The Productivity Lie of AI

If I could give you 5 to 8 hours back in your week, what would you do with it?

Would you invest it in the things that genuinely drive your future success and wellbeing? Or would it just disappear into more meetings, more emails, more tasks and a longer to do list?

It's a question I've been thinking about a lot lately.

The promise of AI is that it will make us more efficient and more effective. We automate tasks, create content faster, summarise information in seconds and speed through work that used to take hours.

Intheory, all of that should create more time. But if I were to poll everyone reading this newsletter, I suspect most of us wouldn't say we have more time. In fact, I think many of us feel like we're running faster ever.

And that's what I call the productivity lie of AI.

Not because AI doesn't save time. It absolutely can. But because saving time and using time well are two very different things.

What if instead we were intentional about using AI tocreate capacity for growth? Growth in our thinking. Growth in our capabilities. Growth in our relationships. Growth in the ideas, opportunities and innovations that will shape our future success.

Not all time is created equal - what work matters?

One of the biggest mistakes we make when we think about work and productivity is assuming that all hours are equal. They're not.

An hour spent clearing emails has a different value to an hour spent solving an important problem. An hour spent reacting to today's demands has a different impact to an hour spent thinking strategically about where your business, team or career needs to go next.

Some activities help us keep up with today. Others help us create tomorrow.

Canva co-founder Melanie Perkins intentionally protects what she calls 'Maker Days' in her calendar. Time without meetings or interruptions, just space to think, create and focus.

It's also why so many of us have experienced that moment where an idea arrives when we're walking, exercising or standing in the shower. When we stop actively pushing for a solution, our brain makes a connection it couldn't make when we were rushing from one task to the next.

The work that drives our future success is often deep thinking, problem solving and creativity.

Unfortunately, it's also the work we are most likely to sacrifice when we're busy. For some reason we treat it as a reward for getting everything else done.

But getting through your inbox and ticking off your to do list is what helps you run faster today. Creating space for thinking, learning, building, solving and creating is what helps you build your future.

The real opportunity of AI is that it gives us the chance to be more intentional about where we invest our attention, energy and time.

We can use it to create capacity for more work. Or we can use it to create capacity for growth. The choice is ours.

If you found an extra 5 hours in your week, what would you intentionally invest it in?

Productivity Tip of the Day

Decide how you can INVEST time wisely.

Imagine I showed you how to find those extra 5 to 8 hours every week. Before those hours get absorbed by more activity, decide what they are for. Not how you'll fill them, but how you'll invest them.

• What is the highest value thing you could direct that time towards?

• What would help you grow, rather than simply do more?

• When are you at your best energy during the week?

• How much time do you need, and how often?

• Map it out. Schedule it. Protect it fiercely.