":"Today is my birthday. Every year, since I turned 18, I\u2019ve written a blog post with some personal reflections on the previous year and some plans for the future. This year was notable for the conclusion of my twelve-month Foundations project, which I technically finished last month. I decided for logistical reasons to work on […]","og_url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/","og_site_name":"Scott H Young","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AuthorScottYoung\/","article_published_time":"2025-08-19T15:26:00+00:00","article_modified_time":"2025-11-13T19:15:30+00:00","og_image":[{"width":400,"height":245,"url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/birthday-cake.png","type":"image\/png"}],"author":"Scott Young","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@scotthyoung","twitter_site":"@scotthyoung","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Scott Young","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/"},"author":{"name":"Scott Young","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e"},"headline":"I\u2019m 37","datePublished":"2025-08-19T15:26:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-13T19:15:30+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/"},"wordCount":651,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/birthday-cake.png","articleSection":["General"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/","url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/","name":"I\u2019m 37 - Scott H Young","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/birthday-cake.png","datePublished":"2025-08-19T15:26:00+00:00","dateModified":"2025-11-13T19:15:30+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/birthday-cake.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/birthday-cake.png","width":400,"height":245},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2025\/08\/19\/im-37\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"I\u2019m 37"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/","name":"Scott H Young","description":"Learn faster, achieve more","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/9904804296dddc70b5fdedde997fd92e","name":"Scott Young","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/ca5b31d9b26a01360fe494ba6c936b8e0c27dd00453bc606c4ad946850239bf7?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Scott Young"},"url":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/author\/vatadmin\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17536"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17536\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":17888,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17536\/revisions\/17888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}