Jaga Santagostino Notes

Learning is not doing

Wed, 01 Apr 2026 18:05:11 GMT

Learning improves the doing. Doing is learning Learning is NOT doing.

Social media grocery

Thu, 26 Mar 2026 07:55:58 GMT

Our daily consumption is like grocery shopping. You walk in with a cart and some money, but you’ve got the same time and the same budget as everyone else.

The difference is which aisle you go to.

If you head straight for the candy section, that’s social media. Feeds, shorts, all refined sugar. Easy to grab, good in the moment, but leaves you hollow five minutes later. You don’t even have to choose what goes in the cart. The algorithm does it. You just hold the bag open. When I quit social media, I didn’t stop shopping. I changed aisles.

Now I browse the fresh section. Long blog posts, books, four-hour podcasts. Stuff that takes time, that doesn’t have flashy packaging, that doesn’t scream pick me, but that leaves me feeling different after. One good thing leads to another. An article opens a rabbit hole. A rabbit hole becomes a book. The cart fills up in a way that makes sense.

The strangest part: the budget didn’t change. Same hours as before. Same cart, same money. I’m just the one spending it now, not the algorithm.

And the gap between wandering aimlessly through the candy aisle and wandering aimlessly through the books section is enormous. In both cases you’re letting chance surprise you. But in one you’re feeding yourself. In the other you’re just filling up.

listening your own

Sun, 22 Mar 2026 18:01:26 GMT

Curiosity, calm, desire to create, they were never missing. They were covered. Reducing input isn't silence, it's hearing your own music that was already playing.

Podcasts to music defaulting

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 08:30:49 GMT

Been listening to Franco Battiato and De André nonstop. Light and deep, ironic and smile inducing

Sounds how I feel lately

Used to put on podcasts. Now it's music. Doesn't steal attention helps me sink into the quiet.

An ode to manual ritualistic actions

Wed, 18 Mar 2026 08:29:01 GMT

I can use all sort of automations to post on this blog.

I could vibe code the integration to do it with one click.

But I want to write here, I enjoy the process, what is actually “wasted time” is a ritual thst help me think.

Not everything is worth automating away, how something makes us feel is as important as much how it makes us faster

Not an Eink tablet

Mon, 16 Mar 2026 08:45:02 GMT

In the past month, I wanted to get an e-ink display, a calmer device for reading blog posts.

Android eink tablets, custom kindle firmware, Boox 5” 7” 11” 13” devices

Everything I tried or saw was either too slow, had ghosting issues, or lacked the features I wanted.

Last week, I tried an unusual experiment using my iPhone and iPad with a grayscale filter.

This defeated the original purpose of an e-ink display! There was no great battery life, and it didn't avoid blue light. However, it did make the device less vibrant and distracting, which made me realize that this was the only aspect I truly cared about.

Masterchef USA and Italy

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 13:58:21 GMT

I’m a big fan of Masterchef, watching it is the main reason I had the courage to buy fresh fish at the market to clean and cook or even try doing fresh pasta.

Besides all the cooking tips, the Italian edition is really filled with people that love food, as a craft as an art and as a wordless expression of love.

It’s heartwarming to see the transformation of the participants as people as much as their cooking skills.

I have tried watching a couple of seasons of the USA version, and was so different! It feels more like a reality show while the Italian edition is much more challenging and fine-dining inspired.

Time to see some other regional versions too! Next up Australia

Drive to Survive after my first F1 season

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 14:15:39 GMT

I wouldn't be interested in Formula 1 if it weren't for Drive to Survive.
context: My Formula 1 Journey

2025 was the first year Alessandra and I started watching the races and became F1 fans. We watched all 7 seasons of DTS in 2024 and didn't care much about the races.

However, this year DTS felt different. We already knew everything that happened, and we understood when it shifted into full drama mode or distorted the events of the year. It's strange, I loved the previous seasons, but I didn't enjoy this one as much. I binged-watched the others, and I'm using this as a filler.

I'm way more excited by the championship starting in a couple of days!

Remove first

Sat, 28 Feb 2026 00:01:06 GMT

When something's broken, the instinct is to add. New app. New habit. New system. More. But more is what broke it.

Everything added demands a piece. Attention. Energy. Maintenance. Even the good stuff. Especially the good stuff that never gets dropped. Remove first.

The app opened out of boredom. The feed that leaves worse than before. The system kept out of guilt. The yes said because no felt too scary. Removing is harder than adding.

Adding feels like progress. Removing feels like losing. It's not. It's putting down weight that was forgotten.

Don't ask "what's missing?" Ask "what can I drop?"

Kindle Jailbreak

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 09:00:26 GMT

I need to sync the reading status of some books from my Kindle to other devices, so I need to flash custom firmware for that.

I feel like a 13-year-old kid again, flashing custom firmware on the PSP or installing Android mods for years to come.

I spen to much time on XDA and things like that, believing creating these things was pure magic, wish I started coding sonner

PS: 40 min in, In order to Jailbreak I need to fill the disk first, I forgot how slow these devices can be 🥲

LLMs evolve like childrens

Thu, 26 Feb 2026 08:03:55 GMT

Seeing AI models getting better is very similar to how my child learn new things and becomes more self-aware and self-sufficient day by day

Gratitude journal and practices

Mon, 09 Feb 2026 09:32:58 GMT

The real value of gratitude practices: they force you to stop and see where you actually are

Can't get anywhere without knowing that first

I don’t enjoy them personally but the value is undeniable

No inheritance to my son

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 07:51:39 GMT

I don't believe in inheritance. It comes so late in life that it should be meaningless.

The real inheritance is what I'm giving my son right now. Teaching him things, spending time together, letting him see me figure stuff out.

By the time I die, he won't need the house. He'll already know how to build his own life

Switching to physical books

Tue, 27 Jan 2026 07:51:00 GMT

Switching back to physical books.

Not because Kindle is bad, but because my son can't tell the difference between me reading and me scrolling.

From his perspective, it's dad staring at another screen.

Little things with big impacts.

I have some values that I chose will mark my success or failure as a parent and having him know how beautiful reading can be before school destroys it is one of them

10 minute a day for tools

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 10:44:08 GMT

I find so many nice tools to try every day, but too often they get saved to a list and are never tried properly.

I've recently started dedicating 10 minutes to trying new tools I'm not familiar with.

It often takes less to understand if something is worth exploring more or not.

10 min is short enough not to feel a big commitment, and something I can carve out even on the busiest day.

The cost-benefit is great, and it's fun!

Today's tool was Atuin desktop, pretty interesting!

a dairy old age

Mon, 12 Jan 2026 23:09:37 GMT

What would I do after a tech career?

I still have many things I want to achieve in this field, but I know I won't do this professionally anymore at some point, and technology will become just a hobby

Many people dream of owning a vineyard in the countryside when they get older. I'm not super into wine, but I could totally see myself running a cheese factory in a few years.

I know nothing about it, but I'm all in to learn about it

no bathroom phone

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 21:22:27 GMT

Simple rules for a happier life

Don't bring the phone to the bathroom
Read interesting articles when you find them instead of "saving for later"

avoidance to pleasure of manual activities

Thu, 01 Jan 2026 15:16:50 GMT

I'm fixing some old lamps that don't work and changing batteries in smart-home devices and sensors, which is something I've avoided doing with a passion for the past months.

But now it's so relaxing, good music in the background, and enjoy some manual activity

a will stronger than friction

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 16:26:03 GMT

I don't know exactly what happened in the past few weeks but I almost feel like I don't overthink as much as I usually do, I take things as they are, I don't have force myself into doing hard things, I just do them.

It's probably not a single thing, but a mix of things I have read or watched recently.

I strongly believe you can't fix inner problems from the outside, but more often than not, we can get inspired by others in many ways.

The trick is learning how much is enough to start moving

Can’t skip sucking

Fri, 26 Dec 2025 16:49:17 GMT

Sucking at things sucks, unless we start enjoying the process.

There are things where I deeply enjoy being a noob, feeling every improvement and new knowledge as a step forward. For others, I have a big aversion and try to avoid problems by attempting to act smart and learn all I can about a subject before actually trying, basically “over preparing.”

The result? I don't get it right on the first try!

Well...

No, I suck but have created a gap so large between what I know is possible and my skill level that it's like comparing myself to Olympic athletes in a sport I've only ever seen others playing.

That’s why it's very important to balance doing things, ask your own questions about it, learn, and continue like that, step by step. Going full theory first seems safe, but it’s truly a trap.

I think about this all the time after playing Souls games 😁 We don’t expect to get good at something after one day, but it's unreasonable to think that dedicating time and effort won’t yield results. As long as we don’t prevent ourselves from trying, we are on the right path

Comfort prison

Thu, 25 Dec 2025 17:59:41 GMT

As easy as it sounds, comfort zone is sometimes necessary. To restore energy. To enjoy what we achieved.

But it all we do it avoiding going outside of it, we close outside more life and learning that we could ever do inside that zone.

It can become our very own prison, and that comfort fades over time, making us protect nothing in reality. Lose lose situation

The first Dark souls

Thu, 25 Dec 2025 17:26:46 GMT

Dark Souls 3 was my first Souls game. I knew nothing about the series and bought it from a gut feeling after watching a trailer on TV with nice background music.

Little did I know I was about to enter a world of despair and adrenaline.

The first boss of Dark Souls 3 absolutely crushed me. To this day, I remember beating it as a transcendent experience. It was hard, brutally punishing, yet extremely satisfying to see improvement in my own understanding of the game mechanics and skills.

It started healing my relationship with video games as an adult, which had been broken for a long time.

Today, I started Dark Souls 1. I had only ever watched videos about it.

I expect to be destroyed by the first boss too, a mix of excitement and fear.

Well, I killed it on the first try without effort.

I’m far from being a great Souls player. I’m too greedy in hitting, I panic roll all the time, but it seems like I got some of the basics right at this point.

This made me realize, hmm, this seems less punishing than I expected. There’s a good amount of flasks at the start, and it’s easy to parry enemies. That’s actually a great starting point for the genre!

I might actually start suggesting to begin with this rather than Elden Ring.

Now, back to Lordran!

Cults in tv

Thu, 25 Dec 2025 01:38:00 GMT

I love it when I find in TV a cult movie I never saw, makes me want to watch it right away

This time it was Blues Brothers, it never really intrigued me as I’m not into musical, but I didn’t know is more like a normal movie with just songs and cameo from real singers.

I enjoyed it!

I’m not crying, we are crying

Thu, 18 Dec 2025 09:40:11 GMT

It’s Thursday morning and I’m crying watching a YouTube video.

It’s about Logan, a person I never met and didn’t know before this morning, but the kind of person that’s hard to forget, cause he’s a reminder that the world is filled with brave and good people, and every day we have a chance to live better than we are or be that person for ourselves or someone else.

We are overwhelmed with AI slop, idiotic dramas and trash everywhere on the internet, but some rare moments YouTube keeps of giving and remind me how important storytelling and showing the bright side really is, we are weird creatures, we tend to imitate what we see, and we desperately need these to be the examples.

The comments, are what you’ll expect, uplifting, somehow bonding, ever for people that only share having clicked on a thumbnail to see some pixels on a screen, but sometimes, that’s enough. We are humans after all

Thank you Casey, thanks you Logan

Three requirements

Wed, 17 Dec 2025 23:21:04 GMT

Whenever I don’t fee good It’s because I’ve stopped doing one or more of these things

Taking walks outside
Cooking
Journaling

Mad Scientist mode

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 04:02:00 GMT

Fringe rewatch

Thu, 11 Dec 2025 20:20:10 GMT

I’m rewatching Fringe I remember almost nothing since I first saw it

So far I’m enjoying it, I vibe for JJ Abrams work

Walter performance? Damn such a wonderful acting

7pm movies

Wed, 22 Oct 2025 20:58:50 GMT

When I get to watch a movie around 7pm, I always get surprised when It ends, I watch the clock, it’s just 9pm and there’s the whole evening ahead.

Weird and amazing experience

Marketers world

Mon, 20 Oct 2025 13:12:27 GMT

In the airport, after 6 days of events and conference at Marketers World.

Initial expectations: ungodly amount of trash Actual: I’m super energized, met many cool people and had a ton of fun.

The experiment of going to non dev-oriented events is going better than expected

Music

Tue, 07 Oct 2025 12:11:04 GMT

A kick or a gentle lift in the morning. A companion in boring work.

I love how it can make ordinary moments a good memory

TV positive triggers

Mon, 06 Oct 2025 08:03:44 GMT

I noticed listen to more music and sing by myself after watching x factor and cook a lot more when watching Masterchef or bake off

Date start: never

Wed, 01 Oct 2025 10:21:20 GMT

Note to self:

There’s no prize for the person who is the most prepared but never actually starts.

Preparation without commitment is a delusional waste of time.

What filter is on?

Mon, 29 Sep 2025 09:35:24 GMT

Without noticing, we default to see the positive or negative side of things. The side we default to changes over time but has a domino effect on everything in our life.

I’ve got better at noticing when it happens, trying to reframe things positively can really make a difference, especially when we feel in a rot

Answers but not questions

Tue, 23 Sep 2025 12:02:25 GMT

Some people over-invest in one solution. They have only answers, no questions.

Just music and lyrics

Thu, 18 Sep 2025 07:41:38 GMT

I have a weird recurring reminder. “Read some lyrics”

It reminds me to just sit down, enjoy some music and read the lyrics, most which I never paid attention to.

turning fears into questions

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 12:23:30 GMT

How does X work? Why is Y the way it is? What part of doing "that thing" makes me nervous? Am I doing Z wrong?

I find that almost everything that scares me can become easier to deal with if I try to turn it into a question.

Why? Because I can try to respond to it in a more objective way

action and knowledge problems

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 12:20:00 GMT

Almost anything can be categorized into either an action problem or a knowledge problem.

Action problem: knowing what to do or avoid doing to achieve a specific result or learning.

Knowledge problem: we lack enough information to act with confidence that we will get to something valuable

It's easy to be stuck in a loop or chain of knowledge problems, but I've learned that the most important thing in these scenarios is getting to the least amount of information we need to actually start experimenting and doing. This allows us to convert knowledge into direct experience, which is always more valuable than acquiring more and more learning from someone else's experience.

Rule of thumb: have a bias for action

No phone mornings

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 09:53:15 GMT

I'm experimenting with not using the phone in the morning. Keeping it shut down, actually.

The available time seems to be expanding. Anything I finish, I see the clock and think "oh wow, it's still early."

Some daily random books summary

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 08:44:52 GMT

https://www.blinkist.com/en/app/daily

They do have a free summary (they call their summary a Blink) every day.

Blinkist is a book summaries service. I've been subscribed to it for a couple of years due to massive discounts. The app is horrendous and bug-filled. 15-20 minutes are usually not enough to give a book enough depth, and I would never get it at full price.

but...

Sometimes I like to listen to totally random books I would not usually spend the time on. Politics, feminism, sexuality, ghosts, spirits, conspiracies, and any topic really, from time to time is interesting to listen to something totally outside of our normal information diet.

Dexter books

Wed, 10 Sep 2025 14:52:35 GMT

I knew that characters of the tv show Dexter and the first season were adapted from a book, but I just discovered is it a series of eight books! With a different storyline, worth trying

There’s solution and solution

Sun, 07 Sep 2025 09:55:37 GMT

Learning how to solve something by understanding first principles and learning how to get rid of an urgent problem are two different things, both with their merits.

Using the wrong approach for the situation at hand can be very costly and frustrating

The soap identity change

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 19:23:22 GMT

For most of my life I hated soap bars, I disliked the sensation it gave me while drying up.

At some point I constantly forgot to buy shower get and started using the soap bars that we all always receive as a gift as some point.

After a couple times I started not bothering, and actually enjoy the scented soap bars.

Now I go to Lush on purpose to get a big variety of different soap bars, all these things smells so good, is a little daily treat

Retail job

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 19:15:05 GMT

While working in retail isn’t something for me, I always thought that if that was the case I would be working at Decathlon or Lush, I love going there

First Sardinia climbing

Fri, 05 Sep 2025 18:14:12 GMT

After 2 years I’ve finally went to do rock climbing’s in Sardinia after 2 years

Body took a while to get confident with different rock and mind to trust my no longer trained body, but it was great!

Fun fact I went with a friend meet here and we had exactly complementary gear for lead climbing

Seaview while on the wall and the sunset is good!

Paper Books unfair advantage

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 08:43:26 GMT

I love my Kindle, it's probably one of the first things I would bring to a deserted island, but there are two things I love about paper (or dead-tree edition, I once read it and found it hilarious).
#1 I can have many books, each lying around in a different room, ready for a quick read. It makes a frictionless serendipity reading just happen, I purposely leave books on tables, in the bathroom, on the balcony, etc.

#2 I can put notes with a pencil, make drawings, and mark sections in a very free-form way. I don't like to just highlight, I like to mark with different intents, e.g., this passage is interesting, this was an aha moment, this was something that I disagree with, etc. I use different symbols for these. I'm not super consistent, nor do I care too much about it, it's just something I end up doing when I have a pencil.

Falltime sadnesses ☀️🍁

Wed, 03 Sep 2025 06:43:56 GMT

Even if it’s just the start of September, I’m noticing the daylight shrinking.

It makes me feel like the days are shorter and their available time. I want to try some experiments, like making my desk more cozy and inviting so Im less likely to just get ok the sofa as soon as the sun is gone.

I’m feeling productive in the evening lately, I want to continue that way 💪

The Mom Test

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 22:36:36 GMT

I need to do some custom interviews and product features validation, so I started a book I’ve read in the past that is considered the gold standard to get honest and useful feedbacks, The Mom Test

Turns out it’s even better than I remembered and is soooo small, about 100 pages

It’s crazy to think that much value can be found is books that are so small

Update after a few days: Is so interesting that I tuned off Netflix to read some more

Update after finish: Glad I spend the time reading it again

Kindle’s unique problem

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 20:41:43 GMT

Kills the serendipity of finding a book somewhere in the house.

From the last years when in standby is uses the book cover of current book, and that was a massive improvement, but given I use a cover to avoid scratches when in the bags i never see it 🥲

*I read s few pages of a book i purposely left in the bathroom to get some serendipity, it worked

devtooling around

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 14:50:00 GMT

I spent way less time than usual on social media in the past weeks by focusing on longer-form content, both podcasts and blog posts.

A surprisingly nice side effect is that I read more blogs on a computer than usual, and this led me to play around with sources to see how things are implemented, a very "hacky" way to learn stuff that gives me a lot of joy. Pure passion leads to learning and great respect for the people that spend the time to make something beautiful.

eg https://rauno.me https://devouringdetails.com/

the freedom of my own piece of internet

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 11:59:06 GMT

I always overcomplicated thinking about publishing things online, where to post, how to post it, in what language, etc etc, but since I started this blog, I'm feeling so free to use it as my own corner on the internet, is others enjoy it, cool! (reach out) If not, so be it.

Same for having different YouTube Channels that are thematic and language dependent, I like knowing I can post things based on my mood and interest in that period, who cares if there are times where from one video to another there are 3 months and other times where there are 15 videos in 2 weeks?

Wish I had accepted that sooner

Advices age restriction

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 07:26:10 GMT

A lot of advices only makes sense in the context of your own age.

I would not give my 15 yo self the same advices I would give to myself at 20, 25 or 30. Not because “They wouldn’t get it”, but because these ages comes with different focuses, opportunities and responsibilities, mixing them is very dangerous.

A 40 yo viewpoint to work life balance, while totally right, might kill the ambition of a kid with way more than and energy for example.

Your own path

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 09:52:03 GMT

Getting inspired by other’s success and failures is important but ultimately we have to build our own path in consciousness. That’s the difference in living you life and aging

The fallacy of a bigger house

Sat, 30 Aug 2025 18:01:28 GMT

Is common to see people move farther from the city center in order to afford a bigger house.

That’s a good idea if you feel like lacking space and want more, eg a garden you enjoy caring for, dedicated rooms for hobbies, children or home offices, especially if you enjoy the perks of being closer to nature etc.

But what I often see it people moving to bigger houses without the need of that space, and having a social circle that makes you go often in the city anyway, basically spending more time and money going back and forth. Sure you have a guest room now, but who would ever want to stay there if it’s 30km from the city center?

Now I live in a big house 20min to the sea walking, but I would totally go for a smaller one closer to it, but would never go to a bigger one that prevents me from going to nature without crossing highways

Long form podcasts

Tue, 26 Aug 2025 11:25:05 GMT

Past week I blocked all social media via Jomo and consumed none.

This made me start listening long podcasts again, those 3-5 hours long content that I start and stop when I have available time.

The overall feeling of quality inflow is on a completely different level

fear setting

Thu, 21 Aug 2025 12:46:41 GMT

I find a great deal of clarity through writing and journaling.

Just (over)thinking through problems doesn't work.

Premeditatio Malorum, or negative visualization, is an exercise I've been doing from time to time for years, to try to give my fears and problems an objective shape, something I can deal with logically rather than just emotionally.

Fear -> Clarity -> Action

Knowledge in happiness

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 14:39:40 GMT

The happiest and most fulfilled people I know, have a pretty solid Ideas of things they enjoy or make them miserable, especially those things that are weird about themselves.

Clarity (and self acceptance) is a stepping stone for happiness.

Some examples from me.

Bad meals makes me very upset, I’d rather fast.

I don’t mind spending €300 for a fine dining meal (makes me happy) but hate spending on hotels.

Buying nice things makes me enjoy working more, creating a virtuous cycle.

I don’t mind working on holidays, weekends and lunchtime. I enjoy reading during office hours.

Pulling an all-nighter from time to time shuffle my routines positively

Music always makes my mood better, dancing too.

More often than not a walk is the best thing I can do, no matter other urgencies.

It’s fine to drop books you are not enjoying

Formula 1

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 09:10:48 GMT

Chain of actions that unfold into long lasting effects.

I consider myself a Formula 1 fan now but couldn’t care less 2 years ago, actually I found it very boring.

Me and my partners like to spend time watching the pre-race interviews, post race, free practice etc.

What changed?

Started following the championship this year. 2025, and most weekends goes there now.

Started caring about F1 after watching Drive To Survive on Netflix, an amazing series I forced a lot of people watch 😄 It made me learn about the people, the team dynamics the drama around F1 I loved it.

I started watching Drive To Survive after watching Brawn GP A documentary about a Formula one team that I found really fascinating.

I started Brawn GP because my son wanted to see Pixars’s cars for the 6362778 time and I needed someone else.

I considered it cause I spent some time with a person passionated about F1, he got very into it in short time. Is amazing to see adults get into new hobbies and passions so I agreed to order a takeaway to see a race with him instead of going out for dinner once.

So here’s the reason, pretty random and almost didn’t happen

Adriano Viterbini serendipity

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 08:57:08 GMT

I’m taking a break before hotel checkout and listening to Spofity, Adriano Viterbini starts and I notice a very small number of monthly listeners, what a surprise, he’s very good, I then remembered how I got to know him, in a small town playing live during a festival.

Isn’t it crazy how we find things that we like by pure chance? Very unlikely to ever happen again.

https://open.spotify.com/track/3InOdpIrQHuNk1X2iO5rdw?si=Bn2_xgDZR3i0r6m2dt-TCw

https://open.spotify.com/track/12wLIprChdxUTWztc6hZV2?si=0y6awHK7Rp-LUGDpvkqpWw

https://open.spotify.com/track/22Wh73wa0QNfD9mNw8FtLz?si=BVDB4WONTfq6B_rS-vgu5w

Where’s my attention at?

Mon, 18 Aug 2025 07:50:15 GMT

Is my attention on what others think of me and my action?

Or is it on the things I act upon?

That’s a small reality check worth making on a regular basis

Validation

Sat, 16 Aug 2025 13:32:26 GMT

Many people value external validation more than self worth and internal validation.

That’s a pitiful prison.

Imagine forging it yourself

What if: books in the breaks

Sat, 16 Aug 2025 13:28:18 GMT

What if we read a book for 2 minutes, 5 or 15 minutes instead of defaulting to social?

I feel like books give me energy while social just consume it

Song lyrics are just ordered words

Tue, 12 Aug 2025 09:47:38 GMT

I'm in a bar messaging with a friend and shared this song just because the title made sense in the discussion, and I started to read the lyrics. Pretty much any English song, even if I can sing them from memory, I don't know what they are about.

It made sense for things I learned before learning English, but I've just noticed that it's still the same for anything I learned after or recently. I don't even try to translate them, despite being able to do it in real time.

Why is that? Maybe my mind is trying to protect me from some cheesy lyrics? 😄

It makes me think about the things we know without understanding. Probably, many people are doing this with software and code.

Hardwiring defaulting to happiness

Mon, 11 Aug 2025 06:14:58 GMT

I read this article yesterday, to discuss in a Mastermind group I do with a group of friends

Hardwiring Happiness

My Highlights:

According to Dr. Hanson, depressive people have brains that are like Velcro for the negative and Teflon for the positive, they glom on to the bad stuff, while letting the good stuff slide past.⁠

This resonates a lot with me, could be a description of my default state of being. I have done a lot of work on myself and improved but that’s where I fall to as a baseline. Surely I understood that I can change it.

think of these dedicated sessions as gym time for my mind to strengthen its positive networks.⁠⁠

Much like training a muscle, seeing the bright side of things is a matter of practice, there are times where things are going well and all we see around us are the positives, but learning to influence this things even when we are now at our best is a great skill

she just appreciates that I’m doing something to proactively tackle one of my issues, that’s the real secret of marital happiness — you never have to become perfect or completely overcome your problem, your spouse just wants you to acknowledge the issue and see that you’re earnestly trying to work on it.⁠⁠

Effort and trying is a big thing

—-

This morning I tried doing the experiment proposed in the article.

Have a positive experience Enrich it Absorb it Link it

I’m in my bed with my family. The AC gives me a nice temperature, I can touch them. I feel somehow refreshed despite having slept 6 hours, I’m into a Dexter rewatch and it’s shifting my bed time 🩸 . I need to wake up to have a call at 8:30 in the Monday morning, I proposed that time and day. Instead of cursing myself I enjoy what it means, kickstarting the week talking to my friends for the mastermind, a good dose of positivity and intellectual stimulation. I’m glad I have this going on.

Somehow trying to things about the positive side comes easier and feel less artificial than other practices like gratitude. Maybe because is more of a mental model, and I like that.

Lately I’m thinking about all the negatives and difficulties of a project I’m about to launch, but I can twist it and think about all the good! I have the possibility to shape it how I like, to learn a lot, to change my mind if needed. Having full responsibility, I can stay in my badass office and create my future and my possibilities. This is a dream for most people, I can do I and I’m not expressing this gift.

I always thought most of life is about mindset, but while I tried to invert my velcro/teflon default I lacked something simple to apply. I’ll try this out for a while

Narrowing on domain specific problems

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 10:04:03 GMT

I like domain specific problems more than I like generic problems, even if it means having a much smaller area of influence.

Specific problems come with a stronger set of constraints, these become the rules to play by.

This might also be the reason most companies missions of statements don’t resonate with me, cause are too vague or open to conflicting interpretations.

cheese lovers 🧀

Wed, 06 Aug 2025 09:30:50 GMT

We love cheese, to the point that we consider going to the market or local producers a family-trip worthy experience.

Starting a Dexter rewatch

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 19:41:14 GMT

Today I started a rewatch of Dexter

Part of this blog is to collect breadcrumbs for my future self, I usually added this kind of stuff in a private journal but doing it publicly kind of help me thinking deeper about the meaning of things.

Many years passed since I first watched it, I have a good memory of it, it’s a great show, I almost didn’t start it because I’m in a very happy and good-mood moment of my life, afraid of this dark setting to be too much of a counterbalance and drag me down. But let’s give it a try, is good to have something with good characters, good music and a nice dose of sarcasm but most importantly I already watched, so I use it in the background while doing some shallow work activities.

Update: 8/8/25 I’ve finished season 1. It really is a fantastic show, and I have great memories of things to come, and probably this is the weirdest thing, already knowing how things will end is not possible to be surprised as the first time but it’s still very enjoyable, as usual watching some things after becoming a parent really change perspective.

the call of the terminal, to home

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 17:28:54 GMT

Today I started using a multiplexer again (Zellij) a Spotify client in the terminal and lately I've been playing with opentui, a new framework to build complex dashboards in the terminal.

I still love all of this, the shortcuts, the keyboard-only sessions.

Kindergarten break

Tue, 05 Aug 2025 07:47:13 GMT

The scary month without kindergarten has started.

I’m really enjoying morning moments with my kid. Going to buy bread, focaccia, brioche etc together. Not being on a rush despite waking up early. So many small normal moments that can be turned into adventures when seeing the world with a kid’s eye.

This is the most important thing a child can teach to adults, remind them that every small thing can be special

A system is good if you use it

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 17:42:06 GMT

Ive been using JOMO for two years or more, but recently I’ve started to take too many breaks, It’s ok I have more activities that require me to use social now. So what?

Instead of removing it or continuing misusing it i decided to make very few non negotiable focus hours 3 or 4 hours long.

Completing them without breaks always feel good and makes me enjoy the time after totally guilt free of enjoying things

martin-fav-songs

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 10:55:46 GMT

Every year or half year, I created a new Spotify Playlist of songs enjoyed by my son.

Today I created the new one since it is 4 cause he just listened to Black Sabbath and told me "this is my favorite song" 😆

The second favorite is the Paw Patrol theme song

Instant calmness

Mon, 04 Aug 2025 05:20:40 GMT

A bright side of getting older is noticing more things about yourself.

If I hear the sound of rain or use a blanket, even a very small one, I feel almost instantaneously more relaxed, my scattered mind seem to slow down and rest.

To this list I’ve recently added, touching my son, even just a finger contact has such a profound effect

How I’m dealing with FOMO in tech

Sun, 03 Aug 2025 07:32:25 GMT

FOMO: “Fear Of Missing Out”

There’s so much content, drama and people excited about tech, I both like it and dread it.

Especially true when people I trust are very into something, makes me feel like I’m missing out on opportunities.

What I used to do: Add a todo like “I’ll check on it this weekend” but for a reason or another if I skipped it and kept seeing signals about the thing I would feel even more FOMO

So, what I’m doing now it to invest some time as soon as I can, 20-30 min is enough, time I can steal from social medias or Netflix without problems. And find all info I can about that thing, especially answering those answering my own questions, 9/10 times I end up learning some details that totally remove the desire and and FOMO from me, some others, it gives me the true interest to keep going with curiosity instead of fear.

Some recent examples Claude Code: convinced after a short session MCP: Mostly overhyped Convex: seems really cool, I was like “I should refactor one of my projects to this” but I soon realized that not for me. Effect TS: It’s a rabbit home I’m willing to jump in!

hey-google-as-a-child

Sat, 02 Aug 2025 09:19:22 GMT

Sometimes I find my 4yo son asking Google the forecast, and other times asking for cartoon theme songs. It's hilarious when he gets upset due to bad results

sound memories

Fri, 01 Aug 2025 00:00:18 GMT

I have a weird connection when it comes to memory and sounds.

I was listening to this song from my "liked songs" on spotify

I used to listen to this in a loop while playing World of Warcraft, many, many years ago. I recall a specific occasion when I farmed Blackrock Depths on an alt.

I used to walk a lot when I lived in Milan and also listened a ton of podcasts. crossroads, sidewalk, bus stops etc, started to become places where I have vivid memories of what I was listening to.

“Oh I learned X on that corner”

Visualizing the day instead of the phone in the morning

Wed, 30 Jul 2025 05:34:19 GMT

This past week I have made a lot of YouTube video and social media content. This caused me to use socials more to keep up with comments etc.

The bad habit to pick the phone and open socials in the morning is an easy one to build and hard to kill. I did it a couple days and noticed how negatively impacted my morning, so today instead of picking the phone I decided to stay in the bed and visualize the day ahead instead, the commitment, obligations, even what to cook, the fun things I could do and challenges I can hide from or takle.

This is one small thing with a lot of domino -like effects, I did chose clarity with purpose instead of the dopamine hit of some notifications numbers, being able to notice such situations and act instead of react has been a long journey, thanks to stoicism and similar philosophies, which is first and foremost practical. For everyday life.

Social before bed is bad. Period

Mon, 28 Jul 2025 00:17:32 GMT

Keeps me awake. Especially if I posted something and I want to see what other people think of it.

I need to read a book or listen to an audiobook to unwind and properly sleep

sometimes you just have to go and follow the flow

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 17:53:11 GMT

Today I have created 2 videos for my AI channel

A video about Effect

And a video for a new channel that I probably wanted to have for a decade, but never got the guts to have

It was EASY!!!

Totally zero self-judgment, I had a lot of fun

Thinking can be a safety net, overthinking is poison.

What happened? I finally decided to take this thing less seriously and all the weight, fears, and indecisions totally went away with it

I had an amazing week talking with friends and family moments, which probably also made this seem like something fun to do instead of a chore.

Even writing this is liberating, I overcomplicated blogging for such a long time, and this to my own suffering 😅. I love writing

UPDATE: I published more videos later in the day 😁

Doing things with friends

Sun, 27 Jul 2025 10:07:56 GMT

In the pasts years I have filled my todo list with things I wanted to do but never really moved from the (over)thinking phase to actually doing. The reason are many, lack of experience, fear, perfectionism turning into inaction.

It doesn’t matter the reason but the result was just regrets. Especially when associated to knowledge and skills that lost meaning and value as the time passes by, this is especially true for sharing and creating content.

I kept staying in a trap of giving too much attention into having to make things right, despite knowing that quality have to come from quantity at first.

Starting projects with friends totally removed all these blockers, making the good parts so much more fulfilling and the boring/hard parts not to bad if the weight is shared and something that can be discussed about.

For example not I’m running a channel with a friend about AI and coding in Italian (spaghetti prompt) and while I wanted to do similar things for year I always got struck by stupid things like “should I do it in English or Italian?” And many more doubts.

Doing it with a friend, makes it so much fun and fulfilling, especially of is someone you click with and there’s little to no overhead.

Finding you people, your tribe has never been so important.

Wes Anderson movies

Sat, 26 Jul 2025 19:33:00 GMT

I’m watching Fantastic Mr Fox, I can’t help but think how much I love Wes Anderson movies.

The aesthetic by the colors, the symmetry, and the “flat” camera movements are signatures that make you say “this is a Wes Anderson movie” but never feel overused or get boring.

I find them immersive, feeling like entering his bright colors and cozy reality, even the sad and hard scenes and characters become likable.

A movie like Grand Budapest Hotel, I can never say no to a rewatch

"Do what you can't"

Mon, 10 Feb 2025 08:48:17 GMT

Casey Neistat is an OG YouTuber, yet it always felt so different to me compared to what is on the YouTube homepage, I always saw him as genuine storyteller.

There are a few of his videos that I rewatch every couple years, usually because of readwise resurfacing quotes from one of them, he creates really powerful messages, moving and inspiring.

Today is 10 Feb 2025 and I'm rewatching "Do what you can't".

All my “social network duties” in 20 mins

Sun, 09 Feb 2025 10:43:17 GMT

I just read DMs, replied to posts and requests on BlueSky LinkedIn and Twitter in about 20min

I did not even see the feeds, I’m missing out on something but since I decided to stop using social networking I’m genuinely happier doing other things.

This little choice had one the most positive impact I ever had in my life