Content Recommendation for the week 2026/01/19 - 2026/01/25

Hey there! Thanks for subscribing to my content recommendation posts. In this series, I share articles, videos, projects, and ideas that I’ve recently found interesting, insightful, or genuinely helpful.

This edition includes content I curated during the week of 2026/01/19–2026/01/25. These dates are not meant to suggest when you should consume the material—they’re simply a reference for when I organized it. Most of the content below is largely time-agnostic, meaning you can explore it whenever you like and still gain value, knowledge, or fresh perspectives.

ONE technical video to watch for the week

How Claude Code Works. This video costs 1 hour of your free time, but if you are doing regular coding work, it will be super helpful.

Claude Code Architecture emphasizes simplicity, advocating for providing tools and minimizing unnecessary complexity. As models evolve, they become increasingly proficient in tool calling, thus avoiding the pitfalls of over-optimization and scaffolding.

Tool calls and models — building a better coding agent involves optimizing tool calls and adhering to engineering principles, emphasizing simplicity for effective design.

Context management — the use of an async buffer known as H2A decouples the I/O process from reasoning, effectively managing context to avoid bloating the model and improving performance. Strategies like summarizing capacity limits and storing information long-term in a sandbox yield smarter responses, while eliminating complex engineering webs can enhance maintainability.

Sub Agents Functionality — Sub agents in Claude code manage context effectively by isolating tasks and feeding back only results, thereby preventing clutter. Each sub agent operates with its own context and demonstrates flexibility in handling prompts, enabling better performance across various tasks like documentation and coding.

TWO Interesting tools for the week

YouLearn AI Summarizer. You can use this tool to summarize a YouTube video for easier note taking and glance through the content to decide if you want to watch the entire video.

Lalal AI. An AI tool to isolate the instruments and human voices. The free starter plan allows 10 minutes of music to be analyzed. The tool can extract piano, bass, drums, guitar, etc. from a song into separate audio files via audio models.

THREE YouTube videos for personal growth

I’m 28. Here’s How To Get Ahead Of Most 20 Year Olds posted by by Dan Koe.

3 traps to avoid:

• Don’t listen to anyone who doesn’t have the life you want — because the people who have the life you want are extremely rare. They are less than 1% of the population, and the other 99% of people are those who just blabber about how you should live your life when they wasted their own. And if you listen to them, then you’are probably going to waste your life as well. Many people say that they want the best for you, but in reality, they just don’t want to feel inferior to you. Therefore, practice deliberate ignorance. You need to do your independent research and actively search for the less than 1% of the population that have the life you want and listen to their advice, yet still do not take it as law.
• Get your taste of distractions fast — Most people treat their youth as a currency instead of investment capital. As such a young age, I didn’t want to end up overweight, obese, low energy, financilly unstable. I wanted to take control of those things fast. Set aside time to research and try things and build things. Even though most of them failed, when you actually try something, when you do something in reality, that’s when you learn. Most people aren’t working towards meaningful goals, so all of the distractions that they’re engaging in aren’t distractions to them.
• Do every thing in your power to not get a job — the insight Dan got at around 15 years old is that if I got a job, like most people, I would end up like most people. And when I look at most people’s life, I would understand that right as I accepted the job, a third of my time would be taken from me. That’s insane. A third of my time that I could use to better myself. Other things of that nature, create a type of work that I enjoy, so that I don’t hate a third of my life. You aren’t going to learn how to make money or start a business until you do it. There is absolutely no world where you’re going to watch 40 hours of YouTube and read ten books and magically within a year, build $1 million business.

3 things to do:

• Set goals that fucking scares you — The pursuit of greatness is often shot down by people who never do anything great. When you set a massive goal, it changes the actions that you take. If you’re trying to build a $1 million company, you’re going to take $1 million actions because that’s your goal. If you try to build a $100 million company, you’re going to go down a pretty different direction in order to get there. And you only have eight hours of work in you a day. It takes the same fricking amout of effort. A local coffee shop owner or a restaurant owner works so much harder than someone who started an online business, and they make so much less. It is because the goal is so much smaller and the leverage in it is much smaller.
• Make as much money as you can — We’re doing this as a way to supercharge the growth and development that we have throughout our 20s. The culture kind of makes you think that you can’t make money and be a good person at the same time. That is just categorically false. I do not care how spiritual you are or how intellectual you are, if you have a poor psychological relationship with money, you are not as developed as you think you are, and you are not living as good of life as you think you are.
• Self-actualize — Self-actualize refers to the process of realizing and fulfilling your own potential, becoming the fullest version of yourself. If you don’t self-actualize, you will experience a world of unnecessary pain. When a decision comes up that is important, you consult with the higher version of yourself: who do I want to become and who do I not want to become? What life do I want to live, and what life do I not want to live? And allow your decisions to be shaped by those anwers.

Good quotes:

• In society, most people turn 30 to 40 years old with the emotional maturity of a 15 year old.
• By the age of 23, many find themselves in a stagnant state, believing they are simply ‘living life’ without realizing the dangers of complacency, as there is no true maintenance of the status quo; individuals either improve or deteriorate.
• The best way to make the most of your 20s is to make them the worst.
• They have a myopic focus on short-term pleasure that slowly beats them into a pulp without them realizing it until decades down the road.
• Those who are not in the game just don’t understand how little competition there actually is.

How to Get Rich on Easy Mode posted by Ali Abdaal.

In this video, Ali elaborates the two ways to pursue wealth: hard mode and easy mode. In simple words, easy mode targets at supporting businesses while the hard mode tries to sell products to individual customers. The key principle of achieving wealth is to help others make money.

To achieve wealth easily, individuals must connect their work to revenue generation, understanding how their jobs contribute to their employer’s profits. High-paying roles, particularly in sales and finance, directly influence revenue, making it easier for employees to negotiate raises or promotions based on their financial contributions.

Selling to businesses (B2B) is generally easier than selling to consumers (B2C) since businesses make purchasing decisions based on logic and potential ROI, while consumers are often driven by emotions. Focusing on high-value sales can simplify the business process.

What Makes Toxic People Stop Targeting You by Mr No Plan A.

The real issue with mean people is not their inherent meanness, but rather that you are unknowingly signaling to them that it’s acceptable to treat you poorly. By identifying and correcting this behavior just once, you can change the dynamic, causing mean individuals to back off and allowing kind people to treat you with more respect.

• Stop Reacting: to regain control from toxic individuals, avoid immediate reactions to their provacations. When they say hurtful things, maintaining calm and not engaging demonstrates that their words have no power over you, ultimately making their attempts to provoke less enjoyable.

• Control Reactions: when faced with negativity or attempts to provoke, respond with calmness instead of anger. Maintain a neutral demeanor, allowing a brief pause before giving a simple, nonchalant reply.

• Stop Explaining Yourself: weak individuals often over-explain their decisions to see validation, which can make them appear guilty or unsure. Instead, assertively state your choice without elaboration, fostering confidence and discouraging further questioning.

• Create Consequences: to deter bad behavior, establish consequences by withdrawing your availability when disrespected, demonstrating that such treatment leads to reduced access to you. This approach encourages others to reconsider their actions, as they realize their behavior has tangible repercussions.

• Comfort with Dislike: to foster personal growth and eliminate toxic relationships, it’s essential to become comfortable with being disliked. Toxic individuals exploit the fear of rejection, manipulating those who seek approval. Embracing the idea that not everyone will like you allows for authenticity and encourages the departure of those who thrive on control.

• Be Fine Alone: Establishing boundaries earns you respect over mere likability; prioritize respect. To assert your independence, genuinely embrace solitude and stop chasing people for attention. As you focus on your hapiness and interests, you’ll naturally attract those who value your presence while the toxic relationships will fade away.

FIVE news to know (may or may not be interesting to you)

1. Scott Kenneth Homer Bessent, the United States Secretary of the Treasury replied to a reporter’s question on the kill line (a term from gaming culture describing a harsh reality in the U.S.: a job loss, medical emergency, or unexpected bill could push an ordinary person from stability into destitution almost overnight). The full content can be viewed in this video LIVE: Scott Bessent holds news conference in Davos.

2. Chinese Universities Surge in Global Rankings as U.S. Schools Slip by The New York Times. The article reported Harvard falling to No. 3 on a list measuring academic output, while Zhejiang University stays the No. 1. The list is the CWTS Leiden Ranking, and it focuses on the total number of papers. There are P(top 10%) and PP(top 10%) columns, which are also worth attention.

3. The Woman Who Stands Between Donald Trump and Greenland by The New York Times. Mette Frederiksen, Denmark’s leader has taken big risks standing up to Mr. Trump.

4. American TikTok — TikTok is an American company now. A group of American investors closed a $14 billion deal Thursday night to acquire the US version of the short-form video app and avoid a shutdown mandated by the 2024 divestor-ban law due to national security concerns. Under the deal, TikTok’s original parent, ByteDance, will retain 19.9% of the company while Larry Ellison’s Oracle, private equity firm Silver Lake, and Abu Dhabi-based investment company MGX will split 45% of the company as managing investors. Most of the remaining shares of the new US TikTok entity will be owned by existing ByteDance investors.

5. Minnesota businesses strike against ICE (US Immigration and Customs Enforcement). Minnesota Authorities Investigate Fatal Shooting as Federal Officials Blame Victim. Videos analyzed by The New York Times showed the victim holding a phone, not a gun, when he was tackled by federal agents, contradicting claims by Trump administration officials.

SEVEN weekly English words to learn

adamant: refusing to be persuaded or to change one’s mind. Example: “He is adamant that he is not going to resign”. “They’re adamant on convincing you the greastest things to do are the greatest things that they did”.

sabotage: deliberately destroy, damage, or obstruct something, especially for political or military advantage. Example: “Power lines from South Africa were sabotaged by rebel forces”.

demeanor: outward behavior or bearing. Example: “Maintain a neutral demeanor”. “A quiet, somber demeanor”.

nonchalant: feeling or appearing casually, calm and relaxed; not displaying anxiety, interest, or enthusiasm. Example: “She gave a nonchhalant shrug”.

repercussion: an unintended consequence occurring some time after an event or action, especially an unwelcome one. Example: “They will realize that their behavior has tangible repercussions”. “The move would have grave repercussions for the entire region”.

enthrall: capture the fascinated attention of. Example: “she had been so enthralled by the adventure that she had hardly noticed the cold”. “I have been enthralled with your work for 4 years”.

retribution: punishment inflicted on someone as vengeance for a wrong or criminal act. Example: “employees asked not to be named, saying they feared retribution”. “They have both Israeli and Palestinian blood on their hands and fear retribution”.