Alex Shalman.comPractical Personal Development

Podcast: Play in new window | Download (Duration: 22:32 — 10.3MB)

AlexShalman.com Practical Personal Development Podcast #9

Scott Young has been a leader in the personal development field since his teenage years. He started his self-improvement blog nearly 3 years ago, cranking out hundreds of articles, as well as 5 personal development ebooks.

To me Scott represents that feeling of “if I could go back in time, knowing what I know now, my experience of life would be significantly richer, more enjoyable, and much more fulfilling.” Of course, it’s never too late for a fresh start, and Scott Young is a great role model for what’s possible when you take the time to think about your life, and where you want to go.

Scott H Young and His Mission

A blogger at ScottHYoung.com who writes for over 7,000 subscribers. His mission is to provide something that he finds to be really valuable to people. He does this by sharing his own experience, in the form of writing, at… you guessed it, his blog.

His mission is very much aligned with mine, since what I like to do is take wisdom from successful people, that found in meaningful books, and that of my own experience, and write them out in simple to understand and practical to apply articles.

Success at Life and Blogging

It’s all about self-improvement, and trying to be as successful as you can every day.

The more people I interview, the more I realize how subjective the term success really is. I’m always fascinated to know how different people define it. To Scott success in life means having a lifestyle that is fulfilling to him, and consists of having meaningful goals as well as reaching out to people.

Success is not about what you have, it’s about how you live your life. In blogging, success means connecting with people and writing content that people find valuable. It’s important to note that you will receive positive, and negative feedback, so you have to gauge it and ‘temper it with your own value system’. The main question to ask yourself is, ‘are you helping people?’

Most Important Contributor to Scott’s Success

Scott believes that his daily habits are the number one most significant contributor to his success. This combined with cultivating proper behavior, and you have a day that may or may not seem fruitful in the grand scheme of things. However, when you take your daily habit, and run is through 365 days, you have made some considerably significant gains that you can look back at and admire.

Like many of us, Scott’s day to day tends to vary, and seeing how he is still a university student, his summer days are significantly different than the school year. During the summer he wakes up early, goes for a run, tackles a project until about 2pm, followed by some time at the gym, and finally caps it off by spending time with his friends and relaxing. He points out that a day doesn’t have to be 12 hours long in order to be productive, and I’m willing to bet that he gets more work done before 2pm than most people do in a full days work.

Motivation and Productivity

Scott’s primary way to stay motivated is to find a project with a heart in it. I call this defining what you want, and doing that which we love. Many people tend to neglect this very important step of figuring out how exactly they want to live their life, and what is significant to them.

In order to stay on top of his productivity, Scott takes the most important thing, or the thing that he’s least looking forward to doing, and gets it out of the way at the very beginning of the work day. Why? Because this eliminates that monkey on his back that distracts him all day long. Once you get this done, you’re work day feels like it’s on a down hill slope, and it’s easier to enter into a state of flow.

This could very well differ for your life and work situation. You may hate exercising, so it would be wise to do that first thing in the morning so that you don’t dread it all day long. The most important thing for you may be to write a book, so you would take the first few hours in the day to write, instead of putting it off and possibly not getting to it.

Scott Young’s Ebooks

How to Change a Habit. The purpose of this book is not to dictate which habits you need in your life, rather it is for of instructions for installing the habits of your choosing. After receiving much positive feedback on his habit forming ideas, Scott went ahead and elaborated on these techniques. The ebook combines Scott’s personal experience, as well as techniques from popular psychology and neurolinguestic programming.

Learn More, Study Less. Scott Young is best known for his top of the line study skills. In this book Scott goes into great detail to explain the process of holistic learning. This means that instead of spending a vast amount of time memorizing facts and figures, you make connections between the new data and things that you already know. The end result is that you have an intuitive understanding, and quicker learning curve of any subject of your choosing.

Little Book of Productivity. Systems are great, but they’re often geared for a specific type of person, or they’re optimal for getting a specific type of job done. In the Little Book of Productivity, Scott Young gives you 99 ideas that have been proven to increase your productivity on their own. This means you can mix and match the tools, and apply the ones that are most effective for your personality type or the task at hand.

One of the 99 tools is to keep a weekly and daily todo list, instead of one huge list that has everything you want on it. A huge list gives you the perception that you’re never done working, and that you always have work to do. One advantage of a daily/weekly is that it chunks down huge goals or projects into bite sized actionable tasks. The other advantage is that you can set a good amount of work for the day, and whether you finish at 4pm or 9pm, you know you’re done and can stop working without feeling guilty, thus increasing the quality of your leisure time.

Most Influential Books for Scott H. Young

Scott points out that a book might be most influential not because of the book itself, but because of the state that you are in when you read that book. Never the less, books that offer a more useful tool, or a better philosophy will have a higher chance to influence and inspire a greater amount of people.

Scott got a lot of benefit out of The Power of Full Engagement. This book discusses energy management in relation to productivity, which is a topic that isn’t given enough attention. When you figure our when and where you work best, as well as under which energy levels, you’ll be able to take your work to the next level.

Another ther books that Scott recommends is Ayn Rand’s The Fountainhead (which I’ve read and recommend). This book focuses on a persons individual philosophy, in a very extreme way, and points out how we’re all selfish in our own way. The main character is one of the purest people that you’ll ever meet in a story, and someone you might take on as a mentor.

The final book that Scott mentions (which I’ve also read and recommend) is Dr. Campbell’s The China Study. This book provides a lot of scientific data on the dangers of the western diet. There is much evidence as to the effects of this diet, versus the one in the east, and the effects that this diet is having on newly industrialized eastern areas. It will likely change the way you think about food.

More from Scott H. Young

Scott says to: Spend time to getting clear on what you want and what your expectations are from yourself and the world around you. Instead of looking at society’s wants and expectations, create your very own. When you’re clear, you’ll be able to get what you want!

• Scott H Young Blog
• How to Change a Habit
• Learn More, Study Less
• Little Book of Productivity

Practical Personal Development on iTunes

Enjoying the Podcasts? Make sure you click the image above and subscribe to this podcast via iTunes. This ensures that you get the full repertoire of interviews in an easy to listen to format.

Tweet This Post