Repetition Is a Bug, Not a Feature
If you do something manually more than twice, you're wasting time. That's the rule I live by. Repetitive tasks aren't just boring—they're bugs in your personal operating system.
Most people accept repetition as part of life. Check email manually. Update spreadsheets by hand. Copy-paste data between tools. File expenses one by one. They think "it only takes a few minutes."
But those minutes add up. And worse, manual work introduces errors. Humans aren't good at repetition—computers are.
The Automation Mindset
I don't automate because I'm lazy. I automate because I value my time and want to eliminate human error. Every manual task is an opportunity to build a system that works while I focus on higher-leverage work.
Here's the shift: stop thinking "this task needs to be done" and start thinking "this task needs to be eliminated or automated."
My Automation Stack
I've automated nearly everything in my workflow. Here's what runs on autopilot:
- Finance: Automated investment contributions, portfolio rebalancing, expense categorization, and bill payments.
- Work: Deployment pipelines, test runners, code formatting, PR checks, and monitoring alerts.
- Personal: Email filtering, calendar scheduling, task prioritization, and file organization.
- Content: Blog post formatting, social media cross-posting, and analytics tracking.
Each of these used to take time. Now they run without me thinking about them. That's hundreds of hours per year reclaimed.
The Two-Minute Automation Rule
People say "it takes longer to automate than to just do it manually." That's short-term thinking.
Here's the math: If a task takes 5 minutes and you do it twice a week, that's 8.7 hours per year. If you spend 2 hours building an automation, you break even in 3 months—and gain time forever after.
But it's not just about time saved. It's about mental overhead eliminated. Every manual task is a decision point, a context switch, a potential mistake. Automation removes all of that.
Start Small: Automate One Thing This Week
You don't need to automate your entire life overnight. Start with one repetitive task. Here are easy wins:
- Email filters: Auto-label, archive, or forward emails based on sender or keywords.
- Keyboard shortcuts: Use tools like Alfred, Raycast, or AutoHotkey to trigger common actions.
- Template responses: Save canned replies for common questions.
- Scheduled tasks: Use cron jobs or task schedulers for recurring operations.
- Git hooks: Auto-format code, run tests, or lint before every commit.
Pick one. Automate it this week. Then pick another next week. In a few months, your workflow will be unrecognizable—and you'll wonder how you ever worked any other way.
Automation Isn't Just for Developers
You don't need to be a programmer to automate. Tools exist for everyone:
- Zapier / Make: Connect apps and automate workflows without code.
- IFTTT: Simple "if this, then that" automations for personal tasks.
- Shortcuts (iOS/macOS): Automate phone and computer tasks visually.
- Excel/Google Sheets scripts: Automate data processing with simple formulas or scripts.
But if you can code, you have superpowers. Python, Bash, JavaScript—learn one scripting language and you can automate almost anything.
When NOT to Automate
Automation isn't always the answer. Here's when to skip it:
- One-off tasks: If you'll only do it once, just do it manually.
- Tasks requiring judgment: Don't automate decisions that need human context.
- Over-engineering: If the automation is 10x more complex than the task, reconsider.
The key is ROI. If automation saves more time than it takes to build, do it. Otherwise, let it be.
Automation Compounds
Here's what most people miss: automation compounds. Every script you write, every workflow you automate, every system you build—it all stacks.
Your first automation saves you 30 minutes per week. Your second saves another 30 minutes. By the time you've automated 10 tasks, you've reclaimed entire days.
And those reclaimed days? You spend them building more automation. The cycle accelerates.
My Challenge to You
For the next 30 days, track every repetitive task you do. Write it down. At the end of the month, pick the top 3 most frequent tasks and automate them.
You'll be shocked at how much time you waste on repetition. And once you start automating, you won't stop.
Repetition is a bug. Automation is the fix. Treat your life like a codebase—refactor relentlessly.