---
title: "Working twenty times faster with agents, and the human in the loop who tires"
language: en
topics: ["AI", "health", "lifestyle", "people", "running", "work"]
full_article_url: https://willem.com/en/2026-09-07_twenty-times-faster/
---
# Working twenty times faster with agents, and the human in the loop who tires

*The agents do not tire, I do, so the pace is mine to set.*

> On 11 August 2026 I wrote in my notebook that the speed at which we move is about twenty times the old top speed: in one day I do what I used to do in twenty. This is what that does to the human in the loop, and the counterweight I found.

Twenty times faster is real: the agents draft, build, test and rewrite while I read, decide and correct. The bill is real too. The judgement cannot be delegated, and judgement tires in a way typing never did.
The counterweight is physical. A run, a night of sleep, a week of deliberately doing less. Not a break from the work, but how the work stays good.
This is a marathon, not a sprint. The first post of September was written on a day of doing less, on purpose.