30 Dec 2025 #writing
“If I had more hours, I’d build more things.”
Anyone else feel that? Or that’s just me?
I’ve wanted to quit my day job more times than I can count.
I stopped thinking about quitting when I discovered the idea of a daily creative block.
Two hours are enough to create evergreen content.
Mark Thompson works for 2 hours.
He’s a veteran marketer who now creates for a living. He replies, posts, and runs a community. All in about 2 hours every day.
About working for just 2 hours, he wrote,
Two hours of focus work today can create a lifetime of income tomorrow.
That was one of the lines that made me think recently.
A professional writer doesn’t write for that long.
Mark isn’t the only one with that routine.
Steven Pressfield, author of War of Art, follows the same practice.
In an interview in Huberman Labs, he shared that he only writes for…guess how long? Two hours. After that, it’s time for interviews, marketing, and promotion.
If pros write only for two hours, we don’t need to quit. We need habit and discipline first.
Austen Kleon said it in Steal Like an Artist, keep your day job. I stole his idea of checking a box every time I work on my projects. That’s my plan for 2026 and the years to come.
You just need two hours. Start today. The time to quit will come later.
29 Dec 2025 #productivity
I’ve tried resolutions. But they didn’t work.
On New Year’s Eve, excitement fills the air: holidays, dinner, and presents. But that excitement often becomes a to-do list we never complete.
Instead of resolutions and to-dos, I prefer to go with an intention.
Last year, my intention was “health.” I did something for my body, mind, and spirit every day. One simple idea that changed my life. A 15-min workout session, writing, and a moment of silence kept me sane.
For this year, I’m making “simplicity” my new intention. And to start, I’m decluttering my digital life. Here’s my decluttering plan:
Computer
#1. Before messing with anything, run a backup. It doesn’t have to be complicated. Plug in a USB drive and copy what you want to keep. I use FreeFileSync to automate backups.
#2. Keep the Desktop clean. All those temporary files looking for a folder: Gone!
#3. Clean the Downloads folder. Remove all those freebies you never read.
#4. Archive unused files from Documents.
#5. Uninstall unused software. If you haven’t used it in the last 6 months, it’s out.
#6. Delete old backups.
#7. Archive notes you no longer need or have already used.
#8. Remove screenshots you don’t need anymore.
#9. Clean your RSS reader. Unfollow dormant blogs or sites.
#10. Clean your password manager.
#11. Discard one-time coding projects or folders.
#12. Alternatively, run BleachBit, CCleaner, or similar apps.
For each browser…
#13. Remove bookmarks. I often use bookmarks as a cheap “Read for Later” app.
#14. Clear browser history, cookies, and saved data.
#15. Remove or change pinned tabs.
#16. Uninstall extensions you don’t need.
Online
#17. Turn off email notifications. I don’t need an email for every like, comment, or repost. Leave email for 2-factor authentication or security notifications.
#18. Unfollow people from social media accounts. If they haven’t published anything in the last 6 months, out. If their message doesn’t resonate anymore, out.
#19. Clear saved content from social media apps, like Medium, LinkedIn, or dev.to.
#20. Delete old email notifications. My bank sends me an email every time I buy something. If I still need them, I can generate a report from the bank’s website.
#21. Unsubscribe from newsletters.
#22. Archive reference emails.
#23. Clean Canva projects. Often I create multiple versions of the same design, but only the latest matters.
Phone
#24. Clean the homepage. Leave no apps or icons there. Group related apps inside folders on the second page.
#25. Remove social media and unused apps. Again, run the 6-month test.
#26. Remove memes and large files from WhatsApp groups.
#27. Remove “bad” photos. People in funny poses, with closed eyes: gone!
#28. Remove to-watch or to-read notes.
#29. Clean your browsers’ history.
#30. If you use YouTube, clean your search history and change Google’s Ads ID.
#31. Clear Cloud storage. I keep extra copies when sharing files between computers.
I thought about making a checklist on Gumroad, but that would just add clutter to your downloads. Instead, bookmark this post.
28 Dec 2025 #coding
It’s all over the headlines.
Every so often, someone reveals a model X% faster. A tech CEO makes bold claims about the future of coding. The stock market reacts with euphoria. Prices go up.
AI has also brought new buzzwords. Agents, prompts, workflows, integrations…
Pick your battles
FOMO is real.
Almost every week, I find tutorials about “MCP.” Whatever that means. I skip most of them. I’ve chosen my battles to stay sane in the hype cycle.
I’m still figuring out how to adopt AI without losing my skills and identifying the problems it brings.
That’s keeping me busy enough.
Some things haven’t changed
If you’re also experiencing FOMO:
Don’t worry. Fundamentals matter more than ever.
Plenty of codebases still suffer from N+1 problems, missing pagination, and SQL injection. Most were written before the AI hype. Now imagine the chaos inside vibe-coded codebases.
There’s still work ahead before (or if) AI shines at coding.
Don’t forget about AI. But build real skills first. Then leverage AI. In that order.
To help you build lasting skills beyond the hype, I wrote Street-Smart Coding. The roadmap I wish I had starting out.
Grab your copy of Street-Smart Coding here
27 Dec 2025 #books
Forget 30,000 words. Forget publishers.
For so long, writing a book felt distant: original ideas, months of research, and plenty of rejections. Then I discovered self-publishing had redefined what a book could be. And finally, Chris Stanley debunked those objections with the concept of a mini book.
After attending one of Chris’ workshops last year, I devoured his book, Mini Book Model. Here are 7 lessons I learned:
#1. Start with a problem and your point of view (POV). Instead of starting with a blank page, identify one problem your reader faces and how you solved it.
Since you’re writing about your solution, you don’t need months of research. Often, research is procrastination in disguise.
Apart from a problem and solution, after launching Street-Smart Coding, I learned to write a book description and a one-line summary before the content. That forces you to clarify your message.
#2. Resist the urge of adding more fluff. Unlike traditional non-fiction books, the point of a mini book is to present a message as fast and concisely as possible.
As a guideline:
- If you reach 5,000 words, you have enough.
- If you pass 15,000 words, stop.
A target word count isn’t the goal, but to fulfill your book promise.
#3. Use the W’s outline to present new concepts. With the W’s outline, use one chapter to answer what/why/who/when/where/how. It’s the perfect outline to introduce a new concept. Tweak to emphasize the “how,” if needed.
#4. If you have a process or framework, write a mini book about it. Make each step of your process a chapter of your mini book. Then, go deeper on a step with another mini book. And plug future books into earlier ones.
That’s what Chris did with the whole Mini Book series. The first book, Mini Book Model introduces what a mini book is and how to write one. Then he wrote another mini book about each step in the process.
#5. Use 3 points per chapter and 3 subpoints per point. The goal is to keep your mini book focused and on point. But feel free to use the points you need to deliver your message.
#6. Introduce a checkpoint in the first half. This isn’t a lesson Chris taught, but one he practiced in the book itself. Instead of waiting until the end to ask for a review, he added a call-to-action after the first chapters.
#7. To edit your mini book, read it out loud while recording it. It helps you catch typos and speed up your audiobook launch. Win-win!
Mini books give you permission to write and launch without gatekeepers. No more 30,000 words. That’s liberating. What are you waiting to join the mini book movement?
I’ve embraced mini books in the coding space, and you can find my mini books here.
26 Dec 2025 #mondaylinks
Hey, there.
Here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week:
#1. “AI replacing coders” and “programming being dead” have been all over the news. But that’s not true. AI can “write” code, but it can’t do our job (5min). Coding has never been the bottleneck or the most valuable skill.
#2. Naming is hard. Especially when we’re naming packages or tools. We’ve gone from descriptive to funny, unrelated names (Viper, Cobra, Melody). We’ve lost the plot of naming tools (9min).
#3. If we want to stand out among the crowd, we have to be better than the cheap alternative (1min): frozen pizza, smartphone camera, or AI.
#4. Looking for an interesting read this holiday season? Well, check out Read Something Wonderful. Just a few clicks took me to the 1,000 true fans essays, one of the most popular ones on the Internet.
And in case you missed it, I wrote on my blog about What coders could offer instead of LOCs if AI takes over (2min) and vibecoding ruining CS degrees (3min).
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… my new book, Street-Smart Coding: 30 lessons to help you code like a pro. From Googling to clear communication, it covers the lessons you don’t learn in tutorials. It’s now out on Kindle and paperback on Amazon.
See you next time,
Cesar