Productivity on Corey Daley

Making Your AI Subscriptions Pay for Themselves

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 14:00:00 -0500

A coworker and I were debriefing after an AI Bootcamp when I said the quiet part out loud: ‘I need my AI subscriptions to pay for themselves.’ Add up Claude Pro, ChatGPT Plus, GitHub Copilot, Cursor, and a research tool, and you’re looking at $100+ a month just to stay current.

The mental shift that changes everything: stop running your AI stack like subscriptions and start running it like equipment. Every tool needs a job. Assign each one to a revenue output, pick one small experiment, and ship something real in two weeks.

You don’t need a hit app — you need $112/month and a closed loop. Are you running your AI tools in consumer mode or operator mode?

Bring Your Own Key: Why Customers Are Tired of Paying Twice for AI

Sat, 07 Mar 2026 12:00:00 -0500

There’s a quiet frustration building across developer tools right now. You already pay $20/month for Claude Pro or ChatGPT Plus. Then your IDE wants another $10 for AI. Your project management tool wants $8 more. Your Git client wants its cut too. The bill isn’t for one AI — it’s for the same AI, billed by a dozen different gatekeepers.

The Bring Your Own Key (BYOK) model is the industry’s response: connect your existing API keys and skip the markup. But it’s not a clear-cut win. Managed AI subscriptions offer real value — simplicity, support, compliance, and no API wrangling.

The real question isn’t which model is better. It’s which model fits you — and whether the tools you’re using have even given you a choice. Have you audited how many separate AI subscriptions you’re paying for lately?

Finding Each AI's Place in My Workflow

Thu, 12 Feb 2026 19:28:28 -0500

I’ve stopped trying to pick the ‘best’ AI tool—instead, I’m letting each one find its place in my workflow. Here’s what’s emerged: Codex, Claude Code, and GitHub Copilot CLI handle my command-line coding from simple to complex. ChatGPT web is my go-to for image creation (oddly, ChatGPT Desktop lacks this). GitHub Copilot in VSCode crushes code completion. Claude Code and Claude Desktop excel at blog writing with Notion integration.

Each tool has found its niche, and I’m more productive because of it. I’m still exploring how to use AI as a peer for bouncing ideas off, especially in planning mode.

The future isn’t about one AI to rule them all—it’s about orchestrating multiple specialists. How are you integrating AI tools into your workflow? Have you found similar specialization patterns, or are you using a different approach?

Automate Your Blog with Notion and AI: A Self-Demonstrating Workflow

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 21:41:59 -0500

This post you’re reading right now? It was created by an AI reading a to-do item from my Notion database. That’s the power of combining Notion with AI assistants. The problem every blogger faces: brilliant ideas die in the gap between inspiration and execution.

My solution: a Notion to-do list where I capture ideas, and AI assistants (Claude Code and ChatGPT) read from it via Model Context Protocol, generate complete posts, publish them to my Hugo blog, and mark the to-dos complete. It’s self-demonstrating—this very post was created that way. The workflow transforms content creation from manual drudgery into an automated pipeline.

If you’re drowning in blog ideas but low on execution energy, this might be your answer. Are you using Notion for content management? Have you explored AI integrations for your blog?

Managing Blog Posts with GitHub Copilot

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 16:25:00 -0500

Managing a blog used to mean juggling multiple tools—notes apps for ideas, editors for drafting, task trackers for progress. It was fragmented and exhausting. Then I discovered GitHub Copilot can work directly with GitHub Issues and Projects, creating a seamless workflow.

Here’s how it works: I create issues for blog post ideas, GitHub Copilot reads the issue, generates the complete post with proper frontmatter and content, and automatically closes the issue when I publish. No context switching, no lost ideas, just a smooth pipeline from concept to publication. The best part? Everything lives in one place alongside my code.

If you’re blogging and using GitHub, this workflow is a game-changer. How are you managing your content pipeline? Have you tried integrating your blog workflow with your code repository?

How GitKraken Simplified My Git Workflows and Boosted Productivity

Wed, 04 Feb 2026 12:05:00 -0500

Git is powerful but complex—until you add GitKraken. After years of command-line Git, switching to GitKraken completely transformed how I work. The interactive commit graph alone is worth it: complex branch structures become instantly clear, and you can navigate your entire repository history with simple clicks.

But it’s not just pretty visualization. GitKraken’s merge conflict resolution is intuitive, the built-in code review tools streamline collaboration, and integrations with GitHub, GitLab, and Bitbucket make everything seamless.

Whether you’re a Git beginner finding your footing or a pro looking to boost productivity, GitKraken removes the intimidation factor and makes version control visual and accessible. Have you tried visual Git clients? What’s been your experience with GitKraken or similar tools?