Alberto Gallego

Why Not Live?

Sat, 07 Feb 2026 00:00:00 +0000

On these rainy days, I am reading two books that are shaping me more than I expected. Or maybe they are simply putting words to things I already felt.

One of them is Anna Karenina.

I see myself clearly in Levin.

Konstantin Dmitrich Levin is a landowner who spends most of the novel in an existential crisis. He could live off his wealth or take an important role in Moscow. He chooses neither. That life feels wrong to him.

He rejects the modern world. He keeps asking the same question. What is the point of living?

Levin represents a quiet kind of vitalism. His wisdom does not come from ideas or debates. It comes from physical work. During harvest season, when he joins the peasants in the fields, he finds peace. While working, he stops thinking. He stops searching for answers because he no longer needs them.

The other book I am reading is Thus Spoke Zarathustra.

Tolstoy and Nietzsche were contemporaries. They probably never read each other. Still, they shared something essential. A deep rejection of rational modern life. A life lived from the head instead of the body.

But they looked in opposite directions.

Nietzsche looked upward. Toward the overman. Toward the creation of new values. Toward saying yes to life in all its cruelty and beauty. His vitalism was aristocratic. Heroic. Vertical.

Levin looked downward. Toward the land. Toward humility. Toward dissolving the ego through work and family. His vitalism was rural. Horizontal. Grounded.

Yet both say the same thing in different ways.

You can only live through action. Never through pure thought. You do not need permission. You do not need justification. What you live is who you are. Nothing more.

The modern trap

Modern culture twists this message.

It tells you that the path to authenticity is knowing yourself. As if you were a fixed object. As if you did not change over time.

That is the trap.

Because if you are always evolving, there is always more work to do. Always another layer to dig into. And as Byung Chul Han puts it:

Today, everyone is an auto-exploiting labourer in his or her own enterprise. People are now master and slave in one. Even class struggle has transformed into an inner struggle against oneself.

You exploit yourself because it is never enough. Because you are never ready.

Kierkegaard saw this coming in the nineteenth century. He called it despair. Infinite reflection that paralyzes you.

His answer was not more analysis. It was the opposite. The leap of faith.

You commit to a way of living. To a decision. Irrationally. You stop weighing options. You jump without a safety net. You suspend judgment and move forward.

Between Nietzsche and Levin

For me, real vitalism lives between Nietzsche and Levin.

Nietzsche reminds you to stop acting like a victim. Stop blaming circumstances. Act in line with what you want.

Levin reminds you to be humble. To accept limits. To value small things. To live simply.

Leaving big questions behind and focusing on living feels like the right response to chaotic times. Focus on what you can control. Take the leap of faith. Let life move again.

No rush. No self exploitation. Just motion.

Life does not wait. And it is only through action that you become someone.

Everything else is suffering.

The rain and rainbows of those days

What happens when everything is perfect?

Fri, 30 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

The other day I was reading Thus Spoke Zarathustra and I stopped at this line:

That everyone has the right to learn to read corrupts in the long run not only writing, but even thinking itself.

Nietzsche saw something early on. When a skill becomes universal, the craft behind it often erodes. Not just the result, but the way we think. The relationship between effort and mastery starts to weaken.

It made me think about AI.

With AI, everything becomes more accessible. Writing a message. Writing a letter to someone you love. Building an app. Making a film. Speed increases, but something important quietly disappears. The relationship between the creator and the act of creating.

That friction between wanting to make something and actually making it used to matter. It was part of learning. Part of ownership. You struggled, failed, tried again, and through that process the idea became yours. When creation becomes instant and disposable, what remains of that bond? What does it even mean to make something anymore?

And that is where the real risk appears.

Not that machines will replace us, but that we will start creating without care. That we will outsource not only execution, but intention. That we will become operators of tools rather than participants in the act of making. Everything polished. Everything correct. Everything strangely empty.

Yet maybe this loss carries its own answer.

In the film Her, most communication happens through AI. Still, Theodore’s job is to write letters by hand for other people. Why would anyone pay for that when a machine can do it faster and better?

Because in a world optimized for efficiency, people begin to crave the opposite. The imperfect. The human trace. The feeling that someone real was there.

That is the line I hope we do not cross.

The need for the human. The imperfect. The crafted. Not because it is more efficient, but because without it, we risk forgetting what matters at all.

The scene in Her where Theodore is writing a letter

On making things that matter

Tue, 20 Jan 2026 00:00:00 +0000

About a week ago, Picmal reached 200 users.

For some people that number might feel small. For others, big. For me, it’s symbolic.

When I was 15, partly out of curiosity and partly out of boredom, I started a forum that mixed two things I loved at the time: football and video games. I called it futbolgame. Not very original.

I didn’t have a plan. I didn’t think about growth, positioning, or marketing. I just wanted to build something. And somehow, without really understanding how, that forum also passed the 200 registered users mark.

What surprised me most was not the number itself, but everything that came with it.

I started learning Photoshop because some users wanted banners for their profiles. I met people I never saw in real life but spent hours talking with, mostly about football. The forum never became anything big, but it gave me something more valuable at that age: curiosity, momentum, and the feeling of creating something that mattered to a few people.

Looking back, I realize how easy it is to overcomplicate things now. We obsess over names, branding, positioning, storytelling. We try to make everything perfect before it even exists. And often, that’s exactly what kills the idea.

Back then, I had no strategy. No expectations. I just made things, learned along the way, and enjoyed the process.

And honestly, that’s still what matters most.

If you enjoy creating, the rest is secondary. You never really know if something will turn into a living until you try. And you cannot force yourself to care about an idea just because it sounds good on paper. Real interest does not come from an idea bank. It comes from being genuinely curious, from wanting to understand a problem, from spending time with it.

That is where the best things come from.

I am not in a position to give advice, but if there is one thing I believe in, it is this: create if you feel the urge to create. Follow what genuinely pulls you. Try things. Express yourself.

In a world where everything is measured, optimized, and packaged, seeing someone do something honestly and without pretending is rare. Maybe it makes less money. Maybe it never becomes a business. But your soul does not run on revenue.

If we spent less time chasing what seems profitable and more time exploring what truly interests us, we would probably see better ideas, more originality, and work that actually means something.

Bye 2025

Mon, 29 Dec 2025 00:00:00 +0000

As 2025 comes to an end, I realize I have written less in this newsletter than I would have liked. Maybe my sometimes extreme perfectionism has held me back. Partly because I felt I had nothing worth sharing, and partly because what I wrote did not feel good enough.

I think this is a feeling we all experience at times, whether when writing or when trying to express ourselves in general. But the point of this newsletter is not to deliver something polished. It is more a way to talk about what happens to me, how I feel about it, and how I interpret it, while I try to make a living from this whole entrepreneurship thing.

So I guess I should think less and do more. I have applied that advice to other areas of my life, but not here. And 2026 feels like a good moment to start.

When I stopped overthinking and started doing more was the moment someone finally paid for something I made

Picmal - my first native Mac app

When I say I have not been writing here, I really mean it. I did not even write to say that I launched an app. Picmal is my first 100% native Mac app, and by not overthinking things and simply shipping something that was useful to me, I ended up discovering that it is useful to others too.

I am close to reaching 200 paying users. From the outside, especially when you see so many companies making millions every year, that number might seem tiny. For me, it feels huge. It is proof to myself that I can build things that are genuinely useful to other people.

So yes, the same idea again: think less and do more. By pure algorithmic coincidence, this YouTube channel found me. Elisha talks a lot about how his life started to improve once he stopped overthinking and began acting more, referring to it with the term _retardmaxx_.

I guess he is right. And since my newsletter is called nonsense, maybe I should start honoring that name a bit more.

End of year rituals

My visual board for 2026

Last year, when I wrote my year review, I mentioned something I have been doing since 2021. I take the photos I shot during the year and go through them month by month, writing down what I was doing and small anecdotes from those moments. It is my way of keeping those experiences alive.

Last year I changed that dynamic a bit. Instead, I started answering a set of forty questions. I liked the idea because everything becomes much more concrete, while the goal stays the same: to preserve those small moments you lived during the year so that when you come back to them later, once they are no longer fresh, they are still there waiting for you. Almost like a freezer for memories.

I added one more thing to this ritual last year, borrowed from my friend Marynes. At the end of the year, she always creates a vision board with things she wants to do in the following year. If you are a visual person, having this present throughout the year helps a lot. With a single glance, it reminds you of what you want for the year, and of the ambitions or aspirations you have for the future.

It felt like a much healthier way to approach next year’s goals. Not as another checklist or yet another work project to deal with, but rather as a gentle reminder of what we want to prioritize, both in the coming year and beyond.

5 things I liked about the offline world in 2025

Onomichi. I went there for my birthday and loved it. A beautiful town full of cafés with gorgeous views, where you can feel a deep sense of peace. It is wonderful to sit and watch people pass by, take the ferry across the water, wait for the train to cross so you can take photos, and wander up the hills getting lost among its temples. If you ever have the chance, go.
Lake Villa Kawaguchiko. This was a great surprise. Being at the foot of Mt. Fuji is breathtaking. I only stayed one day, but it was enough to fall for it. I woke up at 4am to see the lake with the mountain in front of me. Highly recommend staying here if you visit the area.
PECKiSH bakery. Six months in Asia make you miss a few things: good bread, good ham, maybe cheese. But to my surprise, if you keep looking you can find great stuff. This bakery in Taipei has one of the best croissants I have ever had in my life. Pinky promise.
Dongyanshan National Forest. It does not matter if it is raining (like when I went) or clear, this national park is worth a visit. It is beautiful, full of trails, and perfect for spending a day getting lost. Full of flowers and trees, and close enough for a day trip from Taipei.
Sutera Sanctuary Lodges. The Kinabalu Park area is great for hiking. That part of Borneo is fantastic for spending a few days on the trails. This lodge was a perfect base. The cabins are well equipped and really beautiful.

5 things I liked about the online world in 2025

Alex West’s books. If you have ever wanted to make a living from your own projects, you will find yourself in these books. And the best part: they are free. Alex shares how he found, launched, and grew Cyberleads to $1M a year. He does not sell dreams. He does not give advice. He just tells his story as raw as he can. Sometimes you will think: this guy is a genius. Other times: this guy is an idiot.
Photos by Alex Kittoe and Samantha Cavet. Probably my two favorite photographers this year. I almost made it to an exhibition Alex had in Seoul but could not go in the end. His photos make me want to live in the US every single day. Samantha made me more drawn to photographing flowers and to stopping to really look at them. Her collection A Quiet Life is beautiful.
Vizi’s newsletter. Vizi always inspires me to do things with more care, to take life a little less seriously, and to step away from the numbers. We live like slaves tied to work, leaving our souls behind along the way. Reading him helps you reconnect with that part of yourself.
SEO course by Danny Postma. For $89, this course is incredibly useful if you want to live from your projects. SEO is not dead, and it is necessary for many projects to work long term. Danny explains techniques in a simple, practical way that you can apply from day one.
Fast Software, the Best Software by Craig Mod. With the enshittification happening in software thanks to AI (which I love, by the way, but let’s not overdo it), fast software is becoming rare, even though our hardware is 20 times more powerful than a decade ago. When I read this article I realized that one of the main reasons I choose one app over another is how quickly it lets me access data or complete the task I opened it for. A great reflection by Craig, and I believe we as users need to demand this. It is one of the reasons I want my own apps to follow these principles.

What about 2026?

Beyond Picmal, I have a few apps planned for next year. Some of the problems I want to solve:

A journaling app that respects your privacy and keeps your thoughts truly yours.
A way to stay in touch with your professional network without feeling like a salesperson.
Using your voice everywhere instead of typing, for those moments when your hands are busy or your brain moves faster than your fingers.

All of them will share one thing: AI as a quiet assistant, not as the main character. I believe AI works best when it supports your thinking, not when it replaces it. A subtle layer that helps you move faster, not one that takes over your ideas or decisions.

I will share what I learn along the way here. The wins and the failures.

There are also some questions I have been sitting with, and that I want to explore more deeply:

Are we living through something similar to 18th century Romanticism?
How should we approach creative projects without burning out?
How do we keep our health in order to live a happy life?
How do you market your project without going crazy and spending 24 hours in front of a screen?

I do not have answers yet. But I think writing is a good way to find them.

So, bye 2025. A year where I learned, again, that the best way to move forward is to stop waiting for things to feel ready. The only way of learning is by friction.

I would love to hear from you. What are your end of year rituals? Any offline places or online corners you discovered this year that I should know about? And what are you planning for 2026?

You can just send me an email to hello[at]albertogalca.com.

See you in 2026. With more nonsense.

The continuous work of our life is to build death

Mon, 13 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Ever since I was a child, I’ve been somewhat obsessed with death. It’s a topic many cultures don’t discuss much, yet it’s fundamental for the simple fact that we’re all going to die at some point.

I’ve always had this idea of collecting reflections from others, not so much to think about death, but rather to learn how to live. To learn what mattered to those who are no longer here and how, thanks to that, we can reevaluate our existence on this planet until we’re no longer here.

The title of this essay encapsulates the philosophy of my life perfectly:

The continuous work of our life is to build death

No one embodies this philosophy better than Montaigne.

He was a skeptic through and through, so much so that his main motto was: “Que sais-je?” (What do I know?). But his doubt wasn’t paralyzing, it was liberating. By recognizing the limits of his knowledge, he freed himself from pretending to live perfectly or appearing to be someone he wasn’t.

In 1571, he retreated to his castle tower to write. There, surrounded by books and aware of his mortality, he decided to observe himself without filters. He wrote about everything: his fears, his contradictions, his failures, even the most mundane aspects of his existence. He explored, doubted, contradicted himself from one essay to another. His writing is radical in its honesty: personal, contradictory, profoundly human.

Montaigne viscerally understood something Euripides had expressed centuries before:

How can you think yourself a great man, when the first accident that comes along can wipe you out completely?

This awareness of fragility didn’t paralyze him, it awakened him. He knew his time was limited and that spending it on pretensions or living for others was wasting it. That’s why meditating on death didn’t seem morbid to him, but practical: know yourself, accept yourself, and live calmly, without thinking you’re more than you are, knowing your time is limited.

For Montaigne, preparing to die was the first step to living well. Accepting that you are ephemeral, contradictory, and imperfect finally allows you to be fully alive.

You’re in that tower, whether you know it or not. The question isn’t whether you’re going to die, but whether you’re going to live before you do.

Some of the references in these essays are from the book How to Live: A Life of Montaigne in One Question and Twenty Attempts at an Answer , which I recommend.

The only way I’ve found to step away from the computer at a decent hour

Sun, 20 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’m someone driven by obsessions, and by phases.

When I’m in one of those phases where I want to do everything on the computer, I forget about the rest of the world. I can spend 18 hours straight in front of the screen, and as you can imagine, that’s not sustainable. Because then I burn out and go three months without wanting to touch the computer.

I’ve always tried to set a time to shut down the computer and do something offline, like writing or reading. That time has always been 8:00 pm. And I’d be embarrassed to admit I could count on one hand the times I’ve actually done it on my own will.

So I said: “Fuck it, I’m going to find a way to fix this.” I don’t want to be the one deciding anymore. So here’s a super simple tip for how I handled it.

Just open your terminal and type:

crontab -e

Once you’re in, add this beautiful line:

0 20 * * * /usr/bin/osascript -e 'tell app "System Events" to shut down'

If you want to pick a different time, just ask ChatGPT how to do it or change the 20 to whatever hour you want (for example, 7pm would be 19).

To exit vim successfully, remember to hit :wq. Finally, check that everything is in place with crontab -l.

If it shows up, you’re all set. You can close the terminal and forget about it. Now, every day at 8pm, your computer will shut down and you’ll have no choice but to settle for a sad little notebook or a boring book.

Publish your macOS App outside the App Store

Sun, 13 Jul 2025 00:00:00 +0000

When I first started building Picmal, a simple image converter for macOS, the App Store was the obvious destination. That changed quickly.

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Picmal demo

After paying for the Apple Developer license and getting my first version ready, I hit an unexpected wall: every time users tried to save an image, a permission dialog appeared. It was intrusive and ruined the experience. The cause? Apple’s sandbox restrictions.

The only way around it was to skip the App Store entirely and distribute the app independently.

But before that, let me tell you why I built Picmal in the first place. The idea came from a daily frustration: opening a browser, finding an online converter, uploading images, waiting for them to process in the cloud, and then downloading them again. I wanted something simple, fast, and offline.

So I decided to make it native, even though I had never built a fully native app before. That was challenge number one. Challenge number two was finding a smooth way to share it without the App Store.

After some research, I discovered Gumroad. It turned out to be the simplest way to sell and distribute my app directly. Here’s how I did it:

Step 1: Build and Export the App from Xcode

Once your app is ready for release, do the following:

In Xcode, go to Product > Archive. Select the method “Direct distribution”.
Wait until the build status shows “Ready for Distribution”.
Click on “Export” and you will export the .app file.

Step 2: Create a DMG Installer

To give users a better experience in order to install the app, I used create-dmg, a simple CLI tool that outputs a polished DMG file.

In the terminal you need to execute this:

# Install create-dmg if you haven't already
brew install create-dmg

# Create the DMG installer
create-dmg \
  --volname "Your App Name" \
  --window-pos 200 120 \
  --window-size 600 300 \
  --icon-size 100 \
  --icon "YourApp.app" 175 120 \
  --hide-extension "YourApp.app" \
  --app-drop-link 425 120 \
  "YourApp.dmg" \
  "source_folder/"

Once it’s done you will have your DMG installer ready, but you need to do an extra step, which is notarize this DMG too to avoid getting an error like this:

Step 3: Notarize DMG installer

First I highly recommend you to create a profile so that every time you have to notarize your new releases you don’t need to remember the password:

xcrun notarytool store-credentials --apple-id "your-email@example.com" \
  --team-id "YOUR_TEAM_ID_HERE" \
  --password "your-app-specific-password" \
  your-app-profile

Note: The password you use here must be an app-specific password generated from your Apple ID account. Regular Apple ID passwords will not work for notarization. If you haven’t created one before, follow Apple’s instructions to generate an app-specific password for use with notarytool.

After creating the profile you need to notarize the DMG file with your newly created profile:

xcrun notarytool submit YourApp.dmg --keychain-profile "your-app-profile" --wait

Now you need to staple the DMG:

xcrun stapler staple YourApp.dmg

And finally you are almost ready, just to check that this process has worked, you can check it in your terminal using:

spctl --assess --type open --context context:primary-signature -v YourApp.dmg

# Expected output:
# YourApp.dmg: accepted
# source=Notarized Developer ID

If you see something like this message, you’re done. You can upload your DMG to Gumroad (or wherever you prefer) and start selling. Here is how it looks my app in Gumroad:

Picmal app listing on Gumroad

If you’re interested in experiencing Picmal, you can buy the app and start using it today.

Routines make you feel at home

Wed, 12 Mar 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Novelty has always attracted me far more than what was already obvious to me. It always promised better future plans, while I looked at my side, staring at that static and boring present with a face of indifference, making it clear that I was ignoring it.

I always thought routine was suffocating—until I discovered it could heal.

Because everything depends on the kind of routine you find yourself in. A routine that is good for the soul can never be suffocating, and it was clear that, at the time I had those thoughts, I wasn’t in a pleasant routine.

I’m writing these lines from NODE Coffee in Taipei. It’s one of the few cafés that opens early in the morning, so it has become my place of pilgrimage whenever home feels too small or when I simply want to be outside.

Here I am, counting the stamps I have left for my free coffee, practicing my embarrassingly low level of Chinese, trying to greet the café staff with a Zao an (good morning).

I’m learning to recognize the notes of the La Marzocco coffee machine as it hums endlessly, over and over again. Meanwhile, I wait for the different actors of my day to appear, as if I were the protagonist of The Truman Show: the lady who always comes with her cart to buy coffee, greeting everyone; the man who always sits in the last outdoor chair, cigarette in hand; and finally, the suited man who looks like he stepped out of a Yakuza movie, always carrying his Starbucks cup.

When you enjoy a routine, everything becomes easier, clearer, and more beautiful. You notice the details better, like when you rewatch a movie. You begin to understand the gears that keep these people’s lives running. You appreciate novelty even more because it shines brighter when not everything is new.

That’s why I know the key in life isn’t to escape routine but to create one we love—one that makes us walk around with a smile. And when that’s not possible, one that helps us regain a bit of sanity before losing it completely.

People who have met me in recent years always tell me I’m a routine-driven and highly organized person. The truth is, I never saw myself that way—until I realized that routine was good, that I didn’t have to run from it, and that I had to pack it with me on every adventure.

Everything I once hated—doing the same thing every day, seeing the same people, walking through places I know with my eyes closed—is now among the things I value most.

We never know when we’ll do something for the last time. That’s why repeating it daily is a way of being grateful for being alive—a way to feel a little more at home, even when we’re traveling around the world.

The gentleman from the Yakuza with his Starbucks cup

Your own rules

Mon, 17 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve always been someone who sees things in black and white, believing that things are either one way or the other. And for those of us who think like this, life eventually slaps us in the face with a big dose of gray. That’s when we realize that life is one big “IT DEPENDS.”

Universal rules don’t exist, which is why we need to be careful with the hair growth sellers we encounter every day. They’ll tell you their way is the right way, that it’s foolproof. But the truth is, you’re going to go bald, and nothing can stop it. The only choice you have is to accept it and find yourself a good hat—or embrace the baldness with pride. It’s up to you.

The reality is that no one can teach you how to live better than yourself because no one else is inside your head. We need to draw inspiration from others, absorb their energy, and use it in the best way we can. But no advice works straight out of someone else’s mind. It’s only when we shape it, adapt it to our own worldview, that we can unlock the full potential hidden within an idea.

Our way of seeing the world is unique, built from fragments of all the experiences we gather throughout life. And while our experiences may resemble those of others, if we look closely, we’ll see that no two are ever exactly the same.

Robert Kegan has an interesting theory about the stages a person must go through to become an independent adult. Around the age of 20, we enter what he calls the “Self-Authoring Mind” stage, where we take responsibility for ourselves and begin developing our own rules and values.

Robert Kegan Stages of Adult Development

That’s why, when I see so many people stuck in this state—never reaching that stage—I feel a deep sense of sadness. They complain about the government, their parents, or society as a whole, but I don’t see them using that frustration to take control of their own lives.

So never look for the easy way out. There are no magic formulas, and if someone tries to sell you theirs, run as fast as you can. Effort and time put things in their place and shape better people.

Feel free to doubt everything and everyone. No one holds the absolute truth about anything because what worked for them won’t necessarily work for you. Experiment, make mistakes—your path is only found by walking it.

Even if you think someone is horribly fascist, sexist, or just an idiot, expose yourself to all kinds of ideas. Even if you completely disagree, don’t lock yourself in a bubble—just listen. Otherwise, you risk falling into your own trap, believing your truths are the only ones that matter.

And then, the idiot will be you.

Of course, don’t take my word for any of this. Get out there and create your own rules of the game.

An empty calendar

Fri, 14 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Since I started working as a developer, I’ve always had the same problem: I have a terrible allergy to events scheduled at a specific time of the day (call them meetings, call them whatever you want).

I’ve always been a bit of a “rebel” in that sense. I still remember how, at one of the first startups I worked for, I would often arrive outside the expected hours because I had spent more time at home reading or doing other things than I was “allowed” to. That’s why they introduced a new policy requiring all employees to start work before a certain time.

As they announced it, looking around at everyone, I knew deep down that it was really about me. And I think this has always been the case, even since I was a kid.

I never liked being forced to do anything. I never liked anyone telling me what to do with my time. What if I don’t feel like eating on a Saturday at 3 p.m.? What if I don’t want to meet up with you at 4 p.m. on Sunday for any reason—or no reason at all?

I’ve always been very jealous of my time. I’ve always wanted all the time in the world for myself. And I want to be the one who decides who I give it to and who I don’t. It’s a selfish act, but I believe that every good thing that happens in life comes from having the time to do what you truly want to do—not what others expect of you.

It’s precisely in that time you don’t give away to others that the best ideas are born. It’s where a writer faces a blank page and creates an incredible story. It’s where a painter adds the final brushstrokes to what will be considered a masterpiece. Magic happens in the time we choose not to fill with obligations.

As I mentioned before, my life strategy has always been to follow my curiosity and let it guide me. Just as I do with my life, I do with my time. I aspire to have an empty calendar and an empty backlog.

To not know what I’ll do tomorrow and to use the present as my compass. To focus my energy on what truly matters. To seize moments of inspiration and act—rather than waste them doing something I don’t want to do.

Because our existence is finite (and very short), do what makes sense to you, even if no one else understands it. And when you’re tempted to take the easy way out by telling yourself you don’t have time or that your current circumstances don’t allow it, try to find a way. The truth is, you are free to do whatever you want.

As Sheldon B. Kopp put it:

You are free to do whatever you like. You need only face the consequences.

And this is precisely what’s so frightening—accepting that this decision might leave you feeling more alone, poorer, or cause you to miss out on opportunities that might have led you to a better place in the future. But we can never truly know if that would have been the case.

So, as Taleb says:

Missing a train is only painful if you run after it.

Even though Taleb can be a bit crazy at times, I’m sticking with his team. I’m not going to run after any train. I’m going to follow my curiosity. I’m going to keep my calendar empty. I’m going to clear out my backlog and leave it clean. I’m going to wait for inspiration to come and do with it whatever I please.

I’ll sit and wait for the next train. Or the one after that. Or maybe none at all. Who knows.

Places of silence in Bangkok

Fri, 07 Feb 2025 00:00:00 +0000

It’s been a while since I last wrote here, and to be honest, I’ve missed it. I could say I’ve been busy—but the good kind of busy. I’ve been working on my next project (which will be out very soon), taking photos, and getting ready for my third consecutive year of adventures in Asia.

A week ago, I arrived in Bangkok. If you’ve never been, it’s a very noisy city. Construction, cars, motorcycles, and tuk-tuks roar through the streets like lions, making their way through the chaotic rhythm of a big city.

When you find a moment of silence here, you hold onto it like an old friend you’ve missed. You appreciate it as if it were oxygen and savor it with a big smile.

Coming from Córdoba to Bangkok, I’ve been searching for silence like water in the desert. That’s why today, I want to share four places that have brought me calm—places I’m sure will do the same for you if you ever visit this city.

The first one is none other than the park where I’m writing these lines right now. Benchakitti Park is a massive green space in the middle of Bangkok. People here move at a slower pace, and you can clearly see the benefits of a quieter environment: conversations without raising your voice, phone calls with family and friends, and the freedom to exercise outdoors in peace.

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Benchakitti Park

The second place is the entire area near the river. To find it, you can head to Wat Sriboonreung Pier or any of the different “ferry” stops along the river. It’s a peaceful walk and a great way to get a glimpse of what the houses in this city looked like before Bangkok’s skyline was taken over by towering skyscrapers.

While you can’t walk the entire stretch from end to end, there are sections where you can, and I especially like it because you come across small temples and houses where plants seem to be the true hosts of the space.

The small streets near the Jim Thompson House Museum are a haven of peace—a quiet area where you can walk without traffic. But the real gem here is the William Warren Library.

It’s a small library inside the Jim Thompson Art Center, a quiet spot to read or write in peace. The whole place feels like an escape from Bangkok’s constant buzz, as if the city’s thousands of passing cars don’t exist. The library has comfortable sofas, outlets to charge your devices, and an atmosphere of complete silence.

Lastly, I can’t leave without mentioning one of my favorite cafés in Bangkok. JEDI Café & Bar has been part of Creare from the beginning. Aside from its great coffee, the best part is the back area that overlooks the river. If you’re lucky and it’s not too crowded, you can sit there, read peacefully for a while, and enjoy the calm—until the mosquitoes have nearly devoured you. It’s a wonderful place to relax if you’re in the city center, and it’s always better to go early when they’ve just opened.

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The back area of JEDI Café

These are my four places. If you’ve been to any of them or have other recommendations, I’d be happy to hear them.

Bye 2024

Fri, 27 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve been summarizing my year privately for years, but I’ve never done it publicly. In previous years, my process for doing this looked like this:

Open Google Photos: I would go month by month, writing down the things I felt or the fun moments I experienced during each specific month.
After finishing the first part, I would create three sections: one where I wrote about what went well, another for what didn’t go so well, and finally, one for my key learnings from the year.

And that was it. But this simple exercise helped me appreciate everything I had experienced so much more—which, fortunately, is a lot.

I always choose to live fully and intensely. Maybe it’s because I don’t know any other way, or maybe because life is so short that the thought of missing out on something terrifies me.

This year, for the first time in the past four years, I changed that system. I wanted to try something different, and at the beginning of the year, I stumbled upon an article by Steph Ango where he shared the 40 questions he asks himself every year. I loved them; they felt similar to the exercise I was already doing.

After answering those questions, I’ve come to some conclusions I’d like to share here:

I’m someone who loves learning new things, but I find it hard to put them into practice. There are 2–3 things I’m really passionate about, and it’s difficult for me to make room for things I’ve never tried before. This year, however, I left that door slightly more open and realized I should do it more often.
Several family members passed away this year, and it only reinforced my approach to life: keeping things simple, as Edgar Allan Poe once said, and living with commitment, attitude, longevity, and purpose. It sucks that I have to learn these things this way, but often, there’s just no other way.
If you’ve noticed, almost every project I’ve created is connected to calm: Kalm, Silencezzz, or Natural.fm. That’s because what I’ve been seeking the most this year is silence. There’s been too much noise in my head, and I needed to sort it out. Nothing works better for that than silence, allowing everything to settle into place. As I wrote in Our Struggles Define Us:

”Those who seek calm are the ones who can’t find it. Those who want to improve their health are those who have lost it. People search for ways to sleep because, try as they might, they can’t manage to fall asleep and are all too familiar with the ceiling above their bed.”

There’s nothing like action to clear your mind. For an overthinker like me, taking action feels like an act of faith—trusting that by thinking less and doing more, even when it doesn’t seem logical, I’ll gain clarity. And I can confirm that it works. After countless mental loops, I’ve arrived at interesting conclusions, which, in turn, brought an unexpected sense of calm.

That said, I like to wrap up this final newsletter of the year by sharing a few things I’ve really enjoyed:

Articles I enjoyed this year

Books I enjoyed this year

The Idiot by Dostoevsky.
Señora de rojo sobre fondo gris by Miguel Delibes.
What I Talk About When I Talk About Running by Murakami.
The Great Gatsby by Scott Fitzgerald.
100 años de soledad by Gabriel García Márquez.
Educated by Tara Westover.

Quotes I enjoyed this year

“Real artists ship.” — Steve Jobs

“I make movies for me, and the audience is invited.” - Tarantino

“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.” - Tolstoy

Places I enjoyed this year

Hydra, Greece.
Bayonne, France.
Pum Pum Bakery, Madrid.
De Kas, Amsterdam.
Van Stapele Koekmakerij, Amsterdam.
Alma Ezequiel Montilla, Puente Genil.
Señor Cangrejo, Sevilla.

Next year, more to come

This year, I wrote 28 posts. Out of those 28, I focused a lot on sharing my reflections, but not as much on the day-to-day of trying to live off my own projects.

So, in 2025, you’ll see more of that. Additionally, based on the conclusions I’ve drawn this year, I’m going to try something new: starting a tea store. If you want to learn more, I plan to share the process in this newsletter—everything from the legal aspects to finding suppliers and all the challenges that come with it.

In addition to this, I’m working on my next software project, which will be launched next year. As I’ve mentioned many times in this newsletter, recommendations from real people are becoming increasingly important for maintaining sanity on the internet. I want to be part of this, which is why I’m creating a platform that allows you to easily share your own recommendations online, just like I did with Creare, for example.

There isn’t a specific solution for this, beyond using Wordpress, Webflow, or a few tools that require some technical knowledge, which not everyone has. I want to make it accessible to everyone, so let’s see if I can pull it off.

With all of this, I hope you’re having a wonderful Christmas. I’m very excited for the coming year, and I hope you are too. Thanks for reading me.

I’d love for you to write to me and share a bit about your plans for next year. I always enjoy reading those messages.

That’s all for now, happy 2025!

Talk soon.

Alberto

My life strategy is pure curiosity

Fri, 20 Dec 2024 00:00:00 +0000

When you want to create something, don’t plan based on data. Do it based on your interests, because nothing withstands challenges better than something you deeply want to learn. Nothing resists the voices telling you not to do it like a shield made of curiosity.

Is it a bad strategy? Maybe. Am I too naïve? Perhaps.

But I don’t know anyone who has truly succeeded in life (and I’m not talking in financial terms) by following data, chasing trends, or simply doing what works. Those things are fleeting and inevitably fade away. There’s nothing more enduring than the childlike curiosity to discover, to dive deeply, and to swim as far as your strength takes you.

Sure, the other paths might make you very wealthy, let you own luxury cars, or have a huge house, but I don’t think life is about that. Once you have financial security that frees you from worrying about making it to the end of the month, the real essence of life is living it.

It’s about experiencing as much as you can, hugging your loved ones as often as possible, and pursuing the things that call to you with irresistible force.

But life isn’t just about that. It’s also about finding a balance between being at peace with yourself and being good to others. That balance includes building discipline, taking care of your body and mind, and being ready to care for others when they need you. Ultimately, it’s about committing to things for the long haul.

And this is essentially my strategy for life. I’ve never chased something that didn’t interest me, and I never will. I don’t know if I’ll ever own one of those cars or massive houses, but I do know that most nights, I go to bed with a smile on my face—and it’s precisely because what I’m pursuing deeply matters to me.

And that’s something no one can take away from me.

*On this solitary path, you may occasionally connect with generous people who want to help you, which is a wonderful experience. *

Edgar Allan Poe was right

Fri, 15 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Dear reader,

Last week, I was walking home in the morning—one of those mornings when there’s no one on the street, the kind I love. It was one of those mornings when you can hear even the smallest sounds, which sadly get lost amid the noise of cities.

When I got home, I posted this tweet:

I don’t know if it was subconscious, but when I wrote this, I realized it bore a striking resemblance to the four conditions Edgar Allan Poe sets out for happiness, which, to sum up, are:

the love of a woman, life outdoors, the absence of all ambition, and the creation of a new beauty

I think life is enjoyed more when you have no expectations of it. When you look at it with curious eyes and simply observe what happens to you from the outside. For many years, I was too foolish to think this way, stubbornly trying to control everything and plan even the unplannable.

Over the years, you learn not only that the love of a woman (or a man) is important, but that life is much more beautiful with company. It’s true that it sometimes brings problems, but more problems arise from living an unwanted solitude. Being able to have someone to call, someone to hug, and someone for whom you do things you might not do if you were alone in this world makes it worth surrounding yourself well and being endlessly grateful for it every day.

In an overstimulated society where we all have to be “successful” people, and social media makes us believe that this cardboard version of success is within reach, it places excessive pressure on us. This pressure pushes us to do things for that Instagram post or because it will bring us some advantage. When we let go of this false ambition and genuinely pursue a simpler life, that’s when we begin to discover the bright colors that small moments bring with them, and above all, we start to be more present.

And it’s in that new present that we begin to create, to express ourselves, and to do things simply because we want to, because they bring us moments of enjoyment. This is where you can tell something is genuine, that the person behind it isn’t doing it solely to get rich or to inflate their ego. They’re doing it for something more.

With all this, we must apply what Edgar Allan Poe and many others discovered long ago. Life isn’t in this newsletter, it’s not on your screen, and it’s not in your room or your house. It’s out there. And nothing eases life’s hardships more than watching rivers flow, leaves fall from trees, and the sun rise and set.

You only have this life, so all I can say is: live it. That’s a reminder for both you and me. Let’s not be trapped by the chains we sometimes place on ourselves. Live responsibly, with the responsibility to make the most of this fortunate moment you’ve had to be here in this world.

Regret things, make mistakes, and don’t chase fleeting pleasures. Learn to love if you don’t know how, and love deeply those around you—one day they won’t be by your side.

Never forget to make time for them and for yourself. Enjoy the little moments and don’t strive for more.

Don’t overcomplicate life; it should be simple.

This is the only ambition I have in life

Our Struggles Define Us

Fri, 08 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I’ve always thought that the things we become obsessed with often stem from negative experiences. No one relentlessly seeks solutions to problems that don’t exist; that’s why no one becomes an expert in something they haven’t struggled with.

Those who seek calm are the ones who can’t find it. Those who want to improve their health are those who have lost it. People search for ways to sleep because, try as they might, they can’t manage to fall asleep and are all too familiar with the ceiling above their bed.

One reason I began writing was because I barely slept and thought too much. Writing became the perfect companion on those nights when sleep wouldn’t come. A way to capture the thoughts running through my head. And I believe it was through writing that I discovered it didn’t just help me—it made me fall in love with it.

Carlos Stro, a Spanish health educator, began to speak about how artificial light directly affects our health after losing a friend to cancer.

Viktor Frankl developed logotherapy after experiencing one of the most horrific realities—life in a Nazi concentration camp.

J.K. Rowling wrote Harry Potter when she was unemployed, a single mother, and dealing with a failed marriage. She used writing as an escape.

There are countless more stories like these.

That’s why the positive mantra of “find your passion” doesn’t resonate with me. We are shaped by our experiences, and because “no’s” often hurt more than “yes’s” bring joy, our negative experiences define us more than the positive ones.

No one became great without falling a thousand times. No one became strong without being knocked down over and over. No one came here with a promise of happiness; that’s an illusion of the fiercest capitalism.

Our only mission in life is simply to live it. To learn to survive the winters, the blows, and the falls. That’s what we became experts in, and that’s why we’re still here. We learned to come together and to work as a team. We discovered that companionship was better for our survival, and we created love. We found that our strengths, combined with those of others, made us invincible, and we held onto that truth.

Because happiness is too fragile to cling to. And perhaps too simple. Because experiencing the full range of emotions, no matter how difficult, is wonderful. Because it’s a miracle we’re alive. So let’s live—let’s enjoy those fleeting moments of happiness and face, with fear but without surrender, the experiences we encounter along the way, some bitter and some sweet.

Maybe in doing so, we’ll find ataraxia—and, with it, the answers to those questions that haunt us.

Today’s recommendations

How I Read. Reading is a practice—a way to improve attention and exercise discipline. It’s a gym for the mind. I’ve often spoken here about how vital reading is for our mental well-being, and I think this article presents some compelling arguments to that effect.
Analog Office. If you’re into paper and analog organization, this blog is pure gold.
archive.today. Sometimes I come across content behind a paywall, and I don’t want to pay for another subscription just to read a single article. After trying several tools, this one is definitely the one that has convinced me the most.

Cantimplora Studio

I’ve been wanting to shift the direction of Cantimplora Studio, my small services website, for a while now. Over the years as a freelancer, some people have asked me how to get clients. I wish I had an answer, but I don’t. The only thing that’s worked for me is word of mouth.

What I can tell you is something that, for someone like me, hasn’t worked: having a website. That’s why I’ve gone back to the roots of what this place was always meant to be:

Cantimplora Studio is a small, one-person studio focused on building thoughtful software and curating captivating content from the Weird Wide Web.

I really enjoy working alone, but at some point in my life, I’d like to have a team of people who are better than me, with whom I can create much more ambitious things.

That’s why this move makes sense. I want to make Cantimplora the epicenter of that—like the town square of my small city.

This change was inspired by Good Enough. If you don’t know them yet, you should definitely check them out.

With thousands of websites curated by bots, pages flooded with ads that require you to be quick with your mouse just to read, and apps that constantly vie for your attention, I believe we need more websites like this.

Websites made by people who create software because they genuinely enjoy what they’re doing. And by people who curate content because they love what they’re curating. From humans, for humans.

As I wrote before, technology should be a facilitator of our lives. And our life is out there. Our life is our family, our friends, and the experiences we perceive.

That’s a bit of what I want with this—to ensure that everything I create serves as a facilitator, not a distraction.

That’s all for now. I’ll share more news soon in this newsletter.

People More Interesting Than Me: Alex Fox

Fri, 01 Nov 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Today, I’m excited to introduce a new section to my little newsletter: People More Interesting Than Me.

About a year ago, I discovered mood.camera on Reddit while I was in Greece. A camera app that emulates film camera filters sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a try. I really liked it—the results were impressive, and the app felt almost like using the phone’s native camera.

Some time after that, I received a message from Alex on WhatsApp, asking if he could use some of the photos I’d taken for his website, and that’s how we started talking. I’d been wanting to do written interviews with people I found interesting for a while, so I asked him.

And here we are, a few months later. My first guest, Alex Fox.

First things first: can you introduce yourself?

Hi! My name’s Alex Fox, I’m a developer from London and the creator of mood.camera.

How did you discover your love for photography and decide to spend more time on it?

I’ve been a keen photographer since I was a teenager, but my passion really came alive when I bought my first decent smartphone, a Samsung Galaxy S3. The fact that I could have such a capable camera and photo editing device in my pocket was super exciting. There was also a lot of innovation in the space at that time. Every year, phone cameras were getting better and better. Apps were getting more advanced. I would happily spend hours capturing and tweaking photos, trying to squeeze the most I could out of the phone I had at the time. Even thought I had a decent DSLR, I always came back to my phone camera. You can’t deny the cliche of the “best camera is the one you have with you” but somehow the photos felt more special, like you were defying the norm.

But more recently, despite advances in resolution and low light performance, I’ve felt less inspired to take photos with my iPhone. In the quest for ever sharper and “perfectly exposed” images, it feels like photos have lost their character. I also felt fatigued from my editing flow. Capturing photos in ProRAW was great in theory, but I felt overwhelmed with 100s of photos to edit. The once “fun” point-and-shoot phone camera is edging ever closer to the DSLR experience.

I tried a bunch of different apps to try and bring that character back into the iPhone camera but none of them quite hit the mark. That’s when I began to envision my ideal camera app and around this time last year, I started building a simple prototype, which would become mood.camera.

What kind of resources or research processes did you use to understand how to build Mood from a technical and business perspective?

I’ve been developing apps for a decade so the core design and technology came fairly naturally. The two biggest technical challenges were building the image pipeline and balancing the user experience.

My main goal was to create an app that captured photos with character, moving away from the over-sharpened, hyper-real look that iPhone photos often have. I looked to film for inspiration and spent a lot of time researching the subtitles of grain, colour and other photographic artefacts. I wasn’t looking to replicate film exactly, but I could see how these visual properties gave the photos physicality and feeling. Before touching the code I experimented with different techniques to create these filmic looks within Photoshop. Then, when I was happy with the look, I would recreate that image pipeline in the app. It was quite a long process, as after each iteration I would go out and take some photos to test the look. In the end, though, I am really happy with the results. Sure, it’s not a 100% replication of “real film”, but that was never the intention.

My second objective was to create a simple user experience that challenged the typical photographer’s mindset which leans heavily on editing and control. The ability to capture and edit photos, with greater and greater control, is on one hand incredible, but it’s overwhelming. It’s easy to get caught up in micro-decisions, tweaking every detail until the photo no longer feels spontaneous. I wanted to challenge that.

I made two controversial decisions. One, no live preview of your filter. Two, no editing - all the filmic effects and colour profiles are baked into the photo. You might think, yeh just like real film cameras, but it wasn’t just for the sake of nostalgia. I was more interested in the impact that it has on the psychology of taking a photo. For example, when I was testing other apps, I found that having a live preview meant I was more likely to either spend a minute flipping through filters, or at worst not even take the photo because it didn’t look quite right. I wanted to create an experience where you didn’t think too much, just compose the photo and snap. I also found that, for me, editing had the tendency to make it feel like my photos were never “finished”. With apps like VSCO offering 100s of filters, how am I meant to decide which one looks best?

I know it won’t be for everyone, and I’m not saying that editing photos is a bad thing at all, but there’s something liberating about accepting a photo, imperfections and all. Some of my favourite images have come from unexpected “happy accidents.” By limiting control, I’ve rediscovered the fun in iPhone photography, and that’s the experience I wanted to share with others.

I’m actually adding another small, feature in the next few weeks to curb a bad habit me and many other photographers have. I’m not sure if you’ll have heard the term, but it’s called “chimping”. Essentially it’s the compulsion to check what the photo looks like immediately after you take it. The new, optional, setting will disable the gallery button for 60 seconds after taking the photo. I’m looking forward to turning it on for myself, to break that habit.

Yeh, I feel really lucky to have such an engaged community, they really help to give meaning to my work. One challenge is that people are very suspicious of anyone trying to market something in these communities, which I completely understand. For example, I originally posted on Reddit looking for beta testers, and it got such a big response that people were commenting things like, “The developers obviously paid people to post positive comments to this post”. With that in mind, I think it’s important to be as transparent as possible, and tell your story. If you want people to spend the time trying your product you need to give them a good reason to.

It’s also important to talk to your users. Spend the time replying to their questions and engaging with the content they post. If you’ve built a product that truly resonates with yourself, it should come naturally. I like nerding out on photography and technology so talking to like minded people about it is part of the fun!

On the Netflix, I’ve been re-watching “Midnight Mass”, a fantastic horror series. Honestly, anything by Mike Flanagan is worth watching. And if you’re into cars, I highly recommend checking out “Revelations” by Hagerty on YouTube. It’s a brilliant series that takes you through the history of some iconic cars.

To switch off before bed, I’ve been reading some cyberpunk / Sci-Fi books, with “Snow Crash” by Neal Stephenson being one of my recent favourites. Highly recommend.

A few pictures I took with mood:

Today’s recommendations

Aren’t your lonely?. “My advice is keep whoever has the least interest in your social media. The ones who take your online persona the least seriously. They want the whole you, and they know an Instagram grid couldn’t possibly capture it. They like your ugly laugh, not the fake one you use for TikTok. They like those candid, silly pictures when you forgot to perform yourself for a moment, not the staged Instagram selfies that don’t even look like you.”
The Walking Rebellion. “I walk in order to stand still. Standing still in awe at new (and familiar) sights, be they birds, mountains, cultures, or traditions. I walk to be alone with my thoughts, to test out sentences that will one day be formed and crafted into essays. I walk to experience the places, people, creatures, and moments that will become the subjects of my written words. I walk to write, and I write to walk.”
Chris Arnade Walks the World. I’m someone who loves to walk, and my passion for photography is deeply connected to it. Walking and capturing moments are essential parts of my process, helping me become more aware of where I am and what I’m doing. It’s a meditative practice. I hope to find more blogs like this one, where people simply write about their walks.

I want people

Fri, 25 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

I want people in my life who challenge me, who make me uncomfortable.

I want people who are free, who think independently and make me question what is right and wrong.

I want people who are spontaneous, who love sincerely, with the courage to speak the truth to my face.

I want people who are ambitious, driven to build a life that reflects their idea of perfect happiness. People who choose the right path, even when it’s the hardest one.

I want people who feel fear but don’t let it hold them back. I want them to inspire me to face my own fears and be brave.

I want people who don’t seek external validation, who think for themselves, and see the world in their own way.

People who live without fear, with a passion to embrace the fullness of this incredible experience called life.

Today’s recommendations

The Sanctification of the Self. “The fragilization process continued with the arrival of content notes and trigger warnings. Children who never had to work through difficult feelings of failure become adults who believe that other people are supposed to protect them from ever encountering anything uncomfortable. This corrodes the idea of personal responsibility. When taken to its logical conclusion, the widespread demand for content and trigger warnings makes accountability, even from the legal system, seem incongruent with the lesson society has been teaching children for decades: someone else is responsible for your feelings.”
The Age of Abandonment. “For one, fear of abandonment explains much of Gen Z’s lack of resilience. We fear life because we feel alone. That’s the thing about attachment—you need to depend to be independent. You need a stable base to venture out. Something to rely on to take risks. Some stability to cope with chaos. Otherwise you can’t explore with confidence. If you fear abandonment, you won’t risk romance. Words will feel traumatic. You will stay stagnant, afraid to move.”
Breadcrumbs. “One aspect of life, somewhat neglected in the digital age, is the desire to see and be seen. We should not only desire that others find us, we need them to. We need jobs, relationships, friends, and all other kinds of connections. Though it sometimes feels that these connections are assigned at random, it is never true, they are always the product of someone’s efforts.”

Clouds everywhere + Gmail

Fall is my favorite time of year. After a brutally hot summer, the crispness in the morning air has brought me back to life. There’s something special about autumn sunrises and sunsets—they seem more beautiful than usual.

Lately, I’ve been a bit obsessed with clouds. Capturing photos of them. Appreciating their beauty. Here are some of my favorite shots:

After my recent obsession with clouds, let me share another of my particular quirks. With so many projects, I have multiple email accounts spread across different platforms, and I’ve always wanted to unify them somehow.

After extensive research, I settled on Fastmail as my solution. Overall, I like it—everything is centralized now—but I still miss the Gmail interface. To me, Gmail and Calendar are the best interfaces Google has, and probably the only ones Google these days.

Just yesterday, I stumbled upon something interesting. By using Cloudflare with Gmail, you can configure infinite subdomains in Gmail, all while managing them from your manolito@gmail.com account.

I’m going to give it a try and will let you know how it goes, but it feels like I’m one step closer to returning to my beloved Gmail interface.

Keep Your Word

Fri, 18 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Humans commit through words.

For example, every person you love today entered your life through words. The friend who became close after a long conversation filled with shared understanding. Or the girl who became your girlfriend after you told her you liked her.

Likewise, everything you long for has become words. Those dreams you wrote down in your notebook as a child. The beautiful moments you recorded in your journal so they’d last forever. Or simply that recurring question you asked yourself: “What do I want to be when I grow up?”

Words are the most powerful way you have to commit, and keeping your word should be your goal.

Something so simple, yet so complicated: making sure that words and actions align. That you do what you say or say what you do. The order doesn’t change the result.

It’s sad to see people surprised when someone actually does what they said they’d do. Shouldn’t that be the norm? Unfortunately, it’s not. We live in a world clouded with lies.

And the biggest lies are the ones you tell yourself. How many times have you told yourself that you wanted to get in shape, write that blog, launch that project, or finish that book? I’m guilty of all of them. And probably, so are you.

So, if I had to give you one piece of advice, it would be this: keep your word. For yourself and for others. In both the smallest things and the biggest.

It’s okay to change direction, to make mistakes, or change your mind. But those things you’ve promised to yourself or to others—fulfill them. The satisfaction you feel from saying and doing what you promised is priceless.

Because there’s nothing sadder than letting others down, and nothing more painful than letting yourself down.

Today’s recommendations

Frank Watkinson Youtube Channel. In a world where every piece of content seems made to go viral, I still get very emotional when I see someone doing something they love in the simplest way possible. Just a guitar and his desire to sing his way.
What I think about when I edit. I know I’m a bit obsessive, but writing well is so important. This post is another great resource for editing your texts with purpose.
Desperation Algorithms. This article reflects my frustration with algorithms today. I already wrote about it on my blog in a piece called They’ve ruined the experience of discovering new things for us. Daniel humorously captures this same feeling.

Potpourri

Last week, I mentioned that I had been invited to participate in a photography exhibition in London. Well, I’ve decided not to go through with it. The decision is simple: I still have a lot of room to improve as a photographer, and I’d prefer to work on that before showcasing anything else.

On another note, last week Creare was featured on Product Hunt. It received a total of 18 solid upvotes—not much, but that’s okay. The goal with Creare is to slowly gather unique places, hoping that someone out there will appreciate it.

Friends Ana and Eduardo from Casado Gonzalez are among those who do. They sent a lovely email, which I won’t share for privacy reasons, saying they liked the project. That made me really happy. Since I know you’re both subscribed here, a warm greeting from this humble newsletter.

Even the box is beautiful

A little over a year ago, I was in South Korea and, by chance, bought a pen from the brand Monami—the Monami 153 Black, to be exact.

Now, the ink is running out, and surprise, surprise, they don’t sell replacements in Europe. So, I’ve urgently started the search for a European pen with similar qualities before mine dies for good.

I bought the Lamy Noto, which clearly disappointed me. Some pens that seem to fit what I’m looking for are the rOtring 600 or the Zebra Pen G-450. If you have any recommendations, I’d really appreciate it!

And if you’re into the world of pens, Reddit has the best channel for that.

Dead Simple Personal Productivity

Fri, 11 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Today I’m going to introduce you to a new section of this newsletter. Over the years, I’ve been rewriting and learning from my experiences about certain topics that really interest me, like productivity, health, building products, relationships, among others.

I’ve always wanted to have a place where I could store this information in an organized way for others to consume, but most importantly, to help my future self remember the lessons I’ve gathered over time.

So here we are; welcome to the first Dead Simple [insert topic]. This time, the main topic is personal productivity.

Productivity is a topic you have probably searched for on Google. There are thousands of gurus trying to sell you the idea of the ultimate system when, in reality, it is simpler than that.

Don’t be fooled; productivity is not about complex systems or automating everything. Productivity is about knowing when to push and when to stop, understanding what to do and what not to do. Above all, it’s about thinking long-term and pursuing things that genuinely interest you.

Every year, try to implement a maximum of 1-2 changes in your life. Trying to do too many new things at once is a recipe for failure. Always think in the long term. Things that are worthwhile take time.
Have no long-term goals. Focus entirely on the process of working. Decide as you act. Once you have an idea, try to make it as simple as possible. Cut out 99% of the noise around it.
Don’t overcomplicate your organization. Productivity gurus need your money to keep creating irrelevant content. Focus on execution. If you cannot remember the task you need to work on, it’s probably because it’s not that important.
Many people spend too much time thinking about how to optimize their systems to perfection and not nearly enough time asking if they’re working on the right problems.
Don’t keep a schedule. Work on whatever is most important or interesting at any given time.
You don’t have time for everything. Not having time for something is another way of saying it’s not important. And that’s OK. Limited time means limited possibilities. That’s the way it is.
Say no to most things; say yes to the things your gut says yes to. Only agree to new commitments when both your head and your heart say yes.
Self-improvement should be a by-product, not the focus. You improve because you do the work, not because you focus on improving.
Picking the right thing to work on is the most important element of productivity and is often overlooked.
Sleep and exercise are key to your productivity. You cannot produce well enough if your body is not well-rested and energized.
If you’re unproductive, it’s not because your system is down or your software needs replacing. It’s because you’re tired, bored, or unhappy. You cannot do things you love all the time, but try to spend most of your time doing things that you enjoy or find very interesting.
Thinking happens outside your laptop. If you are creative, spending time in front of your computer is not the way to generate new ideas. Make sure you leave enough time in your schedule to think about what you are working on. The best ways to do this are to read books, hang out with interesting people, and spend time in nature.
Never walk into a room without knowing why you are there. “I need to write a newsletter” isn’t knowing why you are there; “I know exactly what to write” is. Problems are rarely solved and executed in the same room.
Working more hours makes you less productive. The countries that work the most hours are the least productive. Enjoying life more and working fewer hours makes you better at your job. This has been proven, even if your boss doesn’t like it.
Limit your options. If you try to pursue 100 paths, you will run out of strength and will not be able to finish any of them.
Life is about making decisions where we have no control over what is going to happen. Maybe we go down one road and end up in paradise, or maybe we end up in a wasteland. But we can’t stop trying.

This is all I have been able to summarize on this topic for the moment. The peculiarity of this section is that at some point this content you are reading will have its own section on my website, which I will expand as I learn new things about the subject.

Today's recommendations

Four Thousand Weeks. Speaking about productivity this week, I can’t recommend anything else but this book. I think its approach to managing time is very insightful, and it also emphasizes that our time is limited. It’s not about getting more things done; it’s about doing less and enjoying it.
What I have lived for. Speaking of enjoying life, this is a must read. The prologue to the biography of Bertrand Russell begins: “Three passions, simple but overpowering, have governed my life: the longing for love, the search for knowledge, and an unbearable pity for the suffering of mankind.”.
This quote from Nikos Kazantzakis:

This is true happiness: to have no ambition and to work like a horse, as if you had every ambition. To live far from people, not needing them and yet loving them. To have the stars above you, the land to your left and the sea to your right, and to suddenly realize that in your heart life has performed its last miracle: it has become a fairy tale.

Photography calls me, again

This is the gallery, let

For those of you who don’t know, one of my hobbies is photography. A few months ago, one of my photos was selected to be exhibited in a small gallery in Athens. If you are curious, this is the photo.

I have always loved photography and I think it was something very natural for me. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t taking pictures, and I can’t remember not using my camera or cell phone almost everywhere I went. I even wrote an article about it.

But it was always very casual, and I never took it seriously to improve in that area, although it is obvious that I have improved over the years. There is nothing better than taking a lot of bad photos to make better photos.

This week I received an email from the same gallery telling me that I’ve been selected to exhibit my photos in another gallery next year, but this time in London. And this time not 1 photo, but 11 photos (1 printed + 10 digital). I was surprised because it’s not something I’m used to.

So, after almost a lifetime of taking pictures, I think it’s time to get serious about it. I don’t intend to make a living out of it, but it would be interesting to see how far I could go.

As always, I’m going to follow my curiosity and see where it takes me.

P.S: I’m not the biggest Instagram fan you’ll find, but I’ve created a photography section on my website where you can see some of the photos I’m taking.

If you like any of them, tell me, I’d love to hear.

The importance of light for our health

Thu, 10 Oct 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Our bodies are not adapted to receiving blue light from the many devices we use throughout the day, such as screens or indoor lights. When we balance diet, exercise, rest, and light, the last two are likely the most important for living a healthy life, contrary to what many believe.

During the day, artificial light is not a significant issue if we are regularly exposed to sunlight and don’t spend all day indoors. However, at night, we need to be more cautious with it, especially since that’s when we tend to use it the most.

Light has been the main guide for our circadian rhythms. We used to sleep when the light faded and stay outside while the sun was available. So, what happens when this changes and we expose ourselves to these types of lights at night? Several things can occur, including:

Exposure to blue light at night suppresses the production of melatonin, which worsens sleep quality.
There’s also a relationship showing that exposure to artificial light increases body fat in the general population, likely due to the lack of good, prolonged rest. And that’s precisely the most important factor when someone wants to lose weight: sleeping well.
Furthermore, there’s been a correlation between exposure to artificial light and the increase in cancer rates. For example, this global study mentions that:

“Artificial nighttime light is significantly linked to multiple types of cancer. Immediate measures should be taken to limit artificial light at night.”

What are the solutions to this problem?

As you can see, light has a significant influence on our health. We live in a world where not everything is within our control, so here are some tips you can follow by yourself without relying on others:

Maximize exposure to natural light during the day, especially prioritizing sunrise and sunset. We synthesize melatonin and serotonin through infrared light, which makes up 70% of the electromagnetic radiation from the Sun.
In the afternoon, reduce exposure to blue light from screens. If this isn’t possible, use blue light-blocking glasses like the ones from Gunnar, which are the ones I use.
When the sun sets, we need to avoid any exposure to blue light—our environment should be as dark as possible. If you need to continue using your electronic devices, make sure the screen is set to red. If you need to be outside, you can buy night glasses to block blue light. Here’s an article that compares several options across different price ranges.

Why we can still use red light at night?

Red light at night doesn’t have harmful effects on our health. Probably because our ancestors used fire before going to sleep.

It even can have a calming effect on our bodies and doesn’t disrupt melatonin production at night, improving our sleep quality.

Alberto Gallego

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Today’s recommendations

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First things first: can you introduce yourself?

How did you discover your love for photography and decide to spend more time on it?

What kind of resources or research processes did you use to understand how to build Mood from a technical and business perspective?

A lot of people are willing to share their pictures taken with Mood on WhatsApp, Reddit, and Instagram, which is amazing because you’ve fostered interest in your product and built an active community. How did you create this community? Any advice you can share?

Recommendations are great, so would you like to share some? They can be related to photography or anything you enjoy (videos, articles, books, movies/shows… whatever).

Today’s recommendations

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Today’s recommendations

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Today’s recommendations

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Dead Simple Personal Productivity

Today's recommendations

Photography calls me, again

The importance of light for our health

What are the solutions to this problem?

Why we can still use red light at night?