{"id":972,"date":"2009-08-19T10:00:31","date_gmt":"2009-08-19T17:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/19\/im-21\/"},"modified":"2018-04-03T09:00:02","modified_gmt":"2018-04-03T16:00:02","slug":"im-21","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2009\/08\/19\/im-21\/","title":{"rendered":"I&#8217;m 21"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Today is my 21st birthday. And, as I\u2019ve done <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2006\/08\/19\/happy-birthday\/\">in<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2007\/08\/19\/im-nineteen\/\">the<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/19\/im-20\/\">past<\/a>, I\u2019d like to share some of lessons I\u2019ve learned over the last year. This is a more personal entry, so if you\u2019re not interested in a self-indulgent post, feel free to skip it. Another article on getting more for life will be up next week.<\/p>\n<h2>Highlights of My Year<\/h2>\n<p>I try to inject aspects of my personal life into this blog. But, seeing as I don\u2019t aim to write for this website as a diary, but a useful resource, a lot is glossed over. So, in case you didn\u2019t pick it out cryptically from my hundred or so articles last year, here\u2019s what I\u2019ve been involved in:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Eight grueling months of international business planning competitions.<\/li>\n<li>Began learning French (I leave for France August 31st).<\/li>\n<li>Saw my website blossom into a full-time income after a few successful projects.<\/li>\n<li>Then, later, watched my website decline dramatically because of my difficult schedule.<\/li>\n<li>Volunteered to help organize the largest student run business banquet in Canada.<\/li>\n<li>Raised over $35,000 as a student fundraiser.<\/li>\n<li>Had one relationship end when my girlfriend left for France.<\/li>\n<li>Had another relationship end when I decided to leave for France.<\/li>\n<li>Released <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/27\/the-little-book-of-productivity\/\">The Little Book of Productivity<\/a> and nearly completed work on my next (and biggest) book, <em>Think Outside the Cubicle<\/em>.<\/li>\n<li>Spent a month traveling through Scandinavia, England and Belgium.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>This year has been one of my most challenging. Managing an international competition schedule, full-time classes, freelance writing, volunteering and a business was difficult. I don\u2019t recommend it. It may be a cliche, but I have learned a lot from those challenges.<\/p>\n<h2>Lessons Learned<\/h2>\n<h2>Spend Time With What You Love, Ignore The Rest<strong><br \/>\n<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>This includes people, pursuits and passions. It\u2019s easy to let other people persuade you on how you should be spending your time and who you should be spending it with. I definitely fell victim to this, getting involved in too much at the expense of the pursuits and people I really care about.<\/p>\n<p>Watching this business wither due to neglect was painful, especially as I saw my time being drained away to commitments I didn\u2019t care nearly as much about. Some of my relationships were also collateral damage in the pressure, so I can say it was a frustrating lesson to learn.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve realized how important it is for me to focus the few things I actually give a damn about, and ignore the many things I don\u2019t.<\/p>\n<h2>Don\u2019t Follow the People Who Aren\u2019t Walking the Same Path<\/h2>\n<p>It\u2019s easy to get caught up, following people around you. I\u2019m not going to say this is always a bad idea, but it is a bad idea when your goals are different. If I\u2019m aiming at eventually running an online business full-time when I graduate, then I can\u2019t operate from the same mindset as someone who just wants a safe job.<\/p>\n<p>I think we all take cues from other people for how to behave, whether subconsciously or directly. But, it pays to ask yourself whether you want to go the same direction they are headed. If not, why are you following them?<\/p>\n<h2>There are Few Genuinely Win\/Loss Moments in Life<\/h2>\n<p>When I started setting goals seriously, I wanted to win at all costs. Of course, that\u2019s what I had been told I would need to do if I wanted to do something great. I now realize that, for the most part, this attitude is destructive and stupid.<\/p>\n<p>There are few moments in life that you can clearly label win or lose. Instead of focusing on those moments, it\u2019s best to just stay in the game. Last year, I would have seen being unable to support myself full-time from this business by my graduation as a loss. Now, I don\u2019t see it that way. Even if I need to get another job and work first, I can still keep writing, keep playing and eventually I\u2019ll win.<\/p>\n<p>I think the reason so many people lose isn\u2019t because they weren\u2019t swinging hard enough. It\u2019s because they quit too early after striking out.<\/p>\n<h2>If You Want to Appear Sophisticated, Criticize Something<\/h2>\n<p>The easiest way to look foolish is to believe in something, to support something, to be optimistic. Because, when you take a stand, you can always fall down on your face. If you want to appear sophisticated and intelligent, the easiest way is to sit in the corner and criticize the efforts of people actually sticking their neck out. You get points for showing their faults, and by supporting nothing, nobody can give a rebuttal.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ve realized I don\u2019t want to appear sophisticated if that&#8217;s the cost. I\u2019d rather be optimistic, pursue and create things that have flaws and be criticized for it. I\u2019ve also learned I don\u2019t want to spend time with people who are quick to criticize and slow to produce.<\/p>\n<h2>Next Year<\/h2>\n<p>Here are a few of the things I will be up to next year:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Living in France for an entire year.<\/li>\n<li>Major updates to the website, including new products and freebies.<\/li>\n<li>Travel throughout Europe and possibly beyond that.<\/li>\n<li>Working to become fully bilingual in French and English.<\/li>\n<li>And, of course, continuing to <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scotthyoung.com\/blog\/2009\/06\/24\/show-up-every-day\/\">show up, every day<\/a> on the things that truly matter to me (writing, exercising, learning)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These will undoubtedly influence my writing for the next year. One of the difficulties (or possibly a strength) of writing for this blog is that the blog evolves almost as much as I do. So, I can\u2019t say for sure exactly where it is going to go, but that\u2019s part of the fun.<\/p>\n<p>Thanks for reading this past year. Interacting with readers has been one of the most rewarding experiences of starting this website, far more than anything else. If a few people enjoyed the posts, I\u2019ll be glad I took the time to write them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Today is my 21st birthday. And, as I\u2019ve done in the past, I\u2019d like to share some of lessons I\u2019ve learned over the last year. This is a more personal entry, so if you\u2019re not interested in a self-indulgent post, feel free to skip it. Another article on getting more for life will be up [&hellip;]<\/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":[681,2],"tags":[181,665],"class_list":{"0":"post-972","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-nc-mindset","7":"category-news","8":"tag-birthday","9":"tag-news","10":"entry"},"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>I&#039;m 21 - 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\/2009\/08\/19\/im-21\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"I&#039;m 21 - Scott H Young\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today is my 21st birthday. 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