God damn. I cannot recommend more strongly that everyone, EVERYONE, whether you’re an Eng, pm, or even investor/finance bro, watch this. At LEAST the first half. @poteto was on the react compiler team at meta and an EM at Netflix.
What struck me most is the CLEAR skepticism she once had about agents, how she talks through all the problems IN DETAIL, but how she systematized solving those problems and sort of climbed up the hill of agent incompetence despair.
AI has completely changed what I loved about software engineering.
Earlier, you’d sit with a problem, understand it deeply, write the code, break it, debug it, and eventually own the solution.
Now so much of engineering feels like staring at a screen waiting for an agent to finish.
And the worst part isn’t even that AI writes code. It’s that we’re slowly losing ownership of the codebase.
AI generates thousands of lines we barely read. The code becomes a black box. Then something breaks, and suddenly you’re expected to debug a system you never really understood in the first place.
At the same time, constantly delegating thinking to agents feels like it’s destroying our attention span and our ability to patiently read, reason about, and understand code.
Maybe we’re shipping faster.
But sometimes it genuinely feels like we’re becoming worse engineers while our codebases become harder to understand.
I gave my kids a way to chat with their grandparents via WhatsApp.
But without screens!
This box lives in their bedroom, they press the massive blue button to record a voice message, and the message is sent to a group with both grandparents.
It’s two-way so when the grandparents send a message back, there’s a ringtone (that we chose together) and the kids run to their room to listen.
The grandparents even get a “listened” notification with a small headphones WhatsApp reaction.
When the kids are away or asleep, the messages queue until their return.
There are obviously quiet hours at night.
My son and I built this over the past few weeks, iterating on the UX.
The kids and grandparents absolutely love it!
I love that they are in direct contact without me in the middle and without screens.
Today I turn 55.
I’m the fittest, sharpest, and happiest I’ve ever been.
If I’m an outlier, it’s not because I’m built different or discovered a secret formula. The truth is far less glamorous:
It’s a million tiny choices, compounded over decades.
Here are 55 of them:
1. Walk 15+ miles a week, even if you do other exercise. Humans are uniquely made to move slowly over long distances—it’s critical to longevity.
2. Develop a writing practice. It’s the single best way to sharpen your mind. And remember, you don’t have to be a good writer to write. Start with 10 minutes a day.
3. Swap out your toothpaste, deodorant, lotions, soap, shampoo, and other personal care products for natural versions. Here’s a rule of thumb: Don’t put anything on your skin that you couldn’t safely eat.
4. If you have a positive thought about someone, don’t keep it to yourself—share it immediately. Encouragement defies the laws of physics: When you give energy, you also receive it.
5. Wear shoes with a wide forefoot (I like Topo Athletic) and wear toe spreaders around the house (search “yoga toes” on Amazon). Spine health begins with the feet.
6. Get sunlight regularly. Moderate sun exposure (without sunscreen) is hugely important for overall health.
7. Do a 3-minute deep (“ass to grass”) squat every morning. Deep squats are often called the anti-aging exercise. It’s been said that, “It’s not that you can’t do deep squats because you’re old, it’s that you’re old because you can’t do deep squats.”
8. Explore minimalism (it’s not what you think it is).
9. Set boundaries on toxic relationships. We tend to cling to relationships past their expiration date, and it takes a bigger toll on our health than we recognize.
10. Eat real food. Not too much. Don’t eat garbage. Binge occasionally. Fast occasionally. That’s the diet.
11. Learn about FIRE. It’s a great framework for financial success.
12. Don’t take antibiotics except in emergency situations. They’re massively over-prescribed and aren’t needed in most cases. Antibiotics have done untold damage to our guts, which is where health begins. Great natural alternatives are out there.
13. Get 8 hours of quality sleep each night. To optimize sleep:
—Don’t eat after 6pm
—Get blackout shades and cover LEDs with black tape
—No screens 2 hours before bed
—Try ashwagandha (an herb) to calm the nervous system
14. Stop drinking, even in moderation. People find all sorts of ways to justify drinking, but there’s no escaping the simple fact that alcohol is a toxin and it limits your potential.
15. Travel as much as possible. Nothing expands the mind like seeing the world. And travel doesn’t have to be expensive—the best experiences happen outside of fancy resorts, when you live like a local.
16. Let go of resentment. When you forgive someone, you release the prisoner, and the prisoner isn’t them… it’s you.
17. Show up on time, every time. Poor time management limits success more than most people realize. If you struggle with punctuality, stop everything else and fix that first.
18. Spend lots of time in nature and touch the earth. Humans evolved over 300k years to live in harmony with nature, and only recently have we retreated indoors. If you don’t spend time outside, you’re fighting biology (hint: You won’t win.)
19. Stop doing dumb things. As Leo Tolstoy said, “People try to do all sorts of clever and difficult things to improve life instead of doing the simplest, easiest thing—refusing to participate in activities that make life bad.”
20. Find your happy place and (eventually) move there. Most people live where they live because... that's where they live. We are products of our environment—choose yours carefully.
21. Find a hobby and pursue mastery. You can’t have a happy life without a passionate pursuit that isn’t your vocation. Your work—even if you enjoy it—isn’t enough.
22. Avoid mainstream medicine except as a last resort. The results are in—our healthcare (or more appropriately, sick care) system is badly broken and only makes people sicker.
23. Have a mindset of abundance. There is no advantage to being a pessimist—even if you’re right, it’s a miserable way to live. In a very real way… whatever you believe, you’re right!
24. Do hard things. Choose courage over comfort. Everything you want is on the other side of fear and hard work. As Jerzy Gregorik said, “Hard choices, easy life. Easy choices, hard life.”
25. Ignore haters. Hurt people hurt people. Negative/toxic people live in a prison of their own design. Don’t join them!
26. Say no. Protect your time and energy like it’s your most precious asset… because it is.
27. Become a water snob. As an alien said on Star Trek, humans are “ugly bags of mostly water.” You are what you drink—literally! We have Mountain Valley Spring water delivered in glass 5-gallon jugs and also have whole-house water filter (Aquasana Rhino).
28. Stop drinking sodas and sugary energy drinks. After a few weeks you won’t miss them, and a few months later they’ll seem disgusting. Refined sugar causes inflammation, which is the root of most disease.
29. If you’re over 35, find a good functional/longevity medicine doctor and start tracking your hormones. Modern life is hell on the endocrine system and restoring healthy hormone levels can change your life. As we get older, we either accept a slow decline in performance or we do something about it—choose the latter!
30. Develop a morning routine and follow it faithfully. Win the morning, win the day!
31. Invest in experiences, not things. People frequently regret buying things, but rarely regret investing in great experiences (especially when shared with loved ones). Remember, there’s nothing you can buy in a mall that you’ll remember in ten years.
32. Explore spirituality. It’s arrogant and small-minded to believe there’s nothing going on in our universe that is beyond our comprehension. We know less about our universe than an ant meandering on a sidewalk understands about this planet.
33. Have a strong bias toward action—doing rather than talking. If you ask a bunch of old people about their regrets, they’ll talk about the things they *didn't* do—the shots they didn’t take—more than the things they did do (even if it went wrong). As Wayne Gretzky famously said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” Most people don’t take enough shots.
34. Stay lean. Men in particular are obsessed with muscle mass these days, but bulk doesn’t age well. The goal is to be strong but lean. The fittest guys in their 50s and beyond aren’t meatheads, they’re lean guys who are serious about a sport.
35. Curate your inner circle carefully. Surround yourself with people you admire and who challenge you to grow. Remember, we’re the average of our 5 closest relationships.
36. Be the fittest version of yourself. Your body is your only vessel for experiencing life—so treat it as such. Fitness isn’t working out a few times a week, it’s a lifestyle. The older you get, the more time you need to devote to your health.
37. Take the time to appreciate art and beauty in all its forms.
38. Think globally, but act locally. Too many people put their energy into far-away problems they don’t understand and can’t impact, while ignoring problems right under their nose. Want to change the world? Start at home.
39. Try psychedelics. It’s one of those things everyone should do at least once, and it might be the breakthrough you’ve been looking for.
40. Limit bad habits, including unhealthy thought patterns. We all have them—practice avoidance and find substitutes. Get professional help if needed.
41. Be a lifelong learner. Your brain is just like a muscle—if you don’t feed and flex it regularly, it will atrophy.
42. Find your purpose. People with a strong sense of purpose are happier and live longer. Lack of purpose sucks energy and magnifies depression.
43. Only take advice from people who embody the traits you want to have. Talk is cheap—emulate those who have DONE it.
44. The goal is not to retire and do nothing, it’s to build a great day-to-day life that you don’t need to escape. A life of leisure is a slow death. Happiness isn’t possible without a little struggle, uncertainty, and skin in the game.
45. Have fun! Do frivolous and silly things that make you smile. As George Bernard Shaw famously said, “We don't stop playing because we grow old; we grow old because we stop playing.”
46. Whatever you want to do or achieve in life, start NOW. Don’t fall victim to “someday thinking” because someday never comes.
47. Accumulate assets—things that grow in value over time. It’s the #1 habit of rich people, and it can be done in tiny chunks. Instead of spending $100 on an impulse purchase that has no lasting value, put that money into an index fund or Bitcoin. It becomes addictive (in a good way).
48. Don’t ignore the big 3 canaries in the coal mine for health:
—Low libido (and ED)
—Frequent sinus & respiratory issues
—Depression
These usually aren’t medical conditions in themselves, they’re symptoms of an underlying problem. Find a good doc (outside of the mainstream) and figure out the root cause.
49. Have a clear vision for your future. How can you decide which direction to go if you haven’t clearly defined the destination? It sounds obvious, but 95% of people haven’t defined their “Ideal End State” in detail and in writing. (Check out my thread on this topic.)
50. Make your own decisions. We live in an era where most of what society tells us is wrong. Don’t be afraid to break from societal norms—if people say you’re crazy, it’s a sign that you’re doing something right.
51. Get hardcore about mobility exercise. As you age, it’s usually the knees, hips, and lower back that limit physical performance. 30 min a couple times a week can spare you a lifetime of pain. YouTube is a great resource.
52. Go all in on family. Get married, stay married, have kids. Burn the boats. In the end, family is all that matters.
53. Be ruthless with your time. Money comes and goes. Time only goes. Audit your calendar ruthlessly—cut the trivial, double down on the meaningful, and spend your hours like your life depends on it. (Because it does.)
54. Have a strong bias toward action. Be curious, try things, meet people—it’s how you increase your surface area for serendipity, the most powerful unseen force in our lives.
55. Reinvent yourself every decade. Over time, we slowly drift off course from our priorities, values, and true identity. Take stock and don’t be afraid to hit the reset button. Bold, calculated moves made for the right reasons almost always pay off—usually even more than you can imagine.
🎁 P.S. If you enjoyed this post, would you give me a birthday gift? Repost or comment with the item number(s) you liked best?
@PayPal@Venmo Shoutout PayPal I would never have found crypto originally if it was not for locking my account for simply selling items while being underage.
If you’re young and you make a lot of money this cycle this is an open letter to please actually go do something with your lives
-Pay off debt
-Be intentional and hang out with your family
-Use financial freedom to learn new skills
-Pursue a cool career arc without worrying about salary
-Invest in being a great friend to people that matter to you
-Start a company or a non-profit in an area you care about
-Use existing capital to build an empire and extend your reach into the world (for good)
-Be generous with your time
-Get married & start your own family
-Fund other people who are working on important projects
-Make art
Whatever it is… don’t fall for the psyops of lambos and watches and penthouses and first-class holidays and drugs and the mostly vapour bullshit version of rich person life that is sold to you.
There’s nothing morally wrong in principle with having nice things, or any of the above stuff… go for it, but you won’t find much meaning there. I know a lot of staggeringly rich people who hate their lives.
The answer instead is to act, to live, to create, to take risk, to face your life, to care, to build, to take advantage of the enormous gift of being in the right place at the right time with crypto + having the work ethic to recognize that & make use of the moment.
You’ve basically been given a super mario invincibility powerup where life can now be played on easy mode & the framing shouldn’t be… "oh sick hell yeah now I can fuck off and do whatever I want at the beach"… instead it should be, "look at everything I’ve been given, I wonder just how much I could accomplish with this."
Another thread where I share a bunch of articles I've written — these are part of my "Weekly Nugget of Wisdom" series
Each week I write a quick read to (hopefully) impart some sort of wisdom, or at least get you thinking about something interesting
Bookmark and read on👇
Remember:
No leverage
No FOMO
Top 3 to 5 assets as main bag
Self-custody (or multi-sig) with good wallet hygiene
Only trade a small Degen bag <10%
HODL over a longer time horizon
Zoom out and remove the noise
Expect 35% pullbacks frequently
BTFD if you can
#DFTU
Very uncool Ledger - you effectively force anyone to buy and enter the seed into a new device. Ledger Nano S is fucking goated. I understand you're a business but don't play with backwards compatibility guys (many rely on LNS!). You're one of the few trusted parties out there and now you start censoring new features & access because of business rationale. Fucking uncool.
https://t.co/bXaL7II2aB
the @opensea intern is a genius
the official twitter account is the biggest marketing asset for any crypto project. opensea was lucky enough to hire a LITERAL genius for their ramshackle project.
here is a thread of his most creative posts 🧵
1/ An investigation into the alleged identity of the mysterious Hyperliquid whale tied to illicit activity that profited ~$20M via highly leveraged positions over the past couple weeks.