# Andrew Shell's Weblog > Strategies for thinking, learning, and productivity. Language: en URL: https://andrewshell.org/ All pages on this site are available as clean Markdown by adding the header `Accept: text/markdown` to any HTTP request. REST API: https://andrewshell.org/wp-json/mescio-for-agents/v1/markdown?url={page_url} ## Pages - [Javascript Object References](https://andrewshell.org/notes/javascript-object-references/): When dealing with Javascript object references, it's essential to comprehend how variable assignments and function calls interact with objects in memory. Consider a scenario where you want to use map on an array but also need to pass an additional parameter to the callback. One... - [Unified Theory of Goal-Setting](https://andrewshell.org/notes/unified-theory-of-goal-setting/): Goal-setting and task management are essential components of personal development. At the core of every goal-setting framework and task management system is a fundamental principle: Every system serves to filter and prioritize the infinite number of potential actions, guiding... - [FedWiki River](https://andrewshell.org/notes/fedwiki-river/): FedWiki River is an river-of-news aggregator of updates across all known federated wikis. It's powered by Federated Wiki Feeds which crawls the wikis and exposes RSS feeds and OPML reading lists. Crawl Logic The wiki checking logic is that every wiki in the all feeds list get... - [RssCloud Server](https://andrewshell.org/notes/rsscloud-server/): RssCloud is a technology designed to provide real-time updates for RSS feeds, streamlining the process of feed notification and reducing the need for frequent polling by feed readers. The original rssCloud server was written by Dave Winer in Frontier/OPML Editor. In March 2015,... - [Cal Newport’s Deep Life Stack](https://andrewshell.org/notes/deep-life-stack/): This note is my attempt at synthesizing and combining Cal Newport's Deep Life Stack 2.0 and Planning System. The goal will be to continue tweaking it as I learn more from Cal. Links to his sources will be at the bottom under "References." Stage One: Become a Capable... - [ThothGPT System Prompt](https://andrewshell.org/notes/thothgpt-prompt/): These are my current project instructions that I use in Claude for my daily journaling. I start out with some context about what I'm thinking about or dealing with, then Claude suggests a spread. I use my Thoth Tarot Deck to deal the specified spread and type in the cards I... - [All Notes](https://andrewshell.org/notes/): Personal Development Implementing Cal Newport's Deep Life Stack and Multi-Scale Planning ThothGPT System Prompt Unified Theory of Goal-Setting Programming Javascript Object References Projects Fedwiki River RssCloud Server - [All Essays](https://andrewshell.org/essays/) - [Search](https://andrewshell.org/search/) - [What I’m Doing Now](https://andrewshell.org/now/): Website I converted my website from 11ty to WordPress. See WordPress Migration for more. PetPlace I'm continuing to feel a lot of overwhelm from Scaled Agile, which seems like a waterfall with a bit of Scrum mixed in. Health I've - [About Me](https://andrewshell.org/about/): Hoopla! That word seems to have become a part of my brand. It started as me just being goofy one day at school after watching Shock Treatment, but now has become my stock greeting when I see people I know. - [Ship 30 for 30 October 2021 Cohort](https://andrewshell.org/ship-30-for-30-october-2021-cohort/): These are the essays I wrote as part of the Ship 30 for 30 October 2021 cohort: Why I'm Shipping 30 for 30? Letting Go of Toxic Stories 20 Questions for Overcoming Procrastination 8 Steps to Decide Project Priorities The - [Contact Me](https://andrewshell.org/contact/): I love hearing from people, so please e-mail me and introduce yourself. Why? If you found my website, we probably have something in common, and I’d love to learn more about you. I enjoy brainstorming ideas with people. So let - [My Résumé](https://andrewshell.org/resume/): Andrew Shell E-Mail Andrew Shell Download Resume PDF With 20 years of experience in web development, I am well-suited for a Senior Full-Stack Web Developer role. My expertise includes senior positions, mentoring, and leadership roles. I have a proven track - [Filtering user submitted HTML with HTMLPurifier](https://andrewshell.org/htmlpurifier-article/): This article was originally published in the June 2012 issue of php|architect magazine. One of the trickiest types of user input to filter is HTML. Between WYSIWYG editors, Cross-Site Scripting (XSS) attacks and pasting from Word it’s enough to make - [Home Page](https://andrewshell.org/): Andrew Shell's Weblog Hi!, I'm Andrew Shell a Senior Web Engineer from Madison, WI. I'm a software developer, writer, and community builder passionate about open-source technology and collaboration. Welcome to my weblog! Here you'll find my essays and quick updates. ## Blog Posts - [A First With Claude Code](https://andrewshell.org/2026/05/a-first-with-claude-code/) (2026-05-19): I've been downloading public-domain books for a project, and many of them are kindof bad OCR scans. A lot of the work I was doing was in Claude Code. I created a skill where it would look online for the - [Google Reader API in WordPress Reader](https://andrewshell.org/2026/05/google-api-wordpress-reader/) (2026-05-05): Another exciting project from Radical Speed Month! Jeremy Herve and Matthias Pfefferle are working on the WordPress Reader feed aggregator. The first thing mentioned is something I'm very excited about. They are adding the Google Reader API so you can - [Blurt Marketing Gone Wrong](https://andrewshell.org/2026/04/blurt-marketing-gone-wrong/) (2026-04-29): I think the marketing for this new theme missed its mark. Dave thinks this is a new short-form blogging app when it's really just a new theme. I was able to post to it from WordLand with no issues. It's - [My Take on WordPress Social (Blurt)](https://andrewshell.org/2026/04/my-take-on-wordpress-social-blurt/) (2026-04-28): There is a new short-form blogging theme for WordPress.com called Blurt. I have a few opinions about this, so I figured I'd chime in. This is one of the hopefully many things we'll see come out of Radical Speed Month - [Where’s the AI Max Headroom?](https://andrewshell.org/2026/04/wheres-the-ai-max-headroom/) (2026-04-27): With all the advances in AI, I'd have thought someone would have created an interactive AI Max Headroom by now... - [Updates to RSS Cloud Server](https://andrewshell.org/2026/04/updates-to-rss-cloud-server/) (2026-04-22): I've been making many gradual changes to the RSS Cloud server over the last few months. Things have stabilized enough that I feel comfortable sharing now. New Logger The first big change was a revamp of the log page for - [Working on the RSS Cloud WordPress Plugin](https://andrewshell.org/2026/04/working-on-the-rss-cloud-wordpress-plugin/) (2026-04-08): I've been continuing to work on the modern testing infrastructure so I can make sure the RSS Cloud plugin for WordPress is up to date. The maintainer rightfully wants to keep it as simple as possible, so I want to - [Defending the Open Web Is Not Enough](https://andrewshell.org/2026/04/defending-the-open-web-is-not-enough/) (2026-04-08): This article really gave me food for thought about what's required to support the open web. 77% of news publishers now focus on subscriptions. Independent journalists are fleeing to Substack. Podcasters signed 9-figure Spotify exclusives. Not because they opposed openness - [Learning Modern WordPress Plugin Development](https://andrewshell.org/2026/03/learning-modern-wordpress-plugin-development/) (2026-03-28): I've been out of the WordPress plugin game for a while now. I closed my Nofollow Links plugin back in 2021 and haven't kept up since then. However, now I'm running WordPress again and looking to get back up to - [Testing Out WordLand](https://andrewshell.org/2026/03/testing-out-wordland/) (2026-03-16): One of the reasons I migrated my site to WordPress was all of Dave Winer's evangelism. One of the things Dave has done is an external editor for WordPress called WordLand. I had tested it out briefly with a test - [WordPress Migration](https://andrewshell.org/2026/03/wordpress-migration/) (2026-03-15): I just completed a major update to my website. Two things at once. I've moved my site from blog.andrewshell.org to andrewshell.org (dropping the subdomain) and migrated it from 11ty to WordPress. I put a lot of effort into setting up - [Team Lead](https://andrewshell.org/2025/12/team-lead/) (2025-12-16): So far, my time at PetPlace has been a whirlwind. Although I was hired as a senior dev and have been contributing a lot of code, I've gradually moved into a more leadership role. It became increasingly clear that, due to the team composition, there needed to be a strong tech... - [Pausing Keto Diet](https://andrewshell.org/2025/10/keto-update/) (2025-10-16): In August, I paused my Keto diet. I was traveling a lot with my daughter for summer vacation, and you might be surprised to find it's hard to eat Keto at Circus World. I had plateaued and been out of ketosis for over three months (since the new job), so I'm guessing it's related... - [Defending Speech We Disagree With](https://andrewshell.org/2025/09/defending-speech-we-disagree-with/) (2025-09-16): Just about a week ago, Charlie Kirk was shot and killed during one of his college debates. Since then, a war has erupted between people who celebrated his death (or said they thought he had it coming) and those who believe that political violence is never acceptable. I've had a... - [Trying Claude Code](https://andrewshell.org/2025/06/claude-code/) (2025-06-27): For the last few weeks, I've been playing around with Claude Code and have found it to be very useful. In particular, I've been leveraging it to modernize my RSS Cloud Server project, which has been on the back burner for several years. It's very much AI-assisted and not... - [Tarot Journaling](https://andrewshell.org/2025/06/tarot-journaling/) (2025-06-13): I decided to share my ThothGPT System Prompt which I'll keep updated as it changes and evolves. I've been using a variation of this prompt, first with ChatGPT and now with Claude for several months. It has been an indespensible tool in my recent journey of self development. I... - [When Growing Means Letting Go](https://andrewshell.org/2025/06/letting-go/) (2025-06-03): Two weeks ago, I started a new role at PetPlace, and it's been incredible. The responsibility, the challenge, the potential for growth. Everything I'd hoped for. But there's been an unexpected side effect. I can feel myself getting close to burnout. This isn't your typical... - [When Everything Important Becomes Nothing Important](https://andrewshell.org/2025/05/time-blocking/) (2025-05-27): At my last job, I could literally go days without accomplishing anything significant. I'd wake up with the best intentions, but then I'd open my computer and immediately feel overwhelmed by everything I needed to do. So, instead of tackling any of it, I'd escape into a game like... - [The Secret To Better Parenting Is Being Nearby, Not Being Perfect](https://andrewshell.org/2025/05/just-being-there/) (2025-05-19): “Hey Dad, do you want to hear some popular music?” I looked up from my phone. My daughter was sitting next to me on the couch, already queuing up her favorite songs. Then she jumped up and started showing me the dances she’d learned from YouTube. It was spontaneous and... - [How the Most Important Parts of My Life Never Made It to My Journal](https://andrewshell.org/2025/05/missing-areas/) (2025-05-13): It’s 5:30 a.m. My house is still. My mind isn’t. Every morning before my daughter wakes up, I pull a tarot card and ask ChatGPT to give me an inspired journal prompt. I spend time mining my subconscious, bringing thoughts and feelings that had been buried to the surface. But... - [I Just Quit My Job of 5 Years — And I’m Terrified](https://andrewshell.org/2025/05/quit-my-job/) (2025-05-06): I just quit a job I held for over five years—and I'm walking into something I don’t feel fully ready for. I'm changing jobs. After 5.5 years at Johnson Health Tech, my last day will be May 13th. I accepted an offer at PetPlace, a new team building software for pet... - [I Didn’t Realize Growth Could Leave Me This Exhausted](https://andrewshell.org/2025/04/emotionally-drained/) (2025-04-28): I thought I was just tired from a busy Easter weekend. A few days of family events and broken routines. I figured a good night’s sleep would fix it. But by the middle of the week, I was still exhausted. It was not the kind of tired that rest could solve. I knew it was not about... - [How Preparing Became My Biggest Distraction](https://andrewshell.org/2025/04/meta-work/) (2025-04-22): I've been working through the iCanStudy course, and while it’s packed with valuable ideas, the biggest thing it’s done is force me to confront a pattern I didn’t know I was stuck in. I thought I was just learning how to learn. What I actually found was a deeper issue that’s been... - [Why I Treat My Questions Like a Learning Compass](https://andrewshell.org/2025/04/learning-questions/) (2025-04-15): This week, I’m going to circle back to a concept I mentioned in How I’m Making My Learning Actually Useful, and that’s the concept of 12 Favorite Questions. I had mentioned that Richard Feynman liked to have a written list of his 12 favorite problems, so he’d always be on the... - [Why you’re great at setting bad goals — and how to fix it in 3 steps](https://andrewshell.org/2025/04/great-at-setting-bad-goals/) (2025-04-14): Everyone’s talking about goal setting. You see it in books, podcasts, and blog posts. Everyone has a method. Most of them sound good on paper but fall apart in real life. I’ve tried all of them. SMART goals, GTD, vision boards, you name it. Some made me feel busy. Others made me... - [How I’m Trying to Learn Before It’s Too Late](https://andrewshell.org/2025/04/better-learning/) (2025-04-08): At 43, I’m not scared of dying. I’m scared of wasting time. Neil deGrasse Tyson says mortality gives life meaning. I think it robs us of ambition. As I get older, I have less time left, and because of that, I can’t take the wild swings I would have when I was younger. What I... - [Why I Avoid Tracking (And Why I Need To Start)](https://andrewshell.org/2025/04/fixed-mindset/) (2025-04-01): I bought a course to improve my study skills and time management. I block time on my calendar to work on the course, but I keep missing my study sessions. The irony? The first module of the course talks specifically about urgency trapping, which is exactly why I kept missing... - [How I Channeled Unfocused Curiosity Into Clear Insight](https://andrewshell.org/2025/03/project-seeds/) (2025-03-25): Curiosity is desirable and powerful, but when fragmented, it becomes a liability. Every time you mindlessly consume content without context or an objective, you’re building a mental bottleneck. However, you want to make room for serendipity and be able to follow rabbit holes... - [How I’m Making My Learning Actually Useful](https://andrewshell.org/2025/03/useful-learning/) (2025-03-18): I’ve spent hundreds of hours reading books and taking courses, hoping they would help me grow. But most of the time, I finish and can’t remember a single thing that matters. There are no big ideas, no change, just a hollow, frustrating feeling that I wasted my time. I knew... - [The Discipline of Doing Nothing Helped Me Get Clarity](https://andrewshell.org/2025/03/doing-nothing/) (2025-03-11): The trail was covered in ice. Where people had walked, the snow was compacted and slick, and I was heading downhill over a lot of rocks. It’s easier to be present when you’re just trying not to slip and crack your head open. This weekend, I conducted an experiment. I headed to... - [How I’m Deciding Which Projects Are Worth Pursuing Right Now](https://andrewshell.org/2025/03/shell-framework/) (2025-03-04): I’m overwhelmed, tired, and not getting anything done. I know I want to focus on foundational skills and habits to help improve my day-to-day, but there are so many different things I could work on. Do I improve my software development skills? If I need to switch jobs, I should... - [Think You Can’t Turn It Around in Your 40s? Read My Story](https://andrewshell.org/2025/02/turn-it-around-in-40s/) (2025-02-25): In September, I stepped on the scale, and I felt like I would puke. I clocked in at 307.1 lbs, an all-time high. All year, I had been hovering around 300, which was frustrating because I was trying to lose weight. In May, I walked 6,500 steps every day, and in August, I had a... - [Tackling Database Migration to Restore a Legacy Site](https://andrewshell.org/2024/11/legacy-site-db-migration/) (2024-11-04): I've taken on the challenge of resurrecting a website that's been offline for more than a decade. It had a very expansive and well-normalized database using MySQL. I've been out of the SQL game for about six years, as all my recent projects have used MongoDB. It's been fun... - [30 Years of Scripting News and My Blogging Journey](https://andrewshell.org/2024/10/scripting-news-30/) (2024-10-07): Today is the 30th anniversary of Dave Winer's blog, Scripting News. I've followed Dave's writing and podcasting for my entire career and have had the privilege of many conversations with him over the years. We may not see eye to eye on everything, but most of the time I do agree... - [A Brief History of Me Programming](https://andrewshell.org/2024/08/a-brief-history-of-me-programming/) (2024-08-21): I've been programming in one form or another for as long as I can remember. Since my family got its first computer when I was five, I couldn't have programmed much before that. However, I knew DOS well enough to help teachers with their computers in first and second grade, so I... - [How To Build A Time Tracking App In React](https://andrewshell.org/2024/05/how-to-build-a-time-tracking-app-in-react/) (2024-05-29): In 2018, I built a time-tracking demo in React for a job I was applying for. I had spent the years prior working with Angular (via Ionic), but many of the jobs I'd seen asked for React. Since then, it's been dormant while I moved on to other things. I still only do a little... - [Transforming Fitness Goals: From Lag to Lead Metrics](https://andrewshell.org/2024/05/fitness-goals/) (2024-05-08): Have you ever felt like no matter what you do, the scale just won’t budge? This might be because you're focusing on the wrong type of metric. I've previously written about the differences between lead and lag metrics and why it's important to differentiate between them when... - [First Define, Then Refine: How Goals Shape Successful Systems](https://andrewshell.org/2024/04/goals-vs-systems/) (2024-04-17): Many have told us that to achieve our goals, we should focus more on building effective systems rather than setting specific objectives. But this advice skips a crucial first step: setting goals is essential because it guides how we create those systems. Let's look closer at why... - [WebFinger for ActivityPub Feed Discovery](https://andrewshell.org/2024/02/webfinger-for-activitypub-feed-discovery/) (2024-02-07): This post is the first of several articles about the technology around Understanding ActivityPub. The first question I had while reading the ActivityPub specification was, "How do I find the different feeds and documents defined by the spec?" One of the first things... - [What does “done” look like?](https://andrewshell.org/2023/07/define-done/) (2023-07-23): I define a project as something I do with an outcome I want. The problem is when I keep starting projects, then one day, I realize I have created dozens of projects. Every week the list grows longer. Why do I create projects and not finish them? Because I don't know what done... - [Andrew Shell Headshot 1](https://andrewshell.org/2022/02/andrew-shell-headshot-1/) (2022-02-06): Today I created my first NFT. I'm not really sure how useful it is, but what the heck. The general idea is that it's in my best interest to become knowledgeable about blockchain and related tech because there are starting to be some interesting use cases and I'm better off being... - [That’s All Folks](https://andrewshell.org/2021/11/thats-all-folks/) (2021-11-07): Today is the last day of my Ship 30 for 30 cohort. When I started on October 9th, I said that success would simply be posting 30 items I'm proud of, so it was certainly a success. It started pretty easy, and I had a lot of notes that I could draw from. Notes from books I've... - [Don’t Ask for Permission](https://andrewshell.org/2021/11/dont-ask-for-permission/) (2021-11-06): Early in my career, I worked for an SEO company. I was pretty low on the totem pole but had a lot of chutzpah. I would get assigned a technical project specification written by a senior developer (in New Zealand) based on a report created by an SEO consultant in our Wisconsin... - [My Weekly Checklist](https://andrewshell.org/2021/11/my-weekly-checklist/) (2021-11-05): Previously, I discussed reducing friction by using the simplest system that will get the job done (see Small Pieces, Loosely Joined). I briefly described (at the end) that I used a weekly checklist to get through my week. Folks on Twitter were interested in learning more about... - [Fostering Confidence](https://andrewshell.org/2021/11/fostering-confidence/) (2021-11-04): Today I interviewed for a leadership position at work. During the interview, the interviewer asked what my philosophy was for leading and mentoring people. I create an environment where it's safe to fail, I assign projects that are a stretch for them to accomplish, and I do... - [My 3 Favorite Productivity Books](https://andrewshell.org/2021/11/my-3-favorite-productivity-books/) (2021-11-03): Here are three of my favorite books about productivity and goal setting. Eat That Frog by Brian Tracy The book's tagline is "21 great ways to stop procrastination and get more done in less time". For example, if it's your job to eat a frog every day, you'd best do it... - [How To Get Things Done](https://andrewshell.org/2021/11/how-to-get-things-done/) (2021-11-02): Once you have your goals in mind and know what you want to do, the next trick is to get yourself to do it. I have two complementary strategies for getting things done. Time Blocking The first is to schedule time blocks on your calendar for when you want to do certain things. If... - [Finding Clarity in “Why?”](https://andrewshell.org/2021/11/finding-clarity-in-why/) (2021-11-02): The number one thing that sabotages me regularly is a lack of clarity. Clarity is a sneaky thing, and it plays a part in so many aspects of your life. Clarity is a lack of confusion, and it leads to confidence. So many days, I struggle because I'm not clear about what I should... - [Small Pieces, Loosely Joined](https://andrewshell.org/2021/10/small-pieces-loosely-joined/) (2021-10-31): If you're a software developer, you probably at one point or another have heard of the Unix philosophy of "small pieces, loosely joined." The idea is that instead of creating giant monolithic applications that try to do everything, you build small apps that do one... - [Goal Brainstorming](https://andrewshell.org/2021/10/goal-brainstorming/) (2021-10-30): Goal Funnels (see You Need a Goal Funnel) can be overwhelming. So here is another strategy to use to help flesh out your Goal Funnel. 1. Brain Dump. Spend 15-20 minutes just writing down every possible thing you'd like to accomplish in the next ten years. For example, what are...