01 Sep 2026 #wellness #selfgrowth
Two years! That’s how long it took me to wake up with purpose again.
A combination of factors broke me: I was at a comfortable job, I stopped exercising, I stopped blogging. I thought only my career and job title defined me, and those frustrations spread to all other areas of my life.
It was a slow process to get back up. It started with small daily actions: a digital detox, a 10-minute workout, and writing. I cover most of those habits in my book 10 Surprisingly Simple Ideas That Changed My Life.
It was the lowest, darkest moment of my life so far. Just thinking about going back to where I was makes me anxious.
Here’s what I’m doing to never burnout again:
#1. Keep a boring part-time job. Something that helps me cover my living expenses without draining all my energy. I keep my expenses under control, so a part-time job as a Software Engineer is enough. My job isn’t the most important part of my life anymore.
#2. Strength training three times a week. I follow Michael Israetel’s idea of antagonistic supersets: training unrelated pairs of muscles per set. I don’t need to spend hours at a gym doing countless exercises. A pair of dumbbells and a full-body routine at home is enough to pack some muscle and stay healthy.
#3. Walk every day. Working from home is great, until you spend the whole day glued to a chair. Walking inspires me. It changes my mood and forces me to unplug.
#4. Publish something every day. Writing saved me from burnout. In 2024, sharing 200 words or a simple thought gave me a reason to get out of bed. Burnout came from disconnection, writing reconnected me.
#5. Have a moment of silence. A.k.a. meditation, mindfulness, or deep breathing. It helps me slow down, quiets the inner voice, and trains me to stay calm…and helps me stay away from my phone and be bored again.
#6. Read at least one page a day. My first step to recovery was to cut down all content, except for inspiring books from writers who had reinvented themselves. That’s what I wanted to do. I don’t want to wait to fall down again to go back to reading. Books are the best way to nourish the mind.
#7. Run experiments. A good paying job and its comfort zone made me sick, physically and mentally. Since then, I’m challenging myself with experiments: quick, low-cost actions that might fail, but always teach. My last experiment turned a top post into a book. These days, I’m running 30 days of Substack Notes and visiting new cafes every week in my city.
#8. Eat consciously. Burnout also brought stomach issues. I hated my job so much that I rushed to finish my tasks, skipping lunch and eating too fast. Bad idea! Everything I ate sent me to the bathroom for days. What you eat either heals you or makes you sick. So I’m eating more protein, more vegetables, less carbs, no sugar, no processed food… In the right amounts and in the right order. Being in bed or stuck to a toilet doesn’t let you accomplish anything. What we feed our minds and bodies shapes the life we live.
31 Aug 2026 #misc
As part of my daily idea habit, yesterday I listed the actions I do at the end of every month. Here they are.
- Make sure all bills are paid.
- List 10 accomplishments from did in the month.
- Backup my laptop.
- Clean browser history on my phone.
- Track monthly income.
- Create next month’s expense note on my phone.
- Sketch next month’s habit tracker grid on my notebook.
If you’re curious, here’s my digital decluttering plan, useful at the end of every month too.
30 Aug 2026 #books
“I already know most of what’s in there,” my sister told me.
We were in a bookstore downtown. She picked a book about reducing inflammation. That’s something we both have been struggling with recently, for different reasons. When I asked if she wanted it, she said she’d rather skim.
If it teaches you at least one lesson, it’s a good book. And if it doesn’t teach you anything, it wasn’t for you.
Reading a book is downloading decades of experiences and lessons into hours. It’s the closest to the “I know KungFu” experience of Neo in The Matrix. Reading three books on the same subject puts you ahead of 99% of people.
I hope my books can give you at least 1 lesson worth keeping. Find them here.
29 Aug 2026 #experiments
As an experiment, I’m writing 30 Substack notes and sharing my favorite posts in a publication.
In January, Medium suspended my account. I appealed and got it back. But they shadow-banned me since then. This month, my posts got around 400 reads. That’s people staying for more than 30 seconds on my posts. At its peak, my posts got 10K reads. That was a good source of book sales.
That’s the problem with curated platforms. Say the wrong words and you’re out.
Some numbers and a suspicious DM
This week, I published first 5 notes in Substack. The best one got 3 likes and ~30 impressions. They brought 4 followers.
The second day, an influencer DMed me asking me what I was working on. I think he’s about to sell something but hasn’t pulled the trigger yet. Good or bad, that’s the only DM I’ve received so far. I haven’t replied to his last message. I don’t know if I will. I don’t like sales call at all.
The feed feels like…the same
The “For you” feed feels…weird?
- Some praising how doomscrolling on Substack feels different from social media. No, it’s not. Feeds are draining. Call it X, LinkedIn, Instagram, Substack…
- Others ranting about creators selling courses on how to create courses. When everybody is digging for gold, sell shovels, right?
- Others sharing 1-only quotes to show off their wisdom.
- Others offering follow for follow to support each other.
- Others begging not to make Substack like all other social media platforms.
I’m still keeping my blog. It’s like working on my garage studio. Substack is for distribution. It’s like taking my best pieces from the garage studio to the Sunday market in the city main square.
For the time being, I’m keeping up with Notes to see where it takes me.
Here’s my Substack, in case you’re there too. My posts and books aren’t going anywhere else.
28 Aug 2026 #mondaylinks
Hey there.
Here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week:
#1. What’s the real reason why most of us use AI? Because our coworkers use it (3min).
#2. Here’s a sample AGENT.md file for better code quality (6min). I still use old-style prompts, but stole a few parts of that file.
#3. RSS co-creatod was prosecuted for something Meta is doing (2min).
#4. “Diversify your income” makes sense. But what about diversifying our joy and identity? For that, try to live without what you love (3min).
And in case you missed it, here are my two rules for AI-assisted coding: don’t let AI touch it directly (2min) and use it as a copilot (2min).
(Bzzz…Radio voice) This email was brought to you by… Street-Smart Coding Manifesto. A case against syntax obsession. Because real impact comes from skills outside your IDE.
Keep coding smart.
See you next Friday,
Cesar