Automation Wizard/Soloneer - Exploring how we can use the latest technologies such as AI, automation tools like n8n, and 3D printing to make our lives easier and better.
I teach automation but kept forgetting school pickup
|
The other day, I caught myself setting the same alarm. Again. "Pick up Jeremy from school - 2:45pm" I wasn't going to forget my kid exists. But I would get absorbed in a project, look up at 2:43pm, and have to sprint out the door. So every morning I'd think, "Right, need to set that reminder later." And half the time... I wouldn't. Here's the ridiculous part: I literally teach automation for a living. Yet there I was, acting as my own unreliable notification system. A human cron job that kept missing its schedule. Then one afternoon, mid-alarm-setting, I just laughed at myself. Why not make it repeat? So I opened Due (via Setapp - I use it for anything that needs to nag me properly), set it to recur weekly with different times for different days, and... done. Haven't thought about it since. Tiny thing. Massive mental relief. But here's what hit me: this is exactly where creators get stuck. We're out here researching AI agents and Zapier workflows while quietly drowning in small, repetitive friction:
None of these are hard. But remembering all of them? That's what drains your attention. And you don’t even notice these little things that are easily automated, because you're too close to see your own patterns. I needed someone to point out I was manually logging expense receipts when my banking app could just... do that. A client recently realized they were copying the same meeting link into every calendar invite instead of setting a default. These aren't automation projects. They're just friction you've gotten used to. The actual work is finding those spots where you're being your own worst bottleneck, then setting up something simple that runs without you. Not adding more tools to learn. Just making what you already do happen automatically. Andrew “Repeat Reminder” Molloy P.S. If you're tired of being your own reminder system, that's exactly what we fix in the Automation Wizard Quickstart. We audit your daily workflow, spot the friction you can't see, and implement 2-3 automations that actually buy back your attention. Two weeks, two calls, one clearer head. Details here. |
Andrew Molloy
Automation Wizard/Soloneer - Exploring how we can use the latest technologies such as AI, automation tools like n8n, and 3D printing to make our lives easier and better.
There’s a special kind of panic that comes when you realize you might have just broken something that really matters. Mine started with one small file — a cryptographic key used to publish a client’s Android apps on the Play Store. We were hours away from handing everything back after years of collaboration with a major client. The transition needed to be clean and professional. And then I couldn’t find the key. See, a few years earlier I had made what I thought was the responsible choice: I...
Most people think the magic of AI is in the answers. But the real magic? It’s in the questions — and how you write them. Because let’s be honest. Asking AI for something then getting a sloppy answer really kills the mood. Makes a person think it’s not worth the hype. But who has time to research and learn “effective prompting” from the army of AI bros on social media? Not me. So here’s the shortcut almost nobody talks about: You can use AI to help you talk to AI. I know, it sounds a bit like...
For years I’ve been fascinated by typing speed. I’ve used every shortcut, text replacement, and expansion trick imaginable to squeeze a few more words per minute out of my fingers. But at some point, I realised that no matter how fast I type, I can’t type as fast as I can think. Recently, I’ve been using Wispr Flow on both my Mac and iPhone, and it’s quietly changed how I capture ideas. Instead of forcing thoughts through my keyboard, I just… talk. It’s brilliant for rough ideas, notes to...