My cousin just split her thigh bone into two.
“What happened?” I asked. “Sprinting,” she said.
Sprinting? I nearly choked. I have known her forever, PE in primary schools was her athletic peak. In her adult years, the best cardio was dropping low to an Afrohouse beat. But that excessive training, not her.
She is hellbent on losing weight and getting healthy even with a cast, she is eyeing taking on the 75Hard challenge. I asked her to reconsider a more progressive approach like walking further, eating right hell, and dancing. I don’t think she is convinced, she might end up with a second cast soon.
I get the stubbornness- I have lived it. But I have seen where it lands. She is jumping in blind, like I did other times. Fitness a few years ago? Zero to 100, then zero again. Undergrad? coasting on some courses as I genuinely wanted to make a degree. Finances? I watched my bank account bleed red and flood, even though I thought I had prepared well. She’s not wrong to want better — neither was I- but we didn’t know the crash was baked in. Now we do.
So here’s what’s been turning in my head: How do I live a life that matters, one that gives something back as I intend to give to it? I am not empty-handed, I have got scars, some feats, lessons, a bit of stubbornness of my own- but it’s loose, scattered.
I need a real anchor, something with roots. Programming it is- not for the hype or AI panic, but because it's nagged me since I ditched it twice: high school transfer killed CS elective, university scared off with “teach or be broke.” I am done running. Still, I have a question: How do I practice? How do I know what's working? How do I keep it from tipping the rest of my life parts over?
Here is my stab at it:
1. Programming as the Core:
I want to get good at coding, not dabble, not mess around, and understand it. Cal Newport’s early books sank in deep: Skill’s the backbone of a life with purpose. It’s not a half-baked trick, something rare, valuable, forged with real focus. Andres Ericsson’s research hammers it home: the best don’t just log in hours, they practice deliberately- targeted, tough, and guided by feedback. For coding, what does that look like? Chunking problems, wrestling bugs, and then figuring out how to never do that again. My cousin’s sprint? All grit, no plan.
I have been there- lesson one: shallow digs you a hole; depth gets you out.
2. Feel out Mastery:
Living and working in Japan is a puzzle. Japan and mastery are synonyms — ikigai, craftsmanship, precision — but dig in, and it’s murky. There’s knowledge everywhere, stuff that could build wealth or meaning, yet no one can give me a playbook. Here, progress feels fuzzier- health, family, money, and community all tangle with craft, yet little is ever seen on those parts. Mastering one piece? Sure, that’s the hook. But ignore the rest, and it unravels; my cousin’s leg proves it. Here at Code and Cornerstones, we are after the whole: have some code, back that up with solid foundations, learn well, eat right, save a buck in good shape, and give something back. Let’s explore mastery in its entirety.
3. Experimenting and Tracking What Matters:
No one is the average. Ericsson’s research proves it, even if it doesn’t try to. They studied the elite and how they sharpened their craft with focus and feedback, but it’s average. Flip through biographies, its rawer; Maya Angelou wrote propped on her elbow in a motel room with no pictures, Darwin paced Down House, a hub of intellectuals. What’s left out still? The stuff you can’t pin, biology, circumstances, incentives, preferences, resources. The further you drift from that “average,” the less it fits. Its not the whole story, nor ignoring the whole science together. I am working my way through this with consideration for what piques my interest, what habits are important and serve me well and how I am progressing.
There is no plan communicated here. This is a deliberate choice; its indefinite on purpose, more to strengthening foundations and mastery of programming than to complete at certain times. Integrity stands in the realm of what is to be kept and discarded in light of the information obtained.
If this doesn’t work? I don’t have a neat answer. It might climb, it might plateau — downhill is only if I let it.
Let’s code with our codes while exploring those cornerstones.