Hello Reader,

This post is a little bit of a rant. But I think I’m also having a small epiphany (or maybe an existential crisis). Hard to say.

Either way, I hope it resonates. You can think of it as some food for thought. Or maybe garbish, but I wanted to share anyway. 🙂

I used to work as a data science consultant in the financial sector for about 6 years. I still vividly remember every Friday afternoon dreading one very specific thing: booking my timesheet.

I’d log into the system, fill in my hours for different projects. And then… for the last 4 - 5 hours of my week, I had absolutely no idea where they had gone.

After staring at the screen and pulling my hair out for the next 15 minutes, I’d embarrassingly book them under the “General” code (LOL).

I’d feel like a bad employee. Like I’d been unproductive or slacking off. Even though that probably wasn’t true at all.

The reality was: like many other knowledge workers, I was spending a huge amount of time on:

• Making pretty slides.
• Summarising meetings.
• Sending emails and updates constantly, like a human router.
• Fixing broken Excel formulas.
• Asking colleagues whether I should be using data_final.csv or data_FINAL_2.csv.
• Scheduling meetings with senior managers whose calendars somehow conflicted for the next five weeks straight.
• etc.

Anything but the “real” work.

Anything but actually using my brain.

At some point, I realised this kind of busywork takes up an unreasonable part of most knowledge workers’ day-to-day jobs. Even for someone supposedly doing “data” or “tech” work like myself.

So much of our time is spent processing information and reacting to things.

Very little is spent on judgment, creativity, empathy, or actual thinking. The human stuff.

The era of AI agents

Now, take any of the mindless information-processing tasks I just mentioned, and you’ll probably find an AI tool (or “agent”) that can help automate it.

There’s been no shortage of writing about which tools to use and how amazing they are.

Recently, OpenClaw made headlines as a personal AI assistant you can text on WhatsApp to get things done for you. Clearing your inbox. Sending emails. Managing your calendar. Checking you in for flights. It can even decide to use an AI voice and randomly call you (or anyone else) if needed.

It’s also been shown to expose users to a plethora of cybersecurity risks. So yeah… a “don’t try this at home” kind of tool for most people.

Still, I think autonomous agents are inevitable.

Even if the tech is still shaky right now, sooner or later, these tools will become business as usual.

And praising yourself for being great at Excel formulas today will feel a bit like praising yourself for being the fastest weaver right before machines showed up.

One quote from The Box of Amazing newsletter hit a nerve for me:

What do we want to be?

Which brings me to the uncomfortable part.

What are the human capabilities we’ve had so little time or space to use?

Who do we want to be when all that busywork is gone?

If you’re on X a lot, you’ve probably seen a viral post by Matt Shumer, an AI startup CEO. The core message usually goes something like: AI is moving faster than you think. If you don’t start using AI tools now, you’ll lose your job.

Sure, AI is advancing fast. It’s not just automating things, but also doing well cognitive tasks like data analysis and creative writing.

Still, these narratives have always made me a bit uncomfortable and frustrated. For a long time, I couldn’t quite put my finger on why.

I think I know now.

While they may be well-meant, they’re extremely FOMO-driven. They often trigger fear and self-inadequacy:

You should learn this tool. Or that one. Otherwise you’ll be obsolete.

That pushes people to ask the wrong question, like:

“How can I vibe-code 10 apps in 10 days?”

“What's the best model/ tool for X and Y tasks?”

But the harder, and more important question is:

What’s actually worth building? And what do you want to achieve with it?

In a few years, when agents can build things and handle more complex tasks for us, the even bigger questions will be things like:

How do you rethink your career?
How do you reach your full potential and self-expression, with these amazing tools at our disposal?
How do you get better at being human, rather than just the fastest typing machine in the office?

These questions don’t have easy answers.

They take work, courage, and sitting with discomfort.

And I know for sure that big tech CEOs or your bosses have answers for us.

I’ve been reading Human Potential by Adam Grant lately, and I keep finding myself circling back to the same thoughts.

I don’t have everything figured out.

But I do have more clarity than before.

And I hope my actions going forward are guided more by curiosity and passion, and a little less by FOMO.

Have a great week ahead 😊
Thu

P.S: Work with me:

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