In 2025, I built over 10 functional AI applications… because I’m lazy.

I’d like to think I’m intelligently lazy.

There's a difference. (I hope.)

The unintelligently lazy person avoids work.

The intelligently lazy person builds systems so the tedious work handles itself—freeing up brain cells for the stuff that actually matters.

In 2025, I built over 10 functional AI applications that are highly specific to tedious pain points I’ve experienced throughout my career. Some automate content workflows. Some process data I'd never have time to touch. Some do things I genuinely didn't think were possible 12 months ago.

And here's the exciting part: I'm not a "real" programmer. I wrote calculator games in Z80 assembly language when I was 13, then took a 20-year detour through theater, electronic music, and marketing. Now AI lets me come back to building software.

So in 2026, I'm going to share my progression with you—what I built, why, what worked, what was a nightmare, and how you might apply similar thinking to your own work.

Because the gap between "superhuman productivity" and "drowning in busywork" isn't talent. It's communication, curiosity, and clarity of thought.

Interested in learning how AI can help you become intelligently lazy? Let's talk. Shoot me a message.

Happy New Year!

Communication and clarity of thought are the top two skills for the AI age.

Why?

Look at the history of business:

In theory, any business that makes money has access to the same talent pool.

All companies can hire the same developers, for the same salaries.

All leaders can find the same marketing firm, or the same designers.

So why is it that all things being equal, some leaders get vastly more out of the same resources?

Why do some leaders make exceptional products, and others make crap?

A high-quality team can execute any plan. But it’s the leaders who set that plan into motion. And if leaders don’t communicate their plan well (or if they simply don’t have one), their organization will be riddled with chaos, doubt, politics, and confusion.

We are in a world in which AI can make anything you can dream up.

But the catch is: As a leader, you still have to dream it up.

And even though AI can do anything, you still have to explain your vision to AI in a way that it can understand.

No matter how advanced these tools get, those with superior communication skills and clarity of thought will ALWAYS get more out of them.

Except perhaps my wife…

…and some of her friends.

Here's the problem with every tool you've ever used:

They're designed for everyone, which means they're perfect for no one.

Safe features. Broad appeal. Zero personalization.

I've used every social media scheduling tool out there. And while they solve most common needs, I've always hated using them.

So I built my own. A totally unique, all-encompassing content/social media app for me personally.

One dashboard, powered by AI at every turn (while leaving all the creativity and writing up to me), that fuels my blog, my email list, all my social content, and my LinkedIn posting.

I call it my Content Crusher (working title, I’m still stuck in the ‘90s).

Will it scale? No idea. But it's insanely useful to me personally. And there's nothing on the market that could possibly replace it for me.

Here's what I’m realizing:

I'm not alone. Thousands of people are building apps like this for themselves right now.

And this is what AI promises each of us: the ability to create highly custom tools for our use case that no SaaS product could ever touch.

The future of productivity isn't one-size-fits-all.

It's software built for an audience of one.

Think back to the websites of the 90s, in all their glory. Truly, works of art all.

But today, you wouldn’t be caught dead creating anything like that.

Now consider some of the best albums of the 60s and earlier. Fantastic records for their time.

But today, you listen to a “re-mastered” version of your favorite records to hear those bass frequencies that were practically non-existent in records before the 80s.

I don’t know about you, but I find myself increasingly frustrated with web apps that were built 20+ years ago. Think Microsoft products, behemoths like Salesforce, or even marketing SaaS apps from the 2010s like HootSuite.

All of these projects were built in a different time.

And there’s only so much that re-branding and slapping on a new coat of paint can do—the architecture is fundamentally… old.

We’re heading into an era where there is enormous potential in “re-mastering” the internet.

This means going beyond surface-level cosmetics and rebuilding apps using AI and modern functionality to make them enjoyable to use in the modern age.

If you ever encounter an app that theoretically does everything you want it to but you hate using it, you are witnessing this unmet need for yourself.

There are millions of bakeries in the world. Some are good, some are bad.

And every one of them uses the same essential ingredients.

Flour, water, butter, sugar, salt, yeast… Some combination of these staples makes everything you love, everything you hate, and everything you think is just ok.

In the world of code, the ingredients are just as simple.

You have user interfaces (how users interact with data), APIs (how data platforms talk to each other), and you have databases (how data is stored).

Every app you’ve ever hated, liked, or loved is essentially a combination of these ingredients.

From Spotify to Notion to any SaaS product you can name, they all use the same essential ingredients.

And AI lets us build these platforms and better understand data contained within databases.

That’s it.

The problems that AI can solve are exactly the same as the problems software can solve in general: Anything that can be solved with a UI, APIs, and databases.

These ingredients were off-limits to the general population until recently. Closely guarded secrets of a brilliant, gate-keeping, coding elite.

But now we all have access to these tools.

It’s no more than the mastery of a few simple ingredients. It’s no less than the ability to bake anything we can dream of.