[8/28] 2026 Goal Progress

The regular "am I actually doing what I said I'd do" check-in. This week I finally got out of the office for the first time in a while, and a Cloudflare tech event gave me a solid jolt of inspiration.

Health

Still no gym. Core training at the chiropractor instead

Still haven't made it to the gym this week.

My hand really needs two months post-surgery before I can move it as actively as before, so for now I'm holding back.

Instead, the chiropractor I go to every week also does rehab, so I've started doing core training there to make up for the lack of exercise.

Also, I was out of the office a lot this week, which meant a lot of walking. I didn't deliberately carve out time for it, but with all the moving around, I managed to walk pretty much every day.

The no-energy-drink habit is sticking

The habit of not drinking energy drinks has really taken root.

I go to the convenience store every morning and just don't buy one anymore. I'm at the point where I genuinely don't want one.

Sleep is pretty good

Sleep and daily rhythm have been pretty good. I've mostly stopped staying up late.

If anything, I'm now in bed by 9 or 10 pm, and there were maybe two nights this week where I woke up once in the middle of the night. But my head has been clear during the day.

Quitting smoking: the timed box kept me at one pack a day

This week, thanks to the timed-lock box, I managed to stick to one pack a day. It's quietly effective.

Plus I was out and about a lot, so the count naturally dropped a bit too.

Work

Tasks piled up, and we're still on schedule

This week had two mid-sized tasks, some zero-to-one development, and the usual maintenance work all stacked on top of each other.

Even so, everyone on the team is using AI well, doing bits of work remotely, and we're staying on schedule without much strain. That's genuinely impressive.

Back before AI, a pile-up like this meant overtime as a matter of course. Now a lot of it can happen asynchronously, and we can even catch up on the knowledge needed to check quality in parallel. What a time to be alive, honestly.

New fiscal year. Sparring with AI on how to be a CTO

Our company has just started a new fiscal year, so I'm thinking about organizational goals and how I should be showing up as CTO.

For that, I'm bouncing ideas off AI, researching case studies and strategies from organizations in Japan and worldwide that are already well ahead, and picking out what could apply to us.

It's a genuinely new experience, and it's fun.

The Cloudflare tech event: the "era of the individual" just accelerated

I went to a Cloudflare tech event. It was inspiring, as expected.

A non-engineer idol (yes, a pop idol) had already built four products. With payments built in.

On top of that, she keeps personal data to a minimum, and manages risk while fully owning the fact that she isn't an expert. Hearing that, I was seriously impressed.

And honestly, with her leading the way, she's probably going to become a beacon of hope for non-engineers. Which means indie development is only going to accelerate.

We're in an era where an influential person just building something turns into money, so influential people are going to earn even more. The era of the individual just got a big push.

And Cloudflare clearly feels like it's aiming its product development squarely at this era.

So the way the world is heading, indie development, not necessarily quitting your day job, but stabilizing your income, creating your own income streams, is going to have a comeback boom in the next two years or so.

And on top of that, focusing on the things you've always wanted to do but held back on, relationships, things you wanted to do with friends, things you wanted to do with family, and having the breathing room to find your own happiness. I think we're slowly entering an era where everyone in Japan can feel that.

The conclusion is, well, just take action. But I'd like to build tools that give people that kind of push.

The problem: AI isn't doing much while I sleep

Problems or struggles? Not really much right now.

But while my side projects run all night long, the main job isn't something I can be sloppy with.

Even without doing releases overnight, I want to keep expanding what can get done then. But I haven't gotten into the verification phase yet: what to have it do, and at what level of accuracy.

Basically, AI isn't doing much during the hours humans are asleep. That's the issue I'm feeling right now.

Money

Crypto trading bot: about to recover all of July's slump in August

As for the automated crypto trading bot, July's terrible slump is close to being fully recovered in August.

After running it for three and a half months, it's basically breakeven. But it's fully automated, so I figure that's fine. It's a blast.

US stocks turned positive. But not harvest time yet

US stocks have been doing well, and the positions I'd set up went from red to black.

It's nowhere near harvest time, so I'll keep watching for a while.

Short-term gains would only be a few hundred thousand yen anyway. Taking small bites matters, but repeatedly cashing out every time I'm up a few tens of thousands is exhausting. And the US market doesn't open until 10:30 pm Japan time, which messes with daily life.

So it's either swing trading, or doing it Warren Buffett style: hold until I no longer believe in the company's value.

Putting my money into companies I'd miss if they disappeared, that are super convenient, that are just cool, gives me a slice of ownership, and a sense of supporting and backing them.

So I'm not buying stocks purely for profit. I invest in companies I like, working backward from "I'd love a future that looks like this" and finding companies working hard toward it, as a way of cheering them on.

The time to sell is when the direction drifts away from the future I picture.

Savings: 4,200 yen saved on cigarettes. Consolidating cards onto PayPay Card

On the savings side, keeping cigarettes to one pack a day means roughly 600 yen × 7, about 4,200 yen saved this week alone. That adds up.

Credit card annual fees are a waste, so I'm consolidating onto PayPay Card. Every other credit card is getting cancelled as much as possible.

Transit cards are the annoying part. I'm looking into ways to pay for Suica with a regular card, and if that works, whether PayPay Card can replace my Atre View Card too.

The interesting thing about PayPay Card is that you can make up to around four cards, and you get to pick JCB, Mastercard, or Visa for each.

I'd been JCB-only because I want the fees to stay in Japan, but products I'm interested in overseas often only take Visa or Mastercard. So I made a third PayPay Card and went with Visa.

PayPay is kind of amazing.

Moving abroad: Duolingo at 239 days. Still not "usable" English

On the English-learning front, Duolingo is at a 239-day streak as of today.

Getting daily exposure to English is a good thing, but it has zero impact on actually being able to use the language.

I'm building an app of my own for that, so I'll use it to test things out.

Closing

The highlight of the week was the Cloudflare event and getting out of the office for the first time in a while.

There were all kinds of people there, and I got a decent read on how non-engineers are actually using AI. That gave me a ton of seeds for thinking about how our company should use AI in a planned way, improve our dev flow, and grow the business.

Online events just don't really work for me (I end up working on the side). Going all-in on offline, and maybe even making some connections while I'm at it, means more to catch up on. Regularly showing up at outside, offline events matters.

Next week: I've got about seven products in progress, so I'll push each of them forward, even a little.

Summer's ending too, so I'll work on dates and plans for a Silver Week trip, finding gaps while streamlining daily work, without overdoing it.

And I'll try to get back to the exercise I've been neglecting. Not making it to the sports center this week stings. I'll start with light, no-pressure workouts I can do at home.