The New AI Superpowers: Focus and Followthrough(rickmanelius.com)
205 points by mooreds 22 hours ago | 71 comments
tl;dr: AI productivity gains tempted the author to spin up 40+ side projects simultaneously, leading to burnout from self-imposed "make-work" rather than the promised freedom. The lesson: use AI to go deeper (vertical) on fewer things that matter, not wider (horizontal) across more projects—paying the costly "last 1%" that separates good-enough work from great work, à la a partial vs. total eclipse.
HN Discussion:
  • AI enables everyone to build redundant, incompatible versions of the same beginner software
  • Burnout stems from meaningfulness and confidence, not workload amount as article implies
  • AI coding agents actually reduce stress and burnout by flattening task difficulty
  • ~Managing AI like a team of contractors with proper process avoids burnout
  • The 100x productivity premise is a myth; AI output needs costly polishing to ship