Fire yourself with AI agents and reclaim your life for the
From baking traditions to AI agents, discover how to automate the mundane and reclaim your time for what truly matters. Let’s live in the moment, not for it.
I Fired Myself: How AI Agents Helped Me Reclaim My Life
Wednesday morning chaos.
Alyce’s breakfast.The dogs’ breakfast.Our breakfast.Me, trying to be on time for 9 a.m.
Somewhere in the middle of it all, Damian sends me a reel.
Fast forward to bedtime scrolling — and I land on a Jamaican chef cooking simple staples.Rice and peas. Familiar territory. I think to myself, I do that too.
A small moment of pride.
So I send it to Damian… only to realize he had sent me the same chef earlier that day. Different recipe.
Jamaican Easter bun.
Now — this is something Damian doesn’t just like.He loves it. Loves, loves, loves it.
I look at the recipe.And interestingly, it feels very close to the rum cake I make at Christmas. Same spirit, same warmth, just a slight twist.
And I think…maybe I don’t know how to “run a household,”but I do accept a challenge.
So today, in the middle of everything, I decided to step out of the chaos — not to catch up on chores, not to optimize anything — but to disappear into baking.
Step by step.Slow.Simple.
I even had extra dough, so I got creative: one proper bun loaf… and a few mini buns in Easter molds.
Damian says only white people would do something like that.I say… we don’t waste dough in this house.
And honestly?They turned out pretty well. The mini ones are actually very good.
Now we wait for the official verdict on the real bun.
And if it doesn’t quite win him over…I believe the Jamaican store nearby will happily step in 😌
Living In the Moment, Not For the Moment
A Quick Note Before We Dive In
Today’s post gets a little "under the hood" of the tech world. If terms like "AI agents" or "browser tools" aren’t your usual cup of tea, hang in there—the destination is all about how to reclaim your time for the things that actually matter.
Picture this: It’s Tuesday afternoon. I’m sitting at my desk, staring at a browser tab that has been a recurring villain in my life for years.
It’s a simple portal. I log in, find an invoice, and perform a high-stakes digital ritual: I click a box that says "Yes, I have reviewed this," and then I type a brief comment to prove I’m a conscious human being. Then I click "Submit."
It takes exactly 45 seconds.
45 seconds of my life that I will never get back. This month, there were twenty-four of them. Now, 45 seconds doesn't sound like much, but those seconds are the ultimate focus-killers. Every time I stop what I’m doing to handle these mind-numbing clicks, my brain decides to take a coffee break. It takes another ten minutes just to get back into the "zone" of whatever I was actually trying to accomplish.
It’s repetitive work that makes you feel like a very expensive cog in a machine, knowing full well that a computer should be doing this for you. Most of this could be solved by simply building better software, but let’s be real: coders don’t always make user experience a top priority. They’re racing to finish what the product manager asked for—and the product manager didn't ask for a "Select All" button. Apparently, clicking twenty-four times builds character.
That was the moment I decided to fire myself.
From Chatting to Commanding
Recently, I started playing with Claude, yet another AI tool from Big Tech. (For those who haven't tried it yet, there is a free version that is incredibly capable.) I’ve used AI to build things before, but those are "additive"—they usually just add more items to my already crowded to-do list. This week, I wanted liberation.
I started experimenting with Claude’s new "work" features. If you’re wondering what the difference is between a standard chatbot and this new "Agent" world, think of it like this:
1. The Chatbot (The Librarian): You ask for a cake recipe, and it gives you a perfect one. But you still have to go to the store and crack the eggs yourself. You got the info, but you’re still doing the dishes.2. The AI Agent (The Assistant): You tell the Assistant, "I need a cake by 5:00 PM." They have their own "digital hands." They go to the website, order the cake, and handle the delivery. You didn't get an answer; you delegated a chore.
Now, you might have heard me mention OpenClaw before. While OpenClaw is a powerful open-source tool, it can be a bit like the "Wild West"—it requires more technical setup and carries more risks if you don't know exactly what you're doing. Claude, on the other hand, is built by a major company with much stricter guardrails and security protocols. For most people, it’s a far safer, "plug-and-play" way to let an AI help you navigate the web without needing a computer science degree.
I took five minutes to perfect a prompt, and then I did something I’ve never done before: I sat back and watched. I watched as the AI agent took over my browser. It logged into the portal, navigated the menus, and handled the clicking and typing just like I would—only without the internal sighing.
In five minutes, I repealed a "45-second tax" that was costing me four hours of my life every year. That 4 hours is gold to me.
The Pace of the Real World
The pace of AI is mind-blowing. I remember back in January, while I was on vacation in Japan and Thailand, the news feeds were absolutely blowing up about these tools. I remember staying up late one night, my fingers hovering over the keyboard, ready to dive in.
But then I stopped.
I remembered where I was. I remembered how important "disconnecting"—and I mean really disconnecting—actually is. I told myself, "No, I'm on vacation. This can wait." Looking back, I’m so glad I did. Because as cool as technology is, being present in the real world is infinitely cooler.
The Right Reasons
I'm sure most of you could use a little help getting some tasks done. We are moving into a future where we will be "supervisors" rather than "operators." We’ll provide the intent—"Find those unused subscriptions on my statement and cancel them"—and the AI will bridge the gap that bad software design left behind.
But as much as I love technology, it has to serve a purpose. If we aren't making things better, what are we really doing?
Time is the one thing we can never get enough of. Technology shouldn’t just be used to take another "dumb selfie." During our travels through Japan and Thailand, I saw it everywhere: taking selfies has become the norm to the point where people actually wait in long lines just to get the "perfect" shot of themselves at a shrine. They spend a fortune to go somewhere beautiful, and instead of enjoying the moment, they spend the whole time looking at it through a screen to make sure their followers know they were there.
When was the last time you looked at that photo you pushed past a 2-year-old to capture, eh? Over the years, I have found the best camera for a picture has been my eyes, and the best hard drive has been the memories that I have saved. Getting the perfect shot and not being a good human has to stop. We need to live more in the moment and not for the moment. What's the point of having great things if you can't enjoy them?
My plan is to embrace technology for the right reasons: to spend more time doing the things I enjoy with the people I love. The "AHA" moment isn't the code—it’s the realization that if I can automate the clicks, I can focus on being visible in the real world, with the laptop closed.
Your Turn: Find Your 45 Seconds
Stop trying to be "productive" by doing the work yourself. Instead, start learning about the world of agents. They might help you with one of your monotonous digital chores—give yourself five minutes to see if an agent can do it for you. Whether it's sorting your inbox, tracking expenses, or clicking through a portal, it’s worth the exploration.
