Generative AI and the Time Management Revolution
Generative AI can radically increase efficiency.
But there’s a problem:
We’re human.
Which means we are almost certainly going to screw it up.
We humans are at tremendous risk of filling up those precious Saved Hours with more busywork. More firefighting. More email checking. More non-value-add tasks.
The story of the Transformative Power of Generative AI isn’t a story about the technology. It’s a story of our brains, our behaviors, and our habits.
The technology is solid. It’s our brains that are flawed. In the same way that when we complain about bias in the system, the problem isn’t the system. The problem is all the human-created biased training data.
How do we take advantage of generative AI? It’s not about signing up for ChatGPT. It’s about changing our behavior.
(This is why I’ve created my comprehensive Generative AI for Professionals course - it’s all about Tech + Behavior. Learn more below!)
It's time for a paradigm shift, friends.
Let's talk about:
How time management can be the hidden superpower of generative AI
How to actually access this power (without falling into the busy trap)
A framework for a new approach.
THE GENERATIVE AI TIME TRAP
There’s a quote from the Bible that talks about how it’s bad practice to pour new wine into old wine skins. Taking that into the secular world, it just means that the old wine skins will burst. They’re not ready for the wonderful new wine.
That’s like us humans.
We are getting access to this efficiency tool, but our brains are not, by nature, all that efficient when we are performing knowledge work.
The problem is this:
Our brains don’t really love challenge. We like the familiar. That’s because the familiar is easy, and our brains like easy. For good reason - it’s trying to conserve energy, and thinking requires energy. It’s how we evolved and survived this long.
If we aren’t paying attention, we’ll fill up our day, even with those extra hours.
Here's where most people go wrong:
They use generative AI to speed up tasks
They fill the saved time with more tasks
They end up just as busy, just doing more stuff
When I was traveling around the world for a year, the best advice I got was to limit the size of my backpack. “Nobody ever fills up half a backpack,” my friend told me.
Same with our brains. We’ll fill them up with those non-value add tasks. The email checking, firefighting, etc. It’s hard to set aside space for the important strategic work. It’s hard to manage time.
But if we want to take advantage of this generative AI efficiency revolution, we have to get great at time management.
THE TIME MANAGEMENT REVOLUTION FRAMEWORK
Here's how we need to change our work lives:
RECLAIM: Use generative AI to speed up your daily tasks. Be ruthless. Anything that can be automated, should be.
PROTECT: This is the crucial step. That time you've saved? Protect it like it's the last slice of pizza. Block it off in your calendar. Tell your team it's sacred.
ELEVATE: Use this protected time for high-level thinking. Strategy. Innovation. The big, meaty problems you never have time for.
AMPLIFY: Here's where it gets cool. Use generative AI to amp up your strategic thinking. Need to brainstorm solutions to a complex problem? Want to analyze market trends? Generative AI is your new thinking partner.
Let's break this down with a real-world example:
Say you've reclaimed 60 minutes a day using generative AI for routine tasks.
Don't fill it with more routine tasks.
Instead:
Block off 4:00-5:00 PM every day as "Strategy Time"
Use this time to tackle your biggest challenges
Leverage generative AI as your brainstorming buddy and research assistant
The result? You're not just more productive. You're operating at a higher level.
THE HUMAN FACTOR
Remember, at its core, this is all about human value.
Generative AI is a tool. A powerful one, sure. But it's how we use it that matters.
By reclaiming our time and using it intentionally, we're not just working better. We're thinking better. Leading better. Innovating better.
We're becoming the strategic powerhouses we've always had the potential to be.
This is why I've created my first digital course: "Generative AI for Professionals." It's not just about using AI—it's about fundamentally changing how we work.
This course is designed to be interactive, engaging, and yes, even a little bit challenging in the best way possible.
Booking Conor for an Event
I’m thrilled that I get to do a ton of keynotes and lead workshops for companies. If you’re looking for a highly practical, framework based approach, feel free to reach out at www.ai-mindset.ai/speaking
