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.
04 May 2025 #misc
Tagline?
“Sith Lord — On a mission to rule the galaxy”
About page?
Late projects and unmotivated team members?
I specialize in putting teams back on schedule.
My unconventional but proven methods will help you lead ambitious projects.
I found in the Dark Side a pathway to many abilities some consider to be unnatural.
Since then, I coach founders and executives on how to leverage the Dark Side too.
I teach them not to choke on their own aspirations.
DM “Dark Side” for a free 30-minute discovery call.
Hooks for the first 10 posts?
- How I found my best mentor
- Here’s how to live with a ventilator
- The #1 strategy I use to manage my teams
- Why I joined the Dark side (and you should too)
- 1 lesson from failing at my most ambitious project
- I had to choke one of my team members, here’s why
- I failed to work with my son, here’s what I learned
- Here’s what I love about being in the Dark Side
- How I put projects back on schedule
- Since I were a kid, I felt different
May the 4th be with you.
03 May 2025 #misc
Learning languages turned out to be the most valuable skill I’ve learned.
It took me about 2 years to learn English and a couple more years to speak with confidence. I went to a traditional language school to get a diploma. Lots of grammar and “repeat after me” exercises.
But I learned French, my second foreign language, in about a year and a half. I did it on my own with tutors and at my own pace.
These are 10 tricks I’ve used (and recommend) to learn any language faster:
1. Forget about grammar. Focus on your pronunciation
When I started studying English, I was obsessed with grammar.
On the first day at my language school, our teacher asked us to open a textbook to start learning rules and exceptions. Later, I devoured Grammar in Use, a popular English textbook.
But perfect grammar means nothing if you can’t get your points across. Work on your pronunciation first.
2. Learn phrases, not words
It’s tempting to start memorizing individual words. A, aardvark, abacus, abandon, abase…
Unless you want to sound like Tarzan, you need more than individual words. Start with simple phrases for casual conversations and combine them like Lego bricks.
3. Change your phone language
That’s the easiest way to be immersed in your target language.
We keep our phones with us all the time, even when going to bed. Turn them into language-learning companions.
4. Change your phone’s alarm sound to a song
Again, an easy way to immerse yourself in your target language. Make sure you wake up to do something you love, or you’ll hate that song.
5. Create your own phrasebook
List situations you’ll face when using your target language and the phrases you’ll need for them. Learning a language for your next vacation isn’t the same as learning it for a job interview. Use AI here as your tutor.
6. Create flashcards with phrases from #2 and #5
Then, study them in every free slot in your agenda. Use spaced-repetition software like Anki for that.
7. Use AI to generate stories with the most common words
Try this prompt:
“Act as an expert tutor in <target language>, generate a 200-word story in the present tense about <favorite topic> using the 100 most common words.”
Then use a text-to-speech tool to generate audio for that story. Boom! Enough material to practice reading and listening.
Again, remember to learn words in the context of phrases. That’s from #2.
8. Learn filler words and connectors to sound like a native
Learn the “you know,” “and uh,” and “isn’t it?” to help your words flow naturally like a native speaker.
9. Watch children’s stories multiple times
Watch each time with a different focus:
- The first time, watch to understand the story.
- The second, with subtitles on, to read along.
- The third, to identify words you don’t know.
This way, you can squeeze the most out of a single story.
If you think children’s stories are too easy, try with a video from the YouTube channel “Easy Languages.”
10. Consume content about your hobbies in your target language
Okay, call me a nerd.
But when I got back home from university, a long time ago in a galaxy far away, I watched lectures on YouTube about the same topics I had covered that day. I learned new words and practiced my listening skills while reinforcing the material I was covering.
You don’t have to be a nerd like me. Replace university classes with hobbies or skills you want to learn. Win-win!
I hope I have no grammar errors here. That would be embarrassing after saying I devoured Grammar in Use. Anyway, learning a language has been my best career move and an AI helped me proofread this.