4 Books That Made Me a Better Developer, Writer, and Person 📚

Lessons on productivity, habits, and life balance you can start applying today.

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I’ve told you this before: it took me a week to read the first book I have read in ten years.

And boy, it feels good to read.

Software engineers don’t pay much attention to reading outside technical aspects of the industry. And that’s bad. They are limiting themselves by not being exposed to different ideas.

I was doing the same and I don’t want you to make the same mistake.

Here are the four books I read in 2024, how they shaped the way I live my life, and how they can change yours.

Let’s dive in!

1. Slow Productivity

Coined by Cal Newport, the bestselling author of Deep Work and Digital Minimalism, slow productivity is a philosophy based on three simple principles:

1. Do fewer things.

2. Work at a natural pace.

3. Obsess over quality.

It’s a different take on the productivity scene.

No hustling. No burnout. No productivity for the sake of productivity.

This book shows you that it doesn’t have to be all or nothing—that there’s a way to create meaningful work as part of a balanced life.

It has become the source of inspiration for many of the posts I’ve written in this newsletter, including:

Read This to Have a Better Life in 2025

The 10 Habits of Long-Term Thinkers: Build a Life of Patience and Purpose

2. Atomic Habits

Atomic Habits by James Clear is a comprehensive, practical guide on how to change your habits and get 1% better every day.

Here are three key lessons from the book:

1. Small habits make a big difference.

2. Forget about setting goals. Focus on your systems instead.

3. Build identity-based habits.

Every piece of advice in this book revolves around a framework for creating or breaking habits based on what’s called the habit loop.

This is how you create a good habit:

1. Make it obvious.

2. Make it attractive.

3. Make it easy.

4. Make it satisfying.

And these rules can be inverted to break bad habits:

1. Make it invisible.

2. Make it unattractive.

3. Make it difficult.

4. Make it unsatisfying.

As I’ve written before, after reading this book I started tracking my habits and saw massive positive results.

If you want a visual summary of the main concepts of Atomic Habits, please check this masterpiece by

Lewis O’Brien

.

3. The Three Alarms

We were all made for greatness.

But so many of us end up chasing the wrong thing in life. We focus on work over family, and success over significance. And when our lives come to an end, we are filled with regret.

The main purpose of this book is to give you a wake-up call in case you are prioritizing the wrong things in life.

The book focuses on three main aspects of living a fulfilling life, and all of them should be prioritized:

1. Wealth.

2. Health.

3. Relationships.

If they sound familiar is because those are the same topics I write about in this newsletter, with a twist focused on software engineers wanting to thrive.

The point is that you want to avoid becoming:

1. A workaholic: prioritizing work over everything else and neglecting your health, and family.

2. A fitness nut: being so caught up in being healthy and sticking to perfect habits that you forget to spend time with your loved ones or to do meaningful work.

3. A martyr: saying yes to every request from your loved ones, to the point that you stop doing things for yourself.

And to do that, and become more “complete”, you need to work on each of these aspects of your life every day.

That’s where the three alarms come in.

The idea is that you set an alarm that reminds you to segment your day to focus on one, and only one, of these aspects. For example:

1. 09:00: Best programmer in the world.

2. 17:00: World’s top athlete.

3. 18:30: Great husband and son.

Notice how these alarms not only signal a time of the day when you should start focusing on one specific aspect of your life but also how they are bound to an identity.

Seeing yourself as the best programmer in the world will make you strive to show up and give your best in the office.

Identifying yourself as the world’s top athlete will make you stick to your fitness goals.

Calling yourself a great husband and son will make you be more present with your loved ones.

4. The Art and Business of Online Writing

What are the secrets to writing online?

Why do some writers accumulate hundreds of thousands, even millions of views on their content—and others write and write, only to go unnoticed?

These questions were in mind when I started taking this newsletter seriously.

And this book gave me the answers I was looking for.

If you are looking to create a personal brand to showcase your expertise and position yourself as an authority in your field, you need to learn the rules of online writing.

You need to understand that writing, though a form of art, is also a business.

Mastering these two aspects is what takes you to the next level and sets you apart from your peers.

Nicolas Cole

breaks down his frameworks and strategies for writing online, showcasing his 10+ years of experience, millions of views on his content, and multiple 7-figure businesses built around this craft.

And I assure you, ever since I started implementing just a fraction of the advice in this book, my writing game has stepped up:

1. I increased my online presence on Substack Notes and LinkedIn.

2. This newsletter has grown to ~3000 free subscribers and ~30 paid subscribers.

3. I’ve sold multiple digital products.

4. I launched my second newsletter, Code With AI.

5. And I have even started coaching some of you on how to create a personal brand that draws high-value opportunities.

For the amount of knowledge and actionable advice this book provides, it feels like a steal.

What about you?

The next book on my list is Mastery, by Robert Greene.

And I want to know:

1. What books did you read in 2024 that shaped the way you live your life?

2. What books do you have in store for 2025?

Hit me with your recommendations in the comments below 👇.

Don’t limit yourself to non-fiction.

I will check them all out.

Keep reading,

—Alberto

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