The AI productivity trap is silently ruining your life

I saw this tweet on X the other day:

It got thousands of likes. Some replied and bragged about doing the same thing.

But I read it and my stomach tightened.

I've caught myself in that same headspace.

The guilt when i’m doing something but there’s no agent running in the background.

The fear that everyone else gets ahead while you are stuck with the crowd.

Working with AI is like having ADHD on steroids.

A million possibilities but a trillion ways to get distracted.

And it's being celebrated online while a disaster brews quietly.

I Missed My Son While He Was Right in Front of Me

Last week I started a research agent before I sat down to play with my son.

He's 8 months old.

He sat on his playing mat and pushed around his little wooden toy car making funny noises.

I sat next to him, but my mind was miles away, floating in the Anthropic cloud.

I kept thinking about what the agent might find.

What exciting thing I might discover.

But then I realised that the most exciting thing in my life was playing right in front of me, and I was too busy to notice.

My chest got heavy.

The research could've waited an hour.

That moment won't come back.

After he went to bed I couldn't shake the feeling.

I sat back down at my computer.

Four windows open. Agents running.

I was trying to make dinner at the same time while constantly approving messages.

I looked at it and thought:

Fuck this.

I don't want to be that guy from the tweet.

He's not using AI to live a better life.

He's stuck in an endless productivity loop and calling it a flex.

He thinks he's the CEO running an empire of agents.

But actually he’s the employee who never leaves the office to eat a chinese takeout at his desk at 11pm.

I was heading in the same direction.

And I get why it's easy to fall into that trap.

Everyone online makes it seem like you have 12 months left to "make it" before AGI takes all our jobs and you stay poor forever.

That fear is manufactured.

And it's selling you a life where you work more, not less.

I want these tools so I can spend more time with my son.

Swim in the sea. Let my mind wander on long walks until a good idea finds me.

AI should build me freedom, not steal it.

I knew I had to change some things to avoid letting my life turn into something I didn’t want.

That night I sat down and wrote some rules for myself:

How To Use AI to Live a Life of Freedom instead

I only use AI between 10am and 7pm. My head needs breathing room to come up with good ideas.

I don't have any AI apps or notifications on my phone. I'm either at my computer working, or I'm not working. There's no in between.

I'm okay with missing most things. There's always another thread to read, another tool to try. I let most of it pass now. Most unimportant things die after 2 weeks. If they're still there, I pay attention.

When I run agents, I set them up so they don't need my approval. They make decisions on their own and email me when they're done. I check every couple of hours, not every couple of minutes (only once the task if fully done)

When I wait for a regular AI response, I don't switch tabs. Instead of opening another tab, I take 2-3 conscious deep breaths. Sounds stupid. Adds up fast.

I swim in the sea and go for long walks with nothing in my ears. Every good idea I've had this year came from those moments.

And yeah, the cliche stuff too:

I protect my sleep, keep Sundays completely offline, never touch my phone in moments of transitions (waiting etc.).

None of this is complicated.

But it's the difference between AI working for me and me working for AI.

No AI company cares about your health, family time and sanity.

So it’s your responsibility to protect it.

If You Want an Army of Agents, You Need to Protect The Human

I use agents every single day.

They run research, draft content, make decisions.

I love these tools.

But I don't want to use more AI to spend MORE time in front of my computer.

I want to use AI so I can live as much as I work.

Most people think resting is a disadvantage.

That taking breaks means falling behind.

It's the opposite.

In a world that overstimulates you by default, the ability to be present is what gets you ahead.

My son will knock that toy car on my knee again today.

And this time, I'll actually be there.

See you next week,

Ole

P.S. I'm running a Claude Code workshop for marketers who want AI doing the heavy lifting without living inside their laptop. Go from overwhelmed by Claude Code to building a 500k/year marketing team (even if you have 0 technical ability). 10 plug-and-play skills, personal Claude files, framework-to-playbook system. Join the waitlist here