09 May 2025 #writing
People have short attention spans, and shorter for boring things.
That’s why our job as writers is to keep readers moving from the first sentence to the next and to the next…
I learned from James Altucher, one of my favorite writers, to study the opening lines of the books I read to write my own.
Following that advice, here are some of my favorite opening lines:
Genesis by Moses
In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.
That’s the opening line of the Bible, Genesis 1:1. It doesn’t matter if you believe it or not, those 10 words hook you right from the start.
If you read it for the first time and with fresh eyes, you can’t avoid asking:
- Who is this God?
- “In the beginning”…Was there anything before?
- How did He do that?
- And more important, why?
We’ve been trying to answer that for years.
One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez
Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.
I didn’t read One Hundred Years of Solitude until the end. Sorry!
That’s one of the required books in my Spanish classes. I was too young. Too many members of the Buendía family that I got lost.
Even though I didn’t read it until the end, for some reason, I memorized that opening line in Spanish, its original language. It’s way stronger and more memorable in Spanish.
“Many years later,” so it doesn’t start right at the beginning.
“The firing squad,” what did this colonel do?
Before getting shot, of all things, he remembers his father taking him to discover ice? Wait! Was ice that new? When is this happening?
Choose Yourself by James Altucher
I was going to die.
Five words that hook you. You can’t avoid asking how and why.
To add more drama, he continues:
I was going to die. The market had crashed. The Internet had crashed. Nobody would return my calls. I had no friends. Either I would have a heart attack or I would simply kill myself. I had a $4 million life insurance policy. I wanted my kids to have a good life. I figured the only way that could happen was if I killed myself.
He answers the “why” by giving three causes: market, internet, and no friends. So is he an investor in internet companies? He doesn’t give a full answer to make us keep reading.
This guy is so miserable that he wants to take his own life just to leave the insurance money to his kids. How did he end up there? You can’t avoid empathizing with him. You just want to keep reading.
Reinvent Yourself by James Altucher
It was all over for me once again.
Wait! When was the last time? And why is that happening “again”? And what is “all”?
To keep building up drama, he goes on:
It was all over for me once again. Marriage was over. My bank account going down. Nobody was publishing any more of my books. Nobody was giving me any more opportunities.
If you have read James Altucher’s previous books and heard his stories, you know he’s referring to one of the multiple times he went bankrupt. That explains the “again.”
After that drama, you want to keep reading to know what he did to get back up. It’s a book about reinvention. He got back up, right?
Parting Thought
Are there any patterns in those opening lines? Yes.
- Thought-provoking or controversial statements like in Genesis.
- Intriguing stories like in One Hundred Years of Solitude.
- Rising drama and tension like in James Altucher’s books.
James Altucher teaches about powerful opening lines. And he walks the talk in those two books by building up drama.
A good headline is like a welcome sign. Controversy, curiosity, blood, and drama in the first line create the first impressions in your writing. Remember, you only have one chance to give a good first impression. So, put blood and drama in your opening lines and hook your readers until the end.
08 May 2025 #misc
During a recent hospital visit, I found inspiration to write.
To keep my mind busy and productively distracted while waiting, I took out my phone and started to jot down ideas. Ideas of how to calm my mind and ideas of how hospital visits might look in 2035.
From that visit, I’ve learned four surprisingly useful (and maybe random) things about health and well-being:
#1. Insulin helps decrease potassium levels.
When we hear insulin, we think of diabetes.
But it turns out insulin helps the body absorb potassium faster. At least, that’s what a doctor explained to us. My loved one has kidney failure and her potassium levels were outside the normal range.
#2. Anemia isn’t only because of iron deficiency.
It’s one of the causes, not the main one. It could be due to genetic reasons or red blood cells dying too soon or bone disorders… or excessive bleeding.
#3. Too much exercise before bed interrupts your sleep patterns.
I found this on a study on the front page of Hacker News. I had to do something while waiting, so why not scroll down a feed?
The study doesn’t discourage exercise. It compares light exercise to high-intensity exercise within 4 hours before bed.
That won’t work as an excuse not to move your body. Sorry!
#4. When rushing, life makes you slow down.
In 2023, while finding ways to recover from burnout, I read “The Ruthless Elimination of Hurry” by John Mark Comer.
There was a line that has lived rent-free in my mind since then:
“God [or Nature or Universe] didn’t create hurry.”
I had to remember that recently. No matter how I hurry, I couldn’t change anything about what was outside my control.
07 May 2025 #misc
If you don’t come up with your own plan, society, the system, or the Matrix will give you its plan:
- Work hard
- Get 3% raises
- Please your bosses
- Keep your head down
- Wait to retire
- Then, die
I only learned it after being laid off and recovering from burnout and stomach problems. That was my wake-up call.
I was living on autopilot. No plan at all. Stretching each job until I got bored, fired, or laid off. I was working on building somebody else’s dream.
I wish I had learned this lesson at 25, but at least I know it now.
06 May 2025 #misc
Dr. Howard Tucker, at 102, still works as a neurologist. He holds the Guinness World Record for the world’s oldest practicing doctor.
Of course, the first question that popped into my mind was “What’s his secret?” I had to find out. That curiosity made me read his Reddit AMA and collect my favorite pieces of wisdom.
Here they are:
“Consistency, curiosity, moderation, and a good sense of humor haven’t failed me yet”
I wasn’t the only one wondering about Dr. Tucker’s secret to his sharp mind. That question came up more than once throughout the whole discussion.
It turns out there’s no secret or magic formula. Just good habits practiced consistently over the long term.
… Never stop learning. I’ve always believed that the brain is like a muscle—if you don’t use it, it atrophies. I went to law school at 67 for the mental stimulation and because law fascinates me. Not because I needed another job, but because I wanted to challenge myself. You don’t need to necessarily pursue a degree—read, debate, and stay curious.
Keep working, if you can. I firmly believe that retirement is the enemy of longevity. I’m not saying everyone should work into their hundreds, but purpose matters. I still work in the medical field because it gives me structure, meaning, and a reason to wake up early (though I am enjoying sleeping in more now.) …
Move your body. I walk every day on my treadmill. It’s good for the brain and body, but hopefully you already knew that.
The truth is that there’s no secret sauce. I won’t deny genetics playing a large role in longevity. Genetics is a good head start, but consistency, curiosity, moderation, and a good sense of humor haven’t failed me yet.
This is a good reason to keep following my Daily Practice: doing something for my body, mind, and spirit every day. Since last year, it’s been the one habit I’m following religiously. Maybe I’ll make it to 102 if I stick with it.
“[Your job] doesn’t define who you are. Let your curiosity and how you treat others define who you are as a person”
A young medical intern asked for his advice on work-life balance during residency, and here’s what Dr. Tucker said:
The key is to have at least one thing outside of medicine that is just yours, and you must commit to making time for it even if it’s just 15-30 minutes a day.
It can be anything - a hobby, a daily walk, reading, time with loved ones.
Always remember that medicine is what you do. It doesn’t define who you are. Let your curiosity and how you treat others define who you are as a person.
Replace “medicine” with your job, and that advice still applies.
By the end of 2023, I was burned out. I wasn’t doing anything that Dr. Tucker recommends.
I wasn’t practicing my hobbies. I wasn’t taking care of my body. I had stomach issues. Everything I ate sent me to the bathroom. Awful! And I had all my sense of value in my job title. Wrong, wrong, wrong!
I had to go through a burnout season to realize I am more than a job title and there’s more to life than working 8 hours in a virtual cubicle. I had to let go of the idea of climbing the corporate ladder. And I had to create my own rules for success and life.
Since then, I redefined myself, from Software Engineer to lifelong learner. And I decided to write 10 bad ideas and write something every single day as the things outside of coding.
“The world will always be filled with uncertainty and challenging times”
One world war. The Great Depression. Another war. More than one economic crisis. In 102 years of life and almost 80 years of practice, Dr. Tucker has gone through a lot.
His advice to young generations on making it through uncertain times?
My advice is focus on what you can control - your effort, attitude, and how you treat others. The world will always be filled with uncertainty and challenging times, but resilience is timeless.
Dr. Tucker is living proof that learning should never stop. And neither should we. Longevity isn’t about secrets. It’s about good habits that care for both mind and body. Len, another 102-year-old WWII veteran, also recommends it.
05 May 2025 #writing
Yesterday, while reading I’d rather read the prompt by Clayton Ramsey, with reasons why people use AI to write for them, I found this idea:
When someone comments under a Reddit post with a computer-generated summary of the original text, I honestly believe that everyone in the world would be better off had they not done so. Either the article is so vapid that a summary provides all of its value, in which case, it does not merit the engagement of a comment, or it demands a real reading by a real human for comprehension, in which case the summary is pointless.
That made me think of a key feature for good writing on the Internet:
Write something that doesn’t need a summary.
I declared myself guilty. My first posts were word vomits, with long paragraphs, fancy words, and poor formatting. I wrote to sound like a “writer”.
I blame school writing assignments: “Write a 5-page essay about…” And when we didn’t have anything to say, we started to go on tangents and add fluff to fill five pages.
On the internet, there’s no word count to hit.
Good writing is clear and to the point.