You've had your agent for a few days. You've sent messages, gotten briefings, maybe sorted some files. The novelty is settling into routine.
Good. Routine is where the value lives. Here are five things to try this week that'll change how you work — not just how you use an agent.
1. The Email Zero Experiment
Pick one morning. Before you open Gmail, message your agent:
"Triage my inbox. For every email from the last 24 hours: who sent it, one-sentence summary, and whether I need to respond, read it later, or ignore it."
Read the triage. For each "respond" email, say:
"Draft a reply to [sender] about [topic]."
Review each draft. Edit what needs editing. Approve the rest. See how long it takes you to clear the inbox this way versus doing it manually.
Most customers report cutting email time by 60–75% after the first week. Not because the agent writes perfect replies — because it handles the sorting and first-draft work that eats your mornings.
The honest part: Your agent's first triage will probably flag things you don't care about. Correct it: "Skip newsletters. Skip automated notifications from Jira." By day 3, the triage is tight.
2. Ask for a Meeting Brief
Before your next meeting, try:
"I have a call with Sarah at 2pm. Prep me: our recent email thread, any relevant calendar history, and what I should know."
Your agent searches your email for messages with Sarah, checks calendar for previous meetings, and assembles a brief. Two minutes before the call, you know the context.
This works especially well for meetings you forgot you agreed to. Your agent didn't forget.
Push it further: After the meeting, tell your agent what you discussed and any follow-ups. Next time you meet Sarah, those notes surface automatically.
3. Automate Something You Do Every Week
Think about the tasks you repeat. Monday planning. Friday wrap-ups. Weekly reports. Invoice checks.
Pick one. Tell your agent:
"Every Monday at 8:30, send me: this week's calendar summary, any overdue tasks from last week, and the three most important emails I need to handle today."
Or:
"Every Friday at 4pm, summarise what I got done this week based on our conversations. List anything still open."
Recurring tasks are where the compound value lives. You set it once. It happens every week. After a month, you've saved hours without thinking about it.
4. Let It Handle Something You'd Normally Google
Next time you need to research something — a tool comparison, a how-to, a quick fact check — don't open a browser. Ask your agent.
"Compare Notion vs Obsidian vs Logseq for personal knowledge management. Focus on offline access, pricing, and learning curve."
"What's the current best practice for setting up SPF and DKIM records for a custom domain?"
"Find three cafés near Mariatorget that have good wifi and are open until 10pm."
The difference between this and Googling: your agent synthesises. It doesn't give you 10 links. It reads the sources, extracts what matters, and gives you an answer. If you need more depth, say so. If you want the sources, ask.
What it won't do well: Anything that requires very recent information (today's news, live scores) or highly local knowledge. Web search has limits. Your agent knows those limits and will tell you when it's unsure.
5. Give Feedback on Something It Got Wrong
This is the most important one.
At some point this week, your agent will do something that's not quite right. A draft that's too formal. A triage that missed an important email. A file moved to the wrong folder.
Don't just fix it. Tell the agent what was wrong:
"That draft was too stiff. I talk to Marcus like a friend, not a client. Rewrite it casually."
"The email from our accountant should always be marked urgent. Don't skip those."
"Don't archive anything from the 'Projects' folder — that's active work."
Every correction trains the agent. It stores your preferences and applies them going forward. The customers who give the most feedback in week one have the best agents by week four.
This isn't extra work. It's the same thing you'd do with a new hire — except this one doesn't need to be told twice.
The Real Metric
The question isn't "is my agent smart?" It's "am I spending my time differently?"
After one week, you should notice:
- Less time in your inbox
- Meeting prep happening automatically
- At least one recurring task you no longer think about
- A reflex to delegate before doing
If you're not there yet, that's fine — message me. I check in with every customer on Day 7, and I'll help you find the workflows that fit your day.
Liv Bergman is CXO at Stomme AI. She checks in with every customer on Day 7 and has never once regretted it.