They say hindsight is 20/20. I’m sometimes a little skeptical — is human wisdom actually linear, or do we get wiser in some parts of life and less wise in others as we age?
There is certainly deep value in what we learn from experience, though, and there’s something enlightening in sharing what advice you’d give your younger self. We were all young once, and made mistakes — who can’t identify with that?
Google developer 
Alexey Inkin
 struck a nerve with his December story “Advice to my younger self and you after 20 years in programming.” While it’s aimed primarily at folks with a career in technology, it also touches on the importance of investing in yourself from a young age. (And, bonus points, it touches on the importance of writing!)The Medium archive has some great explorations on the theme, like this “notes to myself” piece from French software engineer 
François Chollet
 (with lots of insights that are broadly applicable), or author Maris Kreizman
’s “A Letter to My Younger Self on the Occasion of My Fortieth Birthday.”I’m curious: Is there advice you’d give your younger self? Respond here and let us know, and we’ll compile for a story on Medium.
As always, thanks for reading.
Scott Lamb
, VP of Content at Medium

What We’re Reading

Photo by Tingey Injury Law Firm on Unsplash

Why Trump Should Not Be Removed, v3

Published by 
Lessig

I remained convinced that though Donald Trump should not be elected President, neither should the Supreme Court affirm an order that he be removed from the ballot.

2024 Predictions

Published by 
Scott Galloway

Each year, we review/make predictions re the past/coming year. Most years, we hit more than we miss. But we do miss — if we made 10 predictions that all came true, that wouldn’t be predicting but stating the obvious. The caliber of a prediction is a function of what it reveals about the subject, how it frames or reframes a familiar topic, and whether it inspires a productive dialogue. Here’s how we did in 2023, followed by our predictions for 2024.

• A useful list for engineers, from Medium staff engineer Jacob Bennett
• , published in Level Up Coding: “The 5 paid subscriptions I actually use in 2024 as a software engineer”
• Why are we all obsessed with Taylor Swift? Music writer Hannah Jocelyn
•  goes deep on the complex relationship between Taylor Swift and her fans in “Sympathy for the Gaylor.”

Illustration by Eddie Perrote

Experimenting with Handwriting Recognition for New York Times Crossword

Published by Shafik Quoraishee in NYT Open

As part of MakerWeek 2023, The New York Times annual hackathon, iOS and Android Mobile engineers explored the ability to write in The New York Times Crosswords app on each respective platform.

Today’s Final Word goes to author 
Ryan Holiday

, with the most-highlighted paragraph on Medium over the last week. Here, Holiday is writing about his goal for 2023, which really resonated with readers:Less. Less commitments. Less drama. Less busyness. Less screen time. Just less. Part of the reason I want less is so I have room for more. More stillness. More presence.

Read on to learn about what his focus is for 2024 in “This is the Word I’m Trying to Live By This Year.”