13 Jun 2026 #misc
It started as an email to 7 friends. Now it’s part of the Library of Congress.
In 2024, Maria celebrated The Marginalian 18th anniversary, where she writes to figure out life.
I discovered Maria and her blog, thanks to an interview with David Perell.
It’s a shame I didn’t know about her work before.
Here are five lessons I learned from that interview:
Have a daily practice
When she was asked about why she reads and keeps a diary,
I’m very regulated by having a daily practice
Have a daily creative routine.
Journaling, blogging, doodling…
Not just to improve your craft, but to stay emotional and mentally healthy.
It’s not a surprise that writing saved me from burnout.
Doing something I loved every day helped me recover.
Walk!
I always say I’ve written almost everything on foot and then what I do at the keyboard is transcription.
Walking beats writer’s block.
Makes you take distance from work.
Gives time to think.
Since last month, I’ve been taking walks every day.
I’ve noticed the difference in my mood and creativity.
I take pen and paper with me. Most walks end with a post idea.
Maybe it’s breathing fresh air?
Sleep on it
When they were talking about scientists being artists too, she said,
A few months before my 40th birthday, per my need of a daily practice, I decided to start taking my favorite 19th century ornithological books and every night I would pick a drawing of a bird and read the ornithological description of the bird and I would sleep. And then in the morning, I would take certain words would kind of bubble up and I would make these little poems and koans over the artwork.
I also like feeding my brain and then doing something else.
I’ve tried doing it before bed, but it makes my brain rush with ideas when I should be sleeping.
Always have something to write on.
Maybe a notebook next to your bed or your phone with red filters on.
Like walking, sleeping gives our brain time to think.
AI doesn’t suffer
AI will never write the great American poem, the great French poem, because it hasn’t suffered. I mean AI has not the capacity to suffer…And without suffering, what kind of true art can there be?
If AI can do it in minutes, it’s not special.
Share personal stories.
Put your taste.
Follow your curiosities.
Make it unusual.
Be human.
Don’t call it content
We have reduced creative work, cultural matter to what we call “content” which presumes a container and in a way it’s an accurate description because the container is advertising
I declare myself guilty of calling it content.
I’m also guilty of making things just to stay consistent, feeding the container for a few moments of attention.
Content makes us the product and unpaid workers.
12 Jun 2026 #mondaylinks
Hey there.
I’m writing the prequel of Street-Smart Coding.
This book is my case against obsessing over syntax to stand out as a coder.
I’m writing it for my younger me who believed his only job was to write code. Younger me needed to learn that code alone won’t save him or make him stand out.
It’s a manifesto for mastering the skills that create real impact. That’s why I’m calling it Street-Smart Coding Manifesto. It’s about the why, while Street-Smart Coding is about the how.
You can preorder your copy today.
As usual, here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week:
#1. Here’s Shopify’s deep dive on how they handle inventory reservations (13min), replacing Redis with MySQL.
#2. One lesson coding has to learn from aviation: automation-induced complacency. It means, the better the autopilot, the worse the pilot (2min). That’s what’s happening with AI.
#3. Product managers exist because we coders speak another language. That makes the relationship dysfunctional. But here’s a guide on working well with them (11min).
#4. Japan is a wild, fascinating place. Here are 28 things they do differently (19min).
And in case you missed it, last week I shared on dev.to these 12 hard truths about coding (4min) and, speaking of aviation, some time ago, I wrote about what SWE should learn from aviation (2min).
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… Preorder your digital copy of Street-Smart Coding Manifesto—starting at just $1—and learn how to stand out by mastering skills beyond syntax. If you’d like to support the work, contribute $5 or more and I’ll thank you in the Acknowledgments.
See you next time,
Cesar
11 Jun 2026 #misc
“Are you sure that’s worth it?” she asked him.
“Yes, mom!” a little boy said, nodding.
He was holding two Roblox cards.
One for him and another for a friend.
That family stood behind me at the grocery store.
The boy insisted, “Buy them with my money.”
His older brother tried to convince him otherwise:
“My only advice is not to spend a lot of money on games. I’ve been there too.”
His mom, trying to reason with him, added up his expenses and the money she managed for him.
When those arguments didn’t work, she simply told him, “Buy something else.”
“But mom, you’ve said no to everything I want.”
Most of us would agree that game cards for skills or powers aren’t worth the money.
But for the little boy, it wasn’t just cards.
It was surprising a friend, countless hours of fun, and bragging about his character at school.
Next time you see someone buying an iPhone, a fancy watch, or a designer bag, remember the boy.
We’re just older, and have replaced video games with other toys.
Money isn’t rational, but emotional.
Just like a boy who wants two video game cards.
10 Jun 2026 #misc
Growth hacks are exhausting.
I spent almost a year trying to grow on LinkedIn.
All gurus’ advice felt daunting:
- Post twice a day
- Comment for 1 hour
- Don’t schedule your posts
- Like and repost your own posts
- Use carousels, selfies, and video
I tried almost all of the hacks, except for the selfies.
I wasted my best hours pleasing the algorithm.
Recently, I logged into LinkedIn after a week.
I’ve started using social media mindfully.
And one of my posts got above-average impressions, with no hacks.
I noticed the same after a week off social media.
Publish ideas worth resharing and connect organically.
Good ideas stand on their own. No hacks needed.
09 Jun 2026 #writing
Feeling stuck? Writer’s block? Try one of these 12 fun writing challenges:
- Use only one-sentence paragraphs
- Write only four lines
- Write 100 words
- Write 280 characters
- Follow Smart Brevity
- Use second-grade language
- Write without using commas
- Write a single take post. No editing
- Handwrite with your non-dominant hand
- Ban adverbs, filler words, or common phrases
- Write enough to fill an iPhone screen without needing to scroll
- Write blind. Turn off your screen or use white as the text color