7 AI Productivity Tips That Save Me 10+ Hours at Work
Ever feel like there aren’t enough hours in the workday? Having to wrap up a report, answer dozens of emails and prepare for a key meeting tomorrow, all in one day, it can certainly feel that way.
Using generative AI tools to help with my work tasks saves me 10+ hours a week. As someone who has used AI in busy consulting and corporate jobs where there never seems to be enough time to get everything done, using AI has been invaluable for helping me avoid drowning in work. This has enabled me to reclaim my time and boost my productivity at the same time.
How to decide if AI can help
AI is a tool to help with work tasks, much like other tools like search engines or PowerPoint templates. These tools can make your work easier, but don’t completely replace the need for a human (at least not yet). If not used smartly, using AI at work can lead to mistakes or worse - we have all heard stories of AI hallucinating and providing completely false answers.
From my own experience, some tasks are better suited than others for making use of AI. The framework I use for deciding whether to use AI for a task is that AI is best used for tasks where the human effort needed is high, and crucially where the ability to validate the results is easy.
Below are seven ways that I use AI for work that meet the criteria of my AI at work framework. From writing emails faster to making essential background research efficient, these tips will make AI your new workday secret weapon.
Tip 1: Writing Business Emails
Drafting emails can be a huge time-sink, especially when they need to be polished and professional. For example, you need to send an email to internal stakeholders within your organisation to request some information and feedback on a report.
Using AI tools like ChatGPT, Copilot or Grammarly, just input your main points, describe the audience and purpose of the email, and let AI suggest a draft or refine your tone. Read it over and tweak it slightly so it is still written in your own voice. This can cut your email writing time in half.
Tip 2: Background Research on a Topic
Background research is crucial, particularly when faced with an unfamiliar topic, but doing this research can take hours of scrolling through sources and trying out different search engine keywords. For instance, you have been invited to a meeting at the last minute with senior leadership, and need a quick update on industry trends for your product area.
AI-powered research tools like ChatGPT or Copilot can pull insights fast. Just type in your question, and AI will summarise the latest information for you. To validate the results, ask for sources if they’re not automatically provided. I then double check with the original source to validate, and to find further information. This saves endless scrolling through search engine results and reading irrelevant sources.
Tip 3: Summarising Text and Key Insights
Summarising key insights from long reports can overwhelm and be a big time drain. Imagine your boss has asked you to review a 50-page government report on your sector and provide a summary by the end of the day.
For a task like this, key to the ability to validate the results is that you have either read the report (or at least done a decent skim read or thorough read of the executive summary), or you are very familiar with the subject matter. Once you have reviewed the report, ask AI tools like Chat GPT, Copilot or Notion AI to summarise the key points. You can ask it to focus on particular sections or topics if relevant. Then read over to check the information is correct and tweak as needed. This process saves a lot of time, so you can focus on the essential insights.
Tip 4: Editing and Reviewing Text
We all want our written work to be polished and error free, but editing takes time and focus, and it is often difficult to spot errors in your own work. When you have been deep in writing a report for the last two weeks that is due tomorrow, it’s impossible to look at it with fresh eyes to edit it.
Instead of taking hours to go through your work line by line, AI writing assistants like Grammarly can review grammar, clarity, and tone. Using these tools means you can ensure a polished draft and a professional tone in just minutes.
Tip 5: Brainstorming Ideas
When feeling stuck or struggling to come up with new ideas for how to tackle a project, rather than bothering your colleagues, use AI tools like ChatGPT or Copilot for brainstorming. For example, if you need to come up with a list of potential benefits and risks for a project but you are feeling uninspired, prompt AI with the topic and the ideas you already have and AI will help new ideas flow and spark your own insights.
Tip 6: Organising Your Thoughts
Once I have researched and brainstormed a topic, I often end up with a jumble of thoughts and ideas, making it hard to figure out the next steps. For example, when writing a project proposal AI can quickly organise the main points, and identify potential gaps, making the work streamlined and structured from the start. By using tools like Chat GPT or Notion AI to organise your ideas into clear topic areas, outlines or bullet points, this helps to clarify the next steps.
Tip 7: Setting Up a Project Plan
Project planning can feel overwhelming, and with so many moving parts it’s easy to forget to include a key step. You might need to plan for multiple deliverables, stakeholder engagement, and time for internal reviews. AI chat bots like Chat GPT or Claude can help to brainstorm project planning ideas, create a structured project timeline, or review a project plan to ensure the timelines, milestones, and tasks make sense.
Final thoughts
These seven AI tips can streamline your workday - from email writing to project planning - these tools can reclaim hours of your time. Try incorporating just one or two of these tips this week and see the difference they make.