Blog
Notes I wanted to write down, newest first.
October 2026
September 2026
August 2026
What my first AI video project taught meMaking my first AI video in about 16 hours with Google Flow and ChatGPT, and why storytelling turned out to be the weak spot.Scaling standards, not just branchesWhat the viral Hyundai case taught me about keeping standards consistent once a business grows past what the owner can watch.
May 2026
Planning your life isn't living itThree points from a video on why having too many plans keeps us from starting, and how we end up watching others instead.Agentic engineering and the $175,000 Grok transferKarpathy's shift from vibe coding to agentic engineering, told through a hidden prompt that got Grok to send away $175,000 worth of $DRB.Publish before you feel readyWhat Suara Berkelas's Episode 0, released with their old amateur setup, and a month of posting taught me about publishing first.
April 2026
How a pirated activator took over a client's accountsAn info-stealer rode in with a pirated Office and Windows activator and hijacked a client's official Instagram and Discord.Why your old self keeps pulling you backDan Koe's essay on why change feels like an attack on your identity, and his four steps for moving past it.Why I learn new things on XHow I keep my X feed focused on what I want to learn, AI included, and why the vibe there feels positive.How Olive Fried Chicken grew without debt or investorsA breakdown of Olive Fried Chicken, a local brand with 130+ branches and zero marketing budget, and the boring principles behind it.Two AI stacks that do different jobsA week with Hermes + GLM on Telegram and Opencode + DeepSeek + Obsidian, and why reducing load matters as much as adding capability.Urine color tells you more than a water formulaA scare with orange urine after two busy days, why the body weight × 30 ml rule falls short, and how I keep track of water now.Reading and math are the skills kids need mostCania Citta and Barry Sianturi on Malaka Project about why literacy and numeracy come first, and the idea of learning debt.Learning faster with compress, compile, consolidateMITmonk's 3C learning system, and what it showed me about where my own learning was leaking.OpenCode and DeepSeek on my Obsidian vaultTrying a new setup for a project, OpenCode with the DeepSeek API connected straight to my Obsidian vault, and how cheap it is.A healthy company doesn't mean a safe jobOracle laid off 30,000 people while it was doing well, and it made me rethink depending on a single salary.Why Bluebird refused to join the price warHow Bluebird reached Rp 5.7 trillion in revenue without cutting fares, and three lessons I took from it for small businesses.Ten boring habits for saving half your salaryNindaaFer's 10 habits for saving more than half your salary, and the two that hit home for me.Foundation, clear thinking and learning, in practiceThe practical side of strong foundation, clear thinking and continuous learning, from sleep and apps to notifications and what to study.Three things my mentor told me to masterThe three things my mentor told me to master for the next five years, and what I realized when I put them into practice.The 16 hours I actually have in a dayAfter sleep, work and routine, only a few hours a day are really mine, and the one question I now ask myself every morning.A manual for life in ObsidianWhy I started a Metaskill folder of life skills in Obsidian, how it's organized, and how Claude and Codex help me write it.Employee offboarding is riskier than it looksWhat I found researching employee offboarding, from lingering digital access and software trials to a minimal checklist and documentation.Why scrolling is easy and work feels hardNotes on NindaaFer's video about dopamine, why instant stimulation makes work feel flat, and how a dopamine detox helps.Owned vs paid distribution, and where to startWhy distribution isn't a talent for selling, the two kinds (owned and paid), and the order to follow when starting from zero.The anatomy of a problemWhat a problem really is (a goal, where you are and the gap between them), from a Cania Citta video, and how I use it now.Medvi, two people and an army of AI agentsRaymond Chin's video on Medvi, a company run by 2 people and AI agents on track for Rp 30 trillion, and what I took from it.We do the week's chores by 10 a.m. on SaturdayHow my wife and I, both office workers, fit a week's laundry, cooking and cleaning into one Saturday morning.NotebookLM notebooks are now in GeminiGemini and NotebookLM are now connected, so a notebook's documents become context for Gemini's answers and stay in sync across both apps.Waking up at 3 or 4 in the morningWhat a few weeks of waking up at 3 or 4 a.m. gave me, from the quiet and the focus to the trade-off that comes with it.Getting past a minimum-wage salaryNotes from Theoderick's video on getting past a minimum-wage salary by adding more ways for money to come in, not by working harder.Distribution will be the most valuable skillWhy I think getting a product to people will matter more than building it, now that AI lets anyone build.Richard Hamming on doing important workWhat I took from Richard Hamming's lecture "You and Your Research", on luck, compounding and working on problems that matter.Put kids where they stretch, not stressMy uncle's advice to match a child's school to their level, and the research behind it from Vygotsky, Csikszentmihalyi and Bjork.Why my content is still quiet, even with AIWhat I took from Ruben Hassid's newsletter on growing an audience with AI, and why taste and consistency matter most.Andrej Karpathy's three-folder knowledge systemHow Andrej Karpathy manages what he learns with three folders, one instruction file and AI, as explained in Nick Spisak's thread on X.People with strong fundamentals don't panicWhat my uncle, a 60-year-old in mining in Oman, told me about training juniors, and why the basics matter in any field.Ten ways to read more booksTen practical tips from Ali Abdaal's video on reading more, by changing your environment instead of relying on discipline.Six small habits for less screen timeNindaaFer's video on six small habits that make your phone boring, and what I'm taking from it.OpenClaw and the shift to AI employeesWhat I took from a guide to OpenClaw on Lenny's Newsletter, about AI agents that keep their own schedule and handle admin work.What the Claude Code leak taught me about AIConnecting the dots on the leaked Claude Code source, and why smart AI turns out to be a fast feedback loop, not magic.Mental models from the Farnam Street blogWhat I took from Shane Parrish's Farnam Street blog on mental models, and the three models I'd start with.The personal CV you forgot to updateA Suara Berkelas video on feeling stuck in your 20s and 30s, and how ego and old mental habits hold you back.
March 2026
How I got 25GB back on my iPhoneHow I freed up more than 25GB on my iPhone by moving old photos to Google Photos, without deleting a single memory.Why studying hard doesn't make it stickEight ideas from Zenius's book Belajar Cara Belajar about how the brain actually learns, with my own notes.What stuck with me from Naval's AlmanackThe points on wealth and happiness that stuck with me from The Almanack of Naval Ravikant, a free book you can read online.Google Keep for ideas, Google Tasks for doingHow Google Tasks differs from Google Keep, and how I use it for project lists, subtasks, deadlines and Calendar reminders.Don't panic about AI, but don't ignore itRado, the CEO of Noice, on why AI is a new layer, how to learn it, and the AI Sprints he runs for his team.Wondering, a Duolingo for anythingA tour of Wondering, the learning app from Cheng-Wei Hu, who built NotebookLM's Mind Map feature, plus what I think of it.Learning Naval Ravikant with NotebookLMHow I loaded 152 sources about Naval Ravikant into Google's NotebookLM, and the features I like most after using it.Three worries about AI and my careerWhat I took from Matt Shumer's viral post "Something Big Is Happening," about careers, what to learn and how to adapt to AI.Why it's getting harder to focusWhat I took from NindaaFer's video on how quick rewards train our brains to lose focus, and how to train them back.You only keep 5–15% of a videoThe learning pyramid, as Sabda PS explained it on the Malaka podcast, and why teaching is the surest way to make something stick.Ten small habits that plug time leaksNindaaFer's video on ten small habits that plug the time leaks we treat as normal, with my own notes.YouTube lets you ask questions about a videoYouTube's built-in Ask feature, powered by Gemini, where to find it on mobile, and how it changed the way I learn from videos.