More Output, Less Effort

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I have returned from paternity leave with a sense of doom. Not professionally—Every has not gone bankrupt in my two-month absence. Not parentally, either—my child is beautiful and happy. Not even with regard to my personal grooming—well, on that front, I am fatter and scruffier, but my dad bod is a freshly earned privilege.

Instead, my sense of doom stems from the realization of how much I must accomplish. It’s surely a common feeling among new parents, but bridging the gap between what is expected of me and what my time permits feels impossible given the addition of a child into what was once a careful balancing act. Perhaps you have felt the same. Our world is hard. It is tough to get by, let alone get ahead. To provide all that you need while also succeeding professionally and taking care of yourself is challenging. In other words: The scruff might be here to stay.

To resolve this conundrum, I initially turned to ye olde favorites of the neurotic type A-hole: goal-setting and self-loathing. If I could simply “lock in” a little more, hustle harder, make one more new year's resolution, find one perfect note-taking system to rule them all, then surely I could accomplish everything I wanted. But, after a few hours of color-coordinating my calendar, I concluded that I was being stupid.

Rather than rely on internal motivation, I should rely on external automation. After all, self-hatred is a well that can run dry, but software never runs out of steam. So, for the last six months, I’ve systematically reworked each part of my personal technology stack, looking for ways to automate and improve my health, leisure, work, and more.

In doing so, I’ve dramatically improved my output, both personally and professionally. The funny thing is that it has been embarrassingly easy to do. I’ve used the fundamental tools of knowledge work my whole life, armed with code, spreadsheets, and email. But I feel a bit of shame that I never bothered to optimize my personal stack further. Still, I have repented, and am happier and more productive.

If you are feeling like me and would like to get more done with less effort, here are the eight pieces of technology that have changed my life over the last year.

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Getting a nice, tight butt

1. A fitness app for people who take weightlifting seriously

I’ve exercised in various forms for nearly a decade. I’ve tried every app, participated in every fad, and spent an embarrassing amount of money on Barry’s Bootcamp classes, so trust me when I say that I never found an app that worked well for weightlifting. Usually the app programming is too basic, or the whole enterprise is a cheap cash grab that takes advantage of vulnerable people around the new year. Enter Ladder. The onboarding flow is slick—you describe your goals, and it pairs you with a real-life coach and team. (I do Team Cruise Control, which is a CrossFit-style workout with slightly less Olympic-level lifting than your standard CrossFit class). Each workout features instructional videos and substitution options, all while your coach talks on a pre-recorded track in your ear. You can ask your coach questions in a built-in chat or get reviews about your physical form via uploaded video. The two people I’ve convinced to try it have both purchased an annual plan for $179. It has made incorporating exercise into my routine so easy that I’ll usually do five strength sessions a week and another 3–4 cardio workouts. (Admittedly, this regimen took a nosedive during the newborn phase, but my fitness routine is mostly back up to speed.)

2. Bodies are built in the kitchen, sculpted in this app

There are hundreds of cooking apps, but only Deglaze nails my personal cooking workflow. You can easily add recipes from Instagram or around the web, or even your mom’s handwritten scribbles. From there, Deglaze uses AI to pull out the ingredients so you can add them to your grocery list. After a month of use, you should have a bank of go-to healthy recipes. Many apps have a similar promise—I must have tried a dozen—but this was the only one that fulfills that promise. Best of all, it’s free!

Getting a nice, tight mind

I tried to fight back against AI slop last year not by cutting my content consumption, but by upping both the volume and the quality. There were two apps that made a big difference.

3. Movies that challenge you

Letterboxd is a social network devoted to film. Users log the films they see, rate them and leave reviews, and check out what their friends are watching. I’ve always loved movies but wanted to engage more seriously with the medium. The app tells me that I watched 67 titles in 2024, including 1920s German expressionist films, new releases like Civil War and Perfect Days, and pure Hollywood drivel like the latest Marvel blockbuster. While it is fun to see what others say about the movies they’ve seen, the real value is in the curated lists. It is intimidating to explore old black-and-white movies or indie flicks, but by seeing the films that other users selected, I can easily sift through my preferred genres.

4. Brick your phone

I would like to use this moment to declare a blood feud with my boss and Every CEO Dan Shipper. For my birthday, he gifted me Brick, a hardware device that blocks distracting apps on your phone. His explanation was vaguely that he “thought I needed it.” The bastard. To make him an even bigger bastard, he was right. I use Brick every day and have significantly reduced my time spent using apps like X or Reddit. Brick works by forcing you to physically tap your phone on a small plastic rectangle about the size of a clementine to lock and unlock. There is something about the shame of walking over to our front door, where the device is taped to the wall, that makes it much more effective as compared to software-only solutions.

Using AI like a reasonable person

5. An AI reading experience that actually works

While I’ve always been an avid reader, I wanted to improve my comprehension of nonfiction this year. After I finish a book, I write a mini-review or essay, which I’ll sometimes publish on Every. But now, I use Coral AI to help find specific passages or explain arguments that I missed. I buy physical copies of all of my books, as most studies find comprehension is highest that way—and then, having ensured that the author is sufficiently paid, I sail the salty seas, digitally pirate the book, and upload the file to Coral. (For any Feds reading this, I’m joking.) The application gives you an exact page-number reference for any section you are looking for, lets you do a semantic search, and returns a summary of arguments in the text. It’s difficult to measure the total effect, but I can guarantee that my comprehension has improved. This process was so fun that I read 42 books last year.

6. Learn to write better, faster with How to Write With AI

A quick plug. As part of redoing my personal tech stack, I also rejiggered my professional one. I’ve spent years optimizing my writing workflow with AI so that I can more quickly write more pieces that I’m proud of. As a result, in 2024 I tripled the number of pieces I published, and they were read more than 1 million times. If you would like to do the same, I’m leading the second cohort of my How to Write With AI class. More than 90 students have taken it so far, and they’ve had incredibly positive feedback. The next cohort starts on February 13, and you can register here. New year, new writer—and that’s you.

Three cheers for a budget

7. Automate your finances

With Intuit condemning Mint to the great software trash bin in the sky (not to be confused with the cloud), I was on a search for a new budgeting app. I landed on Copilot Money. It is beautifully designed, has handy AI features, and integrates tons of quality-of-life improvements. Think of it as a financial planning hub on top of a budgeting app. I track my stock portfolio, manage my cash flow, and make sure I don’t have any unwanted subscriptions that keep charging my credit cards. My wife and I now actually enjoy our weekly budget reviews, where we go over transactions on the app and make sure our spending isn’t out of control.

8. Invest and forget it

Of all the robo-advisors, Wealthfront is the best. Its product suite gets more robust by the month, the high-yield savings accounts are simple, and it’s seamless to make joint accounts. The ability to schedule deposits into retirement savings and custom index funds has been a game changer.

At a time in my life when I’ve never been busier, these applications have compounded to make my life that much more automated and therefore much easier. I’m sure that these can help you too—especially by joining my How to Write With AI course, which kicks off on February 13 (last plug!).

I’ll conclude with one app I cannot find, in case anyone out there can help me. I want a beautiful, social, and fun way to track my reading habit just like I’ve found with Letterboxd for films. Goodreads is stagnant and boring, but I can’t find anything that scratches that itch. Let me know if you have any suggestions in the comments.

Here’s to embracing the good kinds of automation in 2025.

We also build AI tools for readers like you. Automate repeat writing with Spiral. Organize files automatically with Sparkle. Write something great with Lex.

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