We’re all in a tizzy about AI, but when we dig deeper, we realize the real issue behind it is time. We all want more of it. Or maybe more out of it. So, the real issue is productivity. How can we accelerate all the things we want to get done? It can be a vicious cycle when we find ways to make more time but then add more to our to-do list. All this is to say, what are other ways we can buy time? Here are a few thoughts.
Idea generation
One way I have been experimenting with AI is by using it for idea generation, especially when I need several on the same topic. With AI’s superpower being to draw from existing information, it spits out in a tenth of the time that my slow brainstorm would take. Although its weakness is to spit out the ideas my brain would have come to eventually – on a topic I’ve written about previously, typically 8 out of 10 are ideas I’ve already covered. Although as any writer with a new idea knows, those 2 new ideas are pretty exciting.
Batching
Task switching is the fancy term that experts use when I get into a bad pattern of answering an email, then returning to the article that I was writing, and then moving over to check social media. The few seconds that it takes to refocus on each really add up. So, a better way is to focus on each at once. If you answer short emails one after another, you get into the mindset of replying and then repetition makes it easier. Do a few at a time until you can’t stand the task anymore, then when you switch it’s a break. I routinely answer my emails at a couple of times per day rather than as they come in, and I also tend to batch tasks like writing social media posts or even blogs.
Tracking time and outsourcing
As important as saving time is becoming aware of how we use it. I’ve learned that one of my diversions is settling into my workday, checking email and reading until I realize that half an hour is gone at my freshest point. Now I try to start a project-in-progress first, so I get a solid streak of work done first thing in the morning. Not only does it feel satisfying, but then email is a more deliberate choice and is often done as I’m impatient to get back to my project.
