Instead of chasing productivity hacks, I started removing low-leverage work. Here’s what I offloaded first.
I didn’t start using AI to be faster.
I started using it to stop wasting attention.
Not on hard problems.
On small, draining tasks that quietly steal momentum.
Once I looked at my workflow that way, the answer wasn’t “Which AI tool is best?”
It was: What work should I no longer be doing at all?
The mistake: automating too late in the process
Most people try to use AI at the end:
After the doc is written
After the slides exist
After the meeting is over
That’s backwards.
AI is most valuable before clarity exists, not after.
So I started removing friction earlier in the workflow.
Where I deliberately stopped spending human effort
Instead of naming tools, here are the categories of work I no longer do manually.
You’ll recognize them instantly.
Turning rough thinking into something presentable
I no longer polish structure by hand when the goal is communication, not craft. AI gets ideas into a usable shape fast — I refine only if needed.
Designing when design isn’t the problem
Layouts, visuals, basic aesthetics shouldn’t block shipping. If taste isn’t the differentiator, it shouldn’t consume hours.
Starting from nothing
Blank states are expensive. AI gives me something to push against, which is often all momentum needs.
Building throwaway prototypes
If the output exists to validate an idea — not to scale — AI-first builders save days of unnecessary setup.
Capturing meetings
If notes aren’t immediate and actionable, they’re useless. I stopped pretending I’d “clean them up later.”
Repurposing long-form content
Human editors matter — but not for identifying obvious highlights or formatting variants.
Learning linearly
Reading everything in order is rarely optimal. AI lets me interrogate material based on what I actually need next.
Simple visual manipulation
If the task doesn’t require taste, I don’t treat it like craftsmanship.
Translating thoughts into text
Speaking is faster than typing. Cleaning up later beats slowing down early.
Finding signal in noisy spaces
Manual scrolling is not research. Pattern extraction is.
What changed wasn’t speed — it was energy
The biggest difference wasn’t output volume.
It was:
Fewer context switches
Less friction to start
More attention left for decisions that actually matter
AI didn’t make me smarter.
It made my effort more intentional.
Operator-level FAQs
How do you avoid becoming dependent on AI?
By only offloading work that doesn’t compound skill. Judgment, taste, and architecture stay human.
Isn’t this just productivity optimization?
No. Productivity is about doing more. This is about doing less of the wrong work.
What’s the biggest mistake devs make with AI tools?
Treating them as replacements instead of accelerators. AI should collapse friction, not thinking.
I help SaaS builders and technical teams turn complex ideas into clear, credible content — without hype or recycled frameworks.
If this way of thinking resonates, that’s the work I do.
Top comments (0)