Why Your Greatest Enemy is Yourself

Hello everyone,

Why do I believe that mental health is crucial, especially as a programmer? Because in my experience, the greatest enemy on the path to success can often be yourself. In today’s digital world, we’re surrounded by constant distractions, attention traps, and things that lower our stress tolerance and motivation. As a programmer, I realized that I need to create tools that protect me from myself and help me stay focused on what matters.

I’ll present two small but useful applications I built recently, and based on these ideas, I plan to make even more.

🔧 1. Chrome Extension to Block YouTube Ads

One day, I asked myself: why should I waste my time with YouTube ads that distract me and bring no value? So, I created a Chrome plugin that mutes YouTube ads and plays a motivational quote in the background: “David, don’t waste your time!”. It helps me snap back to reality and appreciate my time more.

🛡️ 2. SafeHosts – Block Distracting Websites

My second project is called “SafeHosts”. Often, like many other internet users, I’d end up on explicit content sites, gambling platforms, or other pages that mislead and distract me. With this project, I have thousands of domains already blocked. I can also add custom lists, which I write into the /etc/hosts file (if you use Linux) to block these sites locally on my machine.

That’s all for now! I’ll see you next week with more updates and new ideas. Take care and stay focused! 😊

Best wishes,
David

A New Chapter – Who I Am and What I Want to Do

Welcome to the first post on my personal and professional vlog page. I'm excited to start sharing my journey with you!

My name is David, and I’m a web developer with solid experience in PHP, particularly the Laravel framework. This vlog will be a place where I document both personal growth and career achievements.

🌱 Personal Growth Goals

On a personal level, I’m focusing on becoming a better, healthier version of myself. Here are a few goals I’ve set:

• Living a healthier lifestyle: eating clean, staying hydrated, and improving my daily habits.
• Doing regular physical activity: working out, running, or simply staying active.
• Reading more books: I might also share the books I'm currently reading in future posts.
• Learning beyond coding: diving into subjects like cryptocurrency, financial markets, and investments.

💻 Professional Journey

Professionally, I aim to continue building my programming career. I want to keep learning and pushing myself through personal projects and real-world experience.

One of the projects I’m currently working on is a tool related to sports betting arbitrage. It's still in the early stages, but I’ll definitely be sharing updates here as it evolves.

🗓️ Weekly Updates

My goal is to post here at least once a week. Whether it’s a new project, a book review, or personal reflection, I want this to be a space where you can get to know the full me — not just the developer, but the human behind the code. 😊

Thank you for reading, and I’m looking forward to sharing more with you on this journey!