My friend, Junaid, is an amazing engineer (CMU and a YC company’s first engineer) who has the passion of teaching software development to people without a technical background. He’s leading a course that is starting next Monday: maven.com/xinran/ai-as... I’ll be his assistant.

"Health, Love, and your Mission, in that order. Nothing else matters." - Naval

Have mixed feelings about the term “building an email list.” Don’t treat people’s trust as just a way to make money for yourself.

The benefit of starting the day with a hard workout is that things that follow in the day feels easier.

"Would you rather be the world’s greatest lover, but have everyone think you’re the world’s worst lover? Or would you rather be the world’s worst lover but have everyone think you’re the world’s greatest lover?" — Warren Buffett

“First they ignore you. Then they laugh at you. Then they ask how you did it.”

It's odd that I’ve started using the em dash less often because it's seen as AI-generated, even though it's not. How can our em dash lovers resist peer pressure in this age of AI?

Life isn’t just about smooth times when everything is going well. It also comes with misfortunes, struggles, heartbreaks. But it’s in those difficult times you gain clarity. You get to see people’s true character, who truly cares about you, and who you should cherish in life.

A valuable life skill is to make peace with what you did without regrets.

"Many of the world’s most precious things are free and can’t be bought. Such as sunlight, air, and parents' love."

At some point, we no longer need advice, tips, guidance, or inspiration. We just need to put in the work ourselves.

Don't lose your soul when automating.

If you had an infinite amount of money, what would you truly want to do? What is stopping you from doing that today, even if it's just a little bit?

The problem with some AI-generated content and automations: While you’ve increased efficiency and gained numbers more easily, you’re also giving away the soul of your writing. And in the long term, you're losing a scarce resource in the age of AI. That is Trust.

Saw my Medium reached 10k followers. Funny cuz it feels like crickets for years. But I just kept publishing regardless. - 1 → 100 followers: 3 years and 7 months - 100 → 1,000 followers: 7 months - 1,000 → 10,000 followers: 5 months This is what time can do.

Fun Fact. My name has been spelled wrong many times over the years as: - Xiran (most common) - Xin - Xinra - Xinrad That happened to my official documents too. That’s why when I spell others’ names, I always look extra closely to make sure I spell them right.

The louder and more opinionated you are on social media, the more support and interest you'll attract. But at the same time, you'll also draw more controversy. The easiest way to avoid controversy is to say nothing, write nothing, and publish nothing.

When you are unhappy: - Sleep early - Hit the gym - Walk in the nature You may feel better.

Don’t let anxiety about what might happen in the future ruin the happiness and peace you could be enjoying right now. “The present moment is all you ever have.”

There's a fine line between confidence and arrogance. Your job title, salary, talents, or skills don’t give you the right to be a jerk.

"The more you write, the more you'll learn."

Go to bed early → More sleep → Feel recharged the next morning → Use the gym → Eat more → More energy during the day → Work more productively → Tired at night → Go to bed early The positive cycle of going to bed early.

We still hold a competitive edge over AI (at least for now). - Knowing what looks good, and what doesn’t. - Feeling what other humans feel and truly wanting to improve their lives. - The wisdom passed down from our ancestors. The gut feelings that no algorithm can replicate.

An observation after writing publicly for over 5 years: The posts that gained the most traction weren’t the ones I spent a lot of time writing and refining. They were usually written on impulse. Triggered by a sudden burst of emotion or inspiration.

🤯 2k new subscribers over the past 30 days. designwithai.co

A big news yesterday: ChatGPT can reference all your past conversations. Whether you're excited about the new opportunity, concerned about privacy, or curious how the data is stored long-term, we're entering a new era. What will happen if AI can remember much more and for much longer?

I spend about 6-15 hours on every newsletter. I publish almost every week. I’ve earned $1k+ on Substack. That’s about $2 per hour. It doesn’t make sense at all from a business perspective. But I have the faith that writing isn't for the short-term. Otherwise I would have quit a long time ago.

Humanity has never been more important in this world of AI.

Virality is temporary; quality content lasts.

I’m not consistent at following up, but I always believe it’s important to check in with the people who’ve helped me in the past—just to check in as I remember their kindness, vs. only contacting them when I need something.

Procrastination isn’t always a bad thing. It can be a quiet guide, revealing what no longer calls to you and what truly deserves your time.

“When you truly work for yourself, you won’t have hobbies, you won’t have weekends, and you won’t have vacations, but you won’t have work either.” — Naval Ravikant

The new ChatGPT image generator can do more than just create Ghibli-style images. In today's newsletter, I’ll show you the UI mockups I generated, the prompts I used, and some surprises and takeaways along the way: substack.com/home/post/p-...

After seeing a lot of content on social media, you can instantly tell what has a soul and what doesn’t.

Life is like a river. You once thought it would be a straight line. But sometimes it hits a big rock and turns. Sometimes it hits a mountain and has to take a long detour to get past it. But a river doesn’t follow a straight path. It’s the turns that make a river unique.

"Execution is cheap, ideas are everything. ...When anyone can execute at 90% perfection with the right prompts, the limiting factor becomes the quality of your ideas. The creative direction. The strategic insight. The unique perspective.” — Greg Isenberg

"If I’m not my job, then who am I?" — Brad Didericksen

“Everyone should build a to-do list app.” In today’s newsletter, I’ll showcased the to-do list app I built and what others built, along with simple demos. I’ll also share links to the web apps for you to try. 👇 Check it out! designwithai.substack.com/p/everyone-s...

— Ash Lamb

In marketing, there is a difference between genuinely caring for your audience and merely pretending to while using them for your own benefit.

“When a creative instinct grabs a hold of you, let it take you somewhere new.” — Michael Macfadden

Your life is a story. When you’re faced with hard times ask yourself: "What story do I want to tell about what happens next?" — Leila Hormozi

If someone reaches out to you with no agenda—just to check in—cherish them.

What you choose not to automate defines who you are.

Again, people asked me how I was able to manage newsletter, course, full-time job, and kids. It was hard work + desire + the pressure of paying mortgage and tuition every month…

You’ll become a stronger person when you no longer make excuses just to make yourself look good.

Wife: I discovered something. Me: What? Wife: ChatGPT is more helpful than you.

"The past happened, but all that’s available to us now is the choice of what to do about it." - Seth Godin

Growth hacks exist because people want to build a large audience quickly. Who wouldn’t? But trust takes time to build. The problem with some growth hacks is that they focus way more on yourself than on truly caring for the people you serve.

Kid looking at the clock this morning: It’s not 8 o’clock. It’s 9 o’clock. Me: Yes. Daylight Saving. Kid: Yay!! One more hour! One more hour!