11 Feb 2026 #misc
Even on a phone reduction diet, and even using social media consciously, I found myself wondering what to write next. I had too much on my mind.
To offload my mind, here’s a single-take brain dump of random ideas I’ve found recently:
#1. Nothing can’t be done by thinking alone. That’s a line I found in Secrets to Thrive in Life, a book my mom annotated and left behind.
#2. Don’t network. Write instead. Your words have wider reach than a networking activity or event. Someone shared in Medium.
#3. A fit, shredded body is a status symbol. A fancy house, car, and watch can be financed, but not a healthy body. Allegedly Arnold Schwarzenegger.
#4. The bigger the project, the strongest the Resistance. Resistance being the personification of doubt, procrastination, and self-sabotage. From the one and only, Steven Pressfield.
#5. When stressed/anxious/overwhelm, create. Someone else in Medium.
#6. You don’t owe the Internet consistency. It’s OK to disappear from social media. A creator I follow in LinkedIn.
#7. Journaling can be as simple as writing one line a day. Ryan Holiday from his YouTube channel.
10 Feb 2026 #coding
Vibecoding was bad. But now, AI-assisted coding seems fine.
Nothing sparks more heated discussions than asking coders about best practices. Today, someone I follow on LinkedIn shared his weekend AI experiment to build an app. As usual, “passionate” coders threw virtual stones.
To turn the conversation around, he asked for our unpopular opinions about AI-assisted coding. To avoid burying mine in a comment, here they are:
#1. Use AI as a calculator. Only useful if you know what you’re doing.
#2. Don’t let AI touch code directly. That’s my go-to rule for coding with AI. Unproductive? Maybe. But it forces me to decompose problems and validates AI-generated code.
#3. Use AI for opposite tasks. This is my most recent rule:
If I write code, AI reviews it. If AI generates it, I review it.
According to a recent Sonar survey, only 48% of respondents always check AI-assisted code before committing. #yolo By reviewing, I’m already in the top 50%.
#4. AI is like a semi-autonomous car. You trust it to steer, but you never take your hand off the wheel. Otherwise, AI could be a sloppy coder with bad memory.
AI alone won’t make you a great coder. It only amplifies the skills you already have. That’s why I wrote Street-Smart Coding—because you need more than syntax to stand out.
09 Feb 2026 #misc
After a week of typing, my next book’s first draft is done.
This month, I’m running a book experiment: I’m turning a hit post into a short guide, but backwards.
Today I transcribed the last chapters. Yes, I handwrote some of the chapters. The draft is 7,084 words across 24 pages in Google Docs. That’s the minimum page count for an Amazon KDP paperback. Formatting and front/back matter will add more pages.
Even when hitting a small victory, like finishing the first draft, my inner voice speaks louder. “Do I have something good?” “Are people going to like it?” I have to trust the process and focus on the next task.
Now that the first draft is done, here’s what I’m doing:
- Take distance. I’m letting the draft sit for a few days to read it with fresh eyes.
- Replace placeholders. To finish my first draft in a single pass, I used “XXX” for places where I needed to fill in details later.
- Find typos. I use a prompt to proofread my writing.
- Reduce duplication. If I repeat anecdotes or stories, I’ll vary them or reference earlier mentions.
- Revisit the opening and closing paragraphs of every chapter.
- Revisit the first and last chapters. They leave the first and last impression.
- Print it and read it with pen in hand.
- Ask someone else to read it.
- Give it another break before revisiting.
08 Feb 2026 #misc
Inspired by a Hacker News thread, here’s what I’m working on:
#1. My health: After falling ill in 2023-2024, I began caring daily for my body, mind, and spirit daily, and more recently, for my eating habits.
#2. Less phone time: With about 2 hours of average screen time per day, I’m working to reduce my phone time and embrace boredom.
#3. A book trilogy: Before retiring from coding, I’m leaving all my lessons in books. My plan is to write a trilogy. I already wrote Street-Smart Coding. That’s a roadmap of coding skills. The first I wrote, but the second in the trilogy.
#4. A book experiment: This month, I’m running a book experiment.
I’m turning my most popular post about personal development into a short, actionable guide. My goal is to finish it in one month. I’ve made good progress on the first draft, even handwriting some chapters.
#5. Daily writing: Last year, I hit the 400th daily post.
I began on November 1, 2024, during a forced sabbatical after a layoff.
I’ve considered abandoning daily writing or limiting it to workdays. But after a ban from a social blog, I’m doubling down on my blog and email list.
07 Feb 2026 #misc
I’ve started writing some of my posts by hand.
Last month, I started reducing my phone time. To embrace boredom, I schedule a “Nothing” slot away from tech.
The other day, it was “Nothing” time and I hadn’t written my daily post. So I decided to grab pen and paper to write it. Yes, I had to “work” twice: write and then type. But somehow it felt different.
I’m not alone in handwriting
This experiment made me think of Roberto Gomez Bolaños, aka Chespirito, who also relied on pen and paper to write scripts for his TV shows and sketches.
When he started his writing career, he didn’t know how to use a typewriter. And later when he injured one of his hands, he kept the habit. At least, that’s what his biopic shows.
For my February book experiment, I wrote the last two chapters by hand.
Like Chespirito, I wrote by hand, but only a few chapters. I planned 13 chapters. I wrote the first draft of 12. 2 of them need transcribing. Chespirito probably had an assistant for transcriptions. I don’t.
It might seem like extra work.
But pen and paper force me to think hard before putting the pen down. I don’t have a backspace key. Well, I can cross out lines and scratch. But I don’t find myself going back to edit while I’m writing by hand.
When I’m transcribing (like now. I handwrote this post first), I edit less. Handwriting and transcribing force me to switch tasks and detach from the original text—and of course, slow down from the rush of digital writing. That’s a point for pen and paper.
The backspace key is a blessing, but sometimes a curse. And slowing down can be its own blessing.