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Diego

  • Why I’m airing my dirty laundry goals in public

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    I used to think goals were private, write them down, forget about them, repeat. Turns out, saying them out loud can flip everything upside down, sometimes painfully, but mostly for the better.

    But I realized that when I shared my goals publicly, something happened…

    1. The Kombi Adventure

    A few years ago, I told a friend, “I’m going to buy a Kombi (VW Bus) and travel South America.” It was the kind of confident nonsense you say after a beer, then immediately forget.

    Except my friend didn’t. A year later, they asked, “How’s the Kombi trip?” Panic. I didn’t even own a Kombi. Instead of admitting defeat, I blurted out, “It’s happening soon!”.

    Next week? I bought one, quit my job, and hit the road. No clue what I was doing, but that trip became one of the best decisions of my life, all because I ran my mouth to the wrong, or right, person. It wasn’t to prove anything to my friend, it was in respect of my young self dreams.

    Besides traveling, I occasionally served as the lunch bus driver.

    2. The 100 books challenge

    In 2022, I let Goodreads peer pressure me into being a better reader. I set a goal, and that little progress bar guilted me into finishing more books than the past three years combined. I didn’t hit 100 books that year, but it left me motivated to keep going in the years after.

    3. The 500-mile bike ride

    Then came a fundraiser and a 500-mile bike ride from San Francisco to LA. Fundraising and training sucked, so I built Sf2.la, a site that publicly displayed my Strava data and helped me raise money. Suddenly, skipping rides wasn’t an option when people could see my stats or lack of them. I hit my fundraising goal, completed the ride, and met amazing people along the way.

    How to set goals that stick

    I’ve learned that vague goals die quietly. The trick is structure.

    1. SMART Goals: Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, Time-bound.
      • Instead of “read more,” I set “Read 101 books in 2025, 50 of them graphic novels.”
    2. OKRs (Objectives & Key Results): Break big goals into measurable steps.
      • Objective: Ride SF to LA
      • Key Results: Ride 300 miles in training, complete two 80-mile back-to-backs

    Make it public (and embrace the chaos):

    Whether it’s a close friend, a family member, or even a social media post shared with your wider network, openly sharing your goals makes them feel more tangible and real.

    By putting your intentions out there, you invite accountability from others who can help keep you on track. You’ll also gain valuable support, encouragement, and motivation from those who want to see you succeed.

    Sometimes, this support comes in the form of a cheer squad that celebrates your progress and milestones with you. And when things don’t go as planned, having people who can laugh with you and help you bounce back makes the journey much more manageable and enjoyable.

    Why this works? Or maybe it doesn’t?

    Some studies say sharing goals can decrease motivation by tricking your brain into thinking you’ve already accomplished something. Maybe. But for me, it’s about the process. Whether I’m fumbling through 101 books or sweating through a ride, the magic is in the doing.

    So I’m leaning into Open Goals. Science may disagree, but it keeps things interesting.

    What about you?

    Got a goal you’ve been keeping quiet? Say it out loud. Post it. Tell a friend who will hold you to it. It might just change everything.

  • I just wanted to stop sounding awkward in English, then…

    I believe in a world where communication flows effortlessly, where words can heal, connect, and inspire. But let’s face it, not all barriers are visible. They appear in misunderstandings, cultural divides, and language struggles.

    Even the toughest walls can crack, and in those cracks, there’s a chance for empathy to grow and real connections to form. Whether it’s walls between people, cultures, or even borders between nations, I believe we’re better when we work to break them down instead of building them higher.


    If your organization is focused on breaking barriers, helping people express themselves, fostering inclusion, or bridging divides, we would love to partner with you. We’re offering Smart Keys for free to organizations and their communities to make communication easier, smoother, and more inclusive.

    Let’s build something meaningful together. 🌟

  • STEM needs more role models

    STEM could use more diverse voices, and I’ve found stories of people breaking barriers and inspiring change:

    • Dr. Jessica Esquivel – A physicist and co-founder of Oyanova Enterprises, she’s reshaping STEAM education by focusing on culture and community.
    • Markemia Peterson – An Enterprise Technical Specialist Consultant at Microsoft, proving you can bring your full self to STEM and succeed.
    • Jocelyn Mata – A geophysics and computer science student aiming to work for NASA.

    STEM isn’t just for one type of person, it’s for anyone willing to take up space and make a difference. These stories are proof.

  • Have you asked your team how they really feel about Mondays?

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    Maybe not directly, but ask what days of the week they feel most productive. For me, Mondays were the worst. I used to feel that Sunday evening dread creeping in, knowing what Monday had in store: endless meetings, tough decisions, and a drained feeling by day’s end. 🥶 And guess what? Most of the team felt the same way.

    So, I ran an experiment to change my Mondays, and it worked wonders. Not just for Mondays, but for my Sunday evenings too.

    Here’s what I did:

    1. No meetings on Mondays: Blocked off the entire day for “Flow Mode.”
    2. Moved sprint planning to Tuesdays: This helps the team ease into the week and avoids the temptation to work over the weekend. Plus, one third of all sick days happen on Mondays, so attendance issues are less disruptive.
    3. The dev, support, and mkt teams can use Mondays to solve possible issues generated during the weekend.
    4. Made Mondays a day for reflection and solving issues: Use the day to gather insights from the weekend, summarize last week’s learnings, and prepare for informed decisions.

    Paul Graham says it best: “Don’t your spirits rise at the thought of having an entire day free to work, with no appointments at all? Well, that means your spirits are correspondingly depressed when you don’t.”

    My Sunday nights used to be filled with anxiety, but now I look forward to them because my Mondays are mine.

    Am I moving my worst day from Monday to Tuesday? 🤷‍♀️

    Well, yesterday was Monday and I felt super productive. Today is Tuesday, and I’m here super excited about sharing this with you and eager to get things done.

  • Did Apple copy me?

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    As a non-native speaker, I relied heavily on Grammarly for years. I couldn’t write a simple text without its proofreading capabilities. Recently, though, I found myself turning to ChatGPT with a simple prompt: “proofread this.” It did a much better job, but the constant copy-pasting was a hassle. I tried various AI keyboards, but most were just Grammarly copycats, constantly nudging me about comma placements or suggesting rewrites because my message wasn’t clear. All I wanted was a tool that would handle this for me effortlessly.

    I even started counting the clicks it took to proofread a simple text, 21 clicks to be exact. Still, the result felt off, often using Portuguese text structures that didn’t quite fit.

    So, about two months ago, I decided to experiment with iOS Keyboard Extensions to build my own solution. I just wanted a single button on top of my keyboard to proofread my text. One click and bam, done. The feature itself was simple to build, the real challenge was creating a good keyboard. When you build a keyboard extension on iOS, you have to design the entire keyboard. That’s when I discovered KeyboardKit, an open-source project by Daniel Saidi, that saved me months of development.

    But in this space, there aren’t many competitive barriers to building keyboard apps, there are hundreds, if not thousands, of these apps available. Only a few make real money, earning millions per month, while the rest flood the App Store. I knew that without a hefty marketing budget, this would be a fun personal experiment that might lead to something else down the line.

    I was happy with my MVP, to me was better than Grammarly already, so I started adding more features: keys that could convert a text to a casual tone, shortening it, generating pickup lines, even creating a “speak like a tech mogul” key. 🤦, I went overboard and ended up with over 150 new keys on my keyboard.

    Last week, I launched it to some close friends and ESL students to get their feedback. The response was full of amazing ideas, but the keyboard experience and autocorrection still lag behind the native iOS keyboard.

    Then, I had a thought: when Apple inevitably launches their LLM, they’ll likely integrate a native writing tool. And when they do, it’s going to be a game changer, at least for someone like me. Fast forward, and here we are: iOS 18 will include a native proofreading tool across both desktop and mobile. One click, and bam, your text is proofread everywhere without any hassle.

    And that’s just one of the new features in iOS 18. If you’re eager to explore Apple Intelligence and other new tools, download the iOS 18 beta.

    But if you want to give Smart Keys a try, the second-best writing tool 🥸, download it here: https://smartkeys.so/

    That’s it, I’m left wondering, with barriers to entry lower than ever, what will separate leaders from the pack in AI tech?