04 Sep 2026 #mondaylinks
Hey there.
Here are 4 links I thought were worth sharing this week:
#1. I’m not a chess player, but chess and coding shared a lot. AI-assisted programming is the opposite of blindfold chess (5min).
#2. Are you anti-AI or pro-AI? Here’s a tech shop that refuses to use AI for anything (8min). This line stayed with me: “Only people are intelligent, creative, capable of actual thought. We can’t let this unique gift go to waste.”
#3. Do you format your commit messages with hyphens at column 72? Or do you also choose your words wisely? (2min).
#4. Experiments keep you alive. If you’re looking for your next experiment, what about taking a selfie a day? (7min).
And in case you missed it, I wrote on my blog about how AI has turned us into couriers, not coders (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
03 Sep 2026 #wellness
You know you had a good day, you’ve been around people you love, doing things you love that you didn’t feel the urge of picking your phone.
Yesterday, an aunt came over after months without seeing each other. We had plenty of conversations, had lunch, talked about books, visited a local cafe, and took a walk. And when it was dinner time, I realized I had only picked my phone one or twice. I did have a good day.
If you’re feeling lost or burned out, do something you love and surround yourself with people you love every day.
I shared more ideas that helped me recover from burnout in 10 Surprisingly Simple Ideas That Changed My Life.
02 Sep 2026 #writing
To write for over 20 years, only think about tomorrow’s post.
Seth Godin, the godfather of daily blogging, said on an interview:
“I don’t post a blog post because I feel like it. I don’t post a blog post because it’s perfect. I post a blog post because it’s tomorrow.”
If you follow your interests, you won’t run out of ideas.
Of course, you won’t be interested about the same subject for over 20 or 30 years. Years ago, I was deeply interested in coding. These days, I’m more interested in building a burnout-free live. My blog reflects that. Your blog and writing will grow and evolve as you do. Mine has.
To write for yeeears, as a rule of thumb:
#1. If you only have a few sentences, write them. If they help anyone, share them.
#2. If somebody else already wrote about it, write it your way. Your stories, perspective, and voice will make it unique. Your fingerprint makes anything unique.
#3. If you aren’t absolutely certain about it, write it anyway. Once you’re certain, write about it again.
That’s how I’ve been doing it every day since November 2024. And when I feel like quitting, I remember Seth sharing about his 10,000 daily post.
Writing saved me from burnout. That’s why I keep doing it. It’s one of the 10 Surprisingly Simple Ideas That Changed My Life.
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.