Are You Resisting Automation Tools?

Apps, software and other technology can streamline your process, allowing you to focus on the work that matters most

Yi Shun Lai
Forge
Published in
5 min readOct 7, 2021

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Photo: CSA Images/Getty Images

I’ve heard so much about the good reasons to add automation to your life: It can help you save money; it can help you to be more efficient; it can help you to be more productive.

But I could never take it seriously, and the reason ranged from outdated opinions of automation tools to misguided self-knowledge. But over the past few years, I’ve finally started to automate a good amount of my workflow. The results have provided a ripple effect in the way I think about and process my work, and have provided a sharp lens on my own resistance to certain tools.

Here are few automations that have considerably streamlined my process.

An appointment and meeting scheduler

This tool takes all the back-and-forth out of scheduling appointments. I use Calendly, and within it, I have six different appointment types based around length and buckets in my life: teaching, freelance writing, and DEI consulting. Sometimes I’ll use this tool to schedule social events, too.

The obvious benefit is that I can just send someone a link and say, “Please find a time that…

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Yi Shun Lai
Forge

Author: A SUFFRAGISTS’S GUIDE TO THE ANTARCTIC (2024), Pin Ups (2020). Former columnist, The Writer. theGooddirt.org Psst: Say “yeeshun.” You can do it!