My Trello to-do list, while simple and convenient, isn’t cutting it. The reason? It doesn't clue me in on how much time each task will take.

I often overestimate how quickly I can do things. I need to learn to manage my expectations and energy better so that I can sustain my efforts over the long term.

Since I experimented with posting videos on Twitter, creating a YouTube channel, and experimenting with a variety of tweets, I've gotten more ideas. And some of them are quite ambitious, like recording multiple hours of video about creating a full-stack web application from scratch.

That's an awesome idea, and one that would push my skills to the edge while also creating evergreen content. I'm excited. But I can’t do it all. Not at the same time.

Especially if the main thing I do is produce software, which I also have a lot of ideas to build.

Juggling several ambitious side projects in a week is unrealistic. I realized this only because I didn't schedule them on my calendar. I had been keeping all my ambitions in a to-do list, which made me falsely optimistic that I could do them all at the same time.

This couldn’t be further from reality.

This takes me back to a piece by Derek Sivers titled “Don’t be A Donkey”. illustrating the frustration of chasing too many targets at once. You might aspire to do a lot, which you can, but the key is to tackle one task at a time - not all simultaneously.

It's about thinking long term.

And to address the fuzzy task estimations, I believe I’ve found an efficient solution: Mapping out tasks and their projected completion times right on my calendar. Plus, put a buffer in the day so you can still have space for unexpected things. That’s it.

It’s coming from Sam Corcos on Tim Ferris podcast. You can learn his strategy in detail here:

On Building a Software Business on The Side

As you might know from the previous post, I'm currently learning how to run a side business without getting burned out.

I found two great articles that offer a good starting point:

The first one is "How to do what you love and make good money" by Derek Sivers. It talks about how to do art on the side and why it can make you happier. But it also makes sense for people who are running passion projects on the side.

The main point is this: you can use your business or art projects to relax. So instead of watching Netflix for two hours at night, you could work on your art instead.

The second one is "Running A Software Business On 5 Hours A Week" by Patrick McKenzie. This is a really good article for anyone who wants to start a business on the side. It gives you the right way to think about things, and it tells you what works and what doesn't.

Dabbling in AI-powered projects

A couple of days back, we had a major event in Indonesia called “Bicara Gagasan”. It was an event where our potential future presidents shared their plans and ideas. The person running the show was none other than the well-known journalist, Najwa Shihab. It was both enlightening and enjoyable to watch.

This got me thinking - wouldn't it be cool if everyone could chat with their potential future presidents right from the comfort of their homes, via their laptops or mobile phones?

You guessed it, I was thinking about an AI character. Before long, I had a prototype ready in just two days and I even put up a demo on Twitter.

That was a really fun project. However, in the end, I decided not to share it with everyone. I realized there were too many ways someone could use it in the wrong way.

But that's alright. I didn’t let the code go to waste; I am using it for a new project. And it’s open for waiting list now. Go check it out! 😄

Four months ago, I purchased a Twitter Blue subscription (yes, I still refuse to call it "X"). This allows me to write posts longer than 280 characters, making it easier to express my thoughts without breaking them into a series of short tweets or threads. It's simpler this way.

Writing shorter pieces is challenging because I have to condense each idea into 280 characters. Since then, my Twitter following has grown from 300 to more than 3,700 as of this writing.

Twitter is great for sharing short text-based content, but a lot of time, I prefer reading longer pieces as well. A high-quality essay can be life-changing. Some ideas are just too complex to be encapsulated in a tweet.

For instance, in 2018 I wrote an essay about Ibn Battuta and posted it on Hacker News twice, in 2018 and 2023. Both times, it made the front page and generated tens of thousands of visits to my site. I also received more business inquiries as a result.

A few weeks ago, I experimented by reposting the essay on twitter, just to see how it would go. Unsurprisingly, it didn't surpass quite many views. Let's face it, Twitter isn't the place for 5k-word essays.

Let this be a reminder: different places on the internet work best for different things.

One reason I still need an outlet for longer pieces is my personal preference for long-form writing. It's hard to produce, but it's a lot more rewarding.

That's one of the reasons I still maintain outlets for longer-form writing. Another reason is simply because I like long form writings too. To date, I maintain a blog at my site jurnalanas.com, and a Medium page.

This what’s on my mind: My website is for English content, especially technical pieces, while Medium is for writings in Bahasa Indonesia. The idea was to produce a variety of content, but I overlooked one thing: creating the content itself.

Managing multiple platforms due to language differences adds too much overhead and creates indecision before I even start writing. It's become more of a hindrance than a help.

So, I'm trying something new: all my articles, in both Bahasa Indonesia and English, will be posted on jurnalanas.com only. This newsletter will be (hopefully) a weekly update every Friday Saturday. It will have interesting stuff found throughout the week.

So, thanks for sticking with me on this journey. My mission is to get really good at making products, lead a deep life, and share what I learn along the way.

Ok, that's enough for announcements 😅.

This week, we're talking about walking to clear your mind, starting to make videos, and what I'm reading about being creative and coding. Enjoy!

On The Joy of Walking Slowly

“Above all, do not lose your desire to walk: Every day I walk myself into a state of well-being and walk away from every illness; I have walked myself into my best thoughts, and I know of no thought so burdensome that one cannot walk away from it.” — Søren Kierkegaard

I recently tweeted about the benefits of daily walks, which have been part of my routine for the last two years. Walking slowly (it's important not to rush) helps me solve problems in my head, generate insights, and make various connections between ideas.

I've noticed this especially when I find myself stopping to take notes during walks.

Walking also helps me relieve stress. While there are other options like meditation and working out, walking adds a unique benefit in my view. It feels good to see the sky and notice small things while walking.

Nassim Taleb takes it even further. In his book "The Black Swan," he argues that effortless walking is almost as important as sleep.

Interestingly, I recently stumbled upon an essay I wrote back in 2017-2018. This piece dives into the themes of solitude and the captivating practice of "walking meditation." Written in Bahasa Indonesia, I'm looking forward to sharing it with you all soon. For now, here's a small preview:

On Making Videos

Earlier this week, I tried something new: making videos. Although I've owned a YouTube channel, it's been mostly dormant. Sometimes I put up tech talks when I have them.

I wanted to see how Twitter's video feature compares to YouTube. Plus, I had some questions on NGL that I wanted to answer. So, I thought, why not create a video, post it on YouTube, and share the summary on Twitter? Maybe I'll enjoy doing it?

My first video talks about how to get ready for a tech career, especially through bootcamps. My second video gives tips for new graduates struggling to find jobs.

Making these videos was easier than I thought. I simply talked while displaying a note-taking app. I used OBS for recording and iMovie for basic editing. It didn't take much time because the format is simple, and the result was good enough for me as a starting point.

It's not only fun, but it also helps me practice my public speaking. I think, maybe I can publish a video every week. I've already planned some future content, including longer technical contents.

I'm not really concerned with analytics at this moment. But, if you're curious about the stats for a very new YouTube channel, here are the numbers for the latest video I published three days ago:

It looks like people don't really watch long videos on Twitter. They usually click the YouTube link if they want to see the whole video.

Book I’m revisiting…

I'm reading The War of Art again. It's by Steven Pressfield and talks about what stops us from doing creative stuff. He calls it "Resistance."

This book is really good and hits you hard every time you turn a page.

I'm in the process of building my first SaaS product. Since it's a side project, I need to stay disciplined. I must show up every day even just for 30 minutes, even when I don't feel like it.

The book helps because it's a good reminder to be aware of the most dangerous enemy that prevents you from doing the work and shipping it. And what to do about it.

If you're also starting a big project, you will like this book.

On Reading Code: Treat It as A Speciment

I stumbled upon an interesting article about the importance of reading code for software engineers. It's by Peter Siebel, author of Coders At Work.

He mentions that even though most people agree reading code is beneficial, few actually do it regularly. That's because code isn't as easy to read as a novel.

Code is not literature. We don’t read code, we decode it. We examine it. A piece of code is not literature; it is a specimen.

He suggests an interesting approach: treat code reading like how a naturalist studies a specimen.

So instead of trying to pick out a piece of code and reading it and then discussing it like a bunch of Comp Lit. grad students, I think a better model is for one of us to play the role of a 19th century naturalist returning from a trip to some exotic island to present to the local scientific society a discussion of the crazy beetles they found.

What was your favorite part above? Got any suggestions on what you'd like more or less of? Tweet me at @oianas_.

Have a wonderful weekend, all.

"Whatever it is you're seeking won't come in the form you're expecting"

— Haruki Murakami.

Murakami's quote nails the reality; it's one of the key lessons I've learned in life and my career so far. It's about managing expectations. Better yet, avoid placing too much hope on people or things.

Plan for bad times, but don't think everything will go perfectly.

We can't control it all. I should be writing an expert article right now. But instead, I'm writing these thoughts. Why? I want my article to be really good, but that makes me stuck.

If I shed these expectations and just begin, I'll likely end up with something good after a few drafts.

This lesson applies to almost everything in life. There are Hadiths that warn against expecting too much from humans to avoid disappointment.

Having premature high expectations, especially for creative and novel tasks, blinds you to the importance of the work itself—not just the end product but the craft and the act of creating.

So now, I'm paying attention to what really counts and what I can control. Talking about how I feel is good for me, even with all the crazy stuff happening in the world.

Sometimes, I think about things I wish I'd done differently. I've messed up a lot, but each mistake helps me grow. I get better each time things don't go as I thought they would.

My current focus? Building a work routine and learning to appreciate the process.

I recently saw a tweet: "In Silicon Valley, VCs don't know which bets will succeed. In LA, producers don't know which movies will hit." Even experts can't predict the future.

The takeaway? Just focus on creating.

Not everything you try will work out, and that's fine. What's important is that you enjoy doing it, not just what you end up with.

About two weeks ago, I casually shared my job hunting journey on Instagram stories, hoping that it could provide some helpful insights during this tech winter season. To my surprise, this sparked interest among my followers. This simple sharing session morphed into a popular Twitter thread (in Bahasa Indonesia) and a week later, it evolved into an online sharing session, drawing in over 180 participants.

The Twitter thread wasn't a global sensation, but it gained some traction. It attracted over 68k views, hundreds of retweets, likes, and direct messages. For someone like me, a Twitter user since 2009 with a tendency to stay quiet and a modest follower count of 300, this was a big change.

I saw this as my chance. It was an opportunity to expand my presence, grow my audience, and muster up the courage to share more of my story.

I understand the nature of virality. It's fleeting. I could gain over 100 followers in a matter of days, but soon, things would return to normal.

Yet, I wanted to ride this unexpected wave. To see how far it could take me. I also wanted to make a difference. To help others better prepare for their own quests in the field of software engineering. Even if the impact was small, I think my experiences could be useful for some people.

I can't deny the allure of increasing my Twitter and newsletter following. As a software engineer and an aspiring entrepreneur, a large audience can be quite beneficial when launching new products.

However, my ultimate wish goes beyond mere numbers. I yearn to see tangible change in the world. I hope to contribute to enhancing the tech community in my home country, Indonesia. Every small improvement counts.

We know that online sensations can spark meaningful action. I also understand that my small venture won't cause a seismic shift. However, it could touch the lives of a few, just like a pebble creating ripples in a pond.

For me, that's more than enough.

So, when my Twitter thread started gaining traction, like a snowball rolling downhill, I decided to use this as a stepping stone. I organized an online sharing session where I could share a more comprehensive narrative, expand on the insights from the Twitter thread, and answer the flurry of questions that I had received.

I created a form and broadcasted it on Twitter. There'd be an online discussion about Navigating The Software Engineering Job Market in a week, and anyone interested could register via the link.

I wasn't sure what to expect. A cocktail of emotions stirred within me – embarrassment, curiosity, doubt. I found myself wondering if this initiative was worth it. It was an uncharted path for me, after all.

The event was to be put together in a week with no concrete plan or preparation in sight. But, this is also outside of my comfort zone, hence this might be a good opportunity for me to grow.

Thirty minutes after I published the announcement, only three people had registered. A sense of shame crept in – was this a misstep? I even confided in my wife that if the sign-ups didn't cross 20 in three days, I'd call off the event and settle for sending out a PDF.

I went to bed soon after.

Come monday afternoon, and the scene had changed – 60 registrations and counting. Retweets multiplied and the following day saw over 120 sign-ups. This was becoming serious.

A wave of excitement rushed over me, tinged with fear, as I had not yet made any preparations.

Questions also flooded in: Can I just wing it for 40 minutes with no set structure or slides? Will a free Zoom account support a session longer than an hour with over 100 attendees? (answer: it doesn't)

Despite the initial hurdles and time crunch, the sharing session was a success, and for that, I am grateful.

While I wouldn't recommend anyone to organize such an event in just a week, this endeavor felt worthwhile. I felt a deeper connection to the community, and the feedback was heartening.

Lessons in Echoes

What has this experience taught me?

We've all experienced that sense of awe when witnessing someone else's ingenious work or hearing an extraordinary tale. They seem exceptional, inspiring, and flawless, while our own stories feel commonplace, uninspiring. “I could never be as innovative or brave,” we tell ourselves.

After sharing my stories about my humble beginnings and the unexpected seminar, I received an email that said, "Thank you for sharing your knowledge. It was inspiring!" I initially brushed it off, thinking that my stories were nothing remarkable.

But then I realized that our own stories often seem mundane to us.

Perhaps even great minds like Richard Feynman and Ben Franklin felt that their ideas were self-evident. But to others, they were revolutionary.

So could it be that what's obvious to me is amazing to someone else?

In this digital era, amplifying our voices and sharing our stories is more crucial than ever. It allows us to reach wider audiences, build relationships, garner feedback, and motivate action.

Just be authentic and genuine.

Be helpful and supportive.

Be consistent.

Be patient.

Often, we are our own worst critics. Yet, it should be the world that judges our ideas. Share your journey, and you may inspire and resonate with more people than you can imagine.

P.S. A shout out to Rikvi, who helped me pull off the session at such short notice. The event's success owes a lot to him!

It's a wild ride of a book - Taleb doesn't hold back in his opinions and isn't afraid to call out people he thinks are full of it. But that's also part of what makes it such a fun read.

The world is full of randomness, and the best way to thrive in it is by being antifragile. Antifragility is the idea that some things not only survive shocks and unexpected events but actually benefit from them. It's the opposite of fragility when something breaks under pressure.

What does this have to do with technology? The answer is everything.

The tech industry is all about change and uncertainty - new technologies and approaches are constantly popping up. Technology is the result of antifragility, exploited by risk-takers in the form of tinkering and trial and error, with nerd-driven design confined to the backstage.

We are largely better at doing than we are at thinking, thanks to antifragility. I'd rather be dumb and antifragile than extremely smart and fragile, any time.

One of my favorite takeaways from the book is that trial and error is the best and most consistent success strategy. Think about it, when you experiment and try things out, you get hands-on practice.

Some people might argue that theories and formulas make things work, like how airplanes fly because of Aerodynamics and Aerospace engineering. But innovation is never that neat and tidy. It's messy, it's chaotic, and it's all about trial and error.

Scranton showed that we have been building and using jet engines in a completely trial-and-error experiential manner, without anyone truly understanding the theory. Builders needed the original engineers who knew how to twist things to make the engine work. Theory came later, in a lame way, to satisfy the intellectual bean counter. But that's not what you tend to read in standard histories of technology: my son, who studies aerospace engineering, was not aware of this."

Taleb presents an even more extreme example: geometry in Mathematics. In school, we learn that ancient Greeks invented geometry and that once they had those magical formulas, they could do extraordinary things.

But this is another case of history being taught wrong. People were building houses, bridges, pyramids, temples, and other complex structures long before geometric theories were formally established.

But Don't Take Foolish Risks

Trial and error doesn't mean just making random guesses. That's where the Barbell strategy comes in. It's all about finding the right balance between two extremes - playing it safe in some areas while taking small risks in others. This way, you're exposed to the potential upside without risking everything.

This represents playing it very safe in some areas (staying robust to negative black swans), and taking a lot of small risks in other areas (open to positive black swans), to take advantage of antifragility. While avoiding being "in the middle."

If you put 90% of your net worth in cash or blue-chips and use the other 10% for highly aggressive and risky investments, you can never lose more than 10% of your net worth, but you're exposed to the massive upside.

Or, you can take a very safe day job while you work on your literature. You balance a writing career's extreme randomness and riskiness with a safe job.

Embracing Risk and Uncertainty in Software Engineering

Now for the folks in tech, let's talk about something that we all know and love: uncertainty and randomness in our work and career. I've come to realize that certain mental models can help us navigate these murky waters.

First, embracing uncertainty and randomness can lead to more creative and innovative solutions. Instead of being overly focused on predicting and planning for every possible outcome, being open to unexpected developments can lead to unexpected breakthroughs.

Second, valuing and encouraging experimentation and failure can lead to faster learning and improvement. This is especially important in the rapidly changing field of software engineering, where new technologies and approaches are constantly emerging. By embracing the potential for failure, engineers can take more risks and try new things without being overly cautious.

Third, focusing on building robust and flexible systems rather than trying to anticipate every possible use case can lead to more resilient and adaptable systems. This is particularly important in software development, where requirements and user needs can change rapidly.

This concept is especially relevant when faced with a situation like the one in my current project with a close friend. We are still building the MVP and have leads on potential customers. Some even already became paying customers. But we are facing a difficult decision on how to move forward. There are some options, but each has unique target markets meaning that we might lose significant potential growth if we choose the wrong one.

But maybe, we have to take the bull by the horn and take whatever option has more potential upside. Take the risk of being wrong, but just enough that won't destroy the business.

Maybe, we just have to embrace the risk and uncertainty.

You try to shake it off, to push through the mental fog, but the words refuse to come. The clock ticks on, and the deadline looms closer, but still, the words elude you. The resistance has a grip on you, and it won't let go.

But here's the thing about resistance: it's not something that can be defeated. It's not something that can be overcome. It's a part of the creative process, a necessary evil that must be faced head-on. The only way to beat it is to embrace it, to welcome it as a companion on your journey.

So, instead of fighting the resistance, lean into it. Recognize that it's there and that it's normal. Allow yourself to feel the discomfort, and then push through it. Keep writing, even when it feels hard. The words will come, eventually.

And when they do, they will be all the more powerful for having been fought for. So, don't let resistance stop you from adopting the practice. Embrace it, and let it fuel your creativity.

Happy belated New Year! I hope you've had a great start to the year so far. I wanted to reach out and say sorry for the radio silence on the newsletter. I know it's been a while since I've sent any updates, but I promise it's been for a good reason.

I'm excited to announce that I'm planning on writing a ton more in the coming year than I have in the last two years.

My focus will still be on web development and sharing my journey of building products and a business. I know that's why many of you subscribed in the first place, so I want to make sure I deliver on that.

To get things started, I've already published a few short articles on my blog this month:

• Beyond the Code: On Keeping the Flame Alive

• Avoiding Resource Leaks with the AbortController API

• Staying on Track with Code Refactoring

• The Surprising Rewards of Parenting

So be sure to check them out!

And that's not all, I have something super exciting coming up, I will be releasing a product, so stay tuned and don't miss out on the updates.

Thanks for sticking with me,

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