diff --git a/users/wpcarro/emacs/.emacs.d/wpc/wpc-misc.el b/users/wpcarro/emacs/.emacs.d/wpc/wpc-misc.el
index a5fb10dd7..b4150c4f6 100644
--- a/users/wpcarro/emacs/.emacs.d/wpc/wpc-misc.el
+++ b/users/wpcarro/emacs/.emacs.d/wpc/wpc-misc.el
@@ -210,6 +210,9 @@
 ;; use tabs instead of spaces
 (setq-default indent-tabs-mode nil)
 
+;; prefer shorter tab-widths (e.g. writing Go code)
+(setq-default tab-width 2)
+
 ;; automatically follow symlinks
 (setq vc-follow-symlinks t)