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Save 4 hours this week. Here's how I actually do it.
Published 11 days ago • 4 min read
How I Got 4 Hours Back Every Week Without Losing What Makes Me Irreplaceable: Three tools, one rule, and the thing AI can never do.
I've given myself clear rules about AI: ideate with me, research with me, edit with me. Don't write for me. What I didn't expect was how often I'd have to remind myself of that. Not Claude. Myself. Especially when I'm behind on a deadline, and it could do a passable job in thirty seconds. Nobody would know the difference, and the temptation is real. That tension is what this email is about.
Depending on who is talking, AI is either the savior or the devil.
It’s neither.
Similar to money or the internet, AI is simply a tool, albeit a powerful one.
Much of what I hear is end-of-the-world type stuff: mass job loss, autonomous weapons, and the singularity—where AI becomes an all-knowing digital God.
And while AI demands more regulation, and some of the warnings are legitimate, many of the doomsday scenarios seem overblown…at least for now.
The One Thing AI Can Never Be
One thing AI will never be is human.
My advice if you’re worried about your job? Get more human. Focus on things that only humans can do. Upskill your leadership. Grow your people skills. Become a master at human connection.
Will it replace jobs? Undoubtedly. As I heard Scott Galloway say on a recent podcast, “AI is not going to take your job; someone who understands AI will take your job.”
Will it create new opportunities? Absolutely. Can it replace human-to-human connection? Never.
That's the philosophy. Here's how I'm actually living it.
What I’ve Decided About AI
First, fully understanding AI is impossible—even the experts don't fully understand what they've created and released into the world. But making the effort matters. Otherwise, it’s impossible to join and influence the conversation around AI.
Second, AI is a competent assistant but a poor replacement. It’s no exaggeration to say it saves me 4-8 hours of work per week, but the temptation to let it have things that belong to me is ever-present.
Vistage workshop for executives—slide deck created by Claude
Keeping AI in its lane sounds simple until I get tired, overwhelmed, and behind. It’s then that I feel most tempted to give AI things that belong to me. But that’s covering up a deeper issue. The real issue has to do with how much I’m taking on, and overwhelm is usually a signal that it’s time to pull back.
A Free Resource for You
If you want to put any of this into practice, I've built a free step-by-step guide on how to set up a Claude Project that actually works—one that knows your context, runs on your instructions, and doesn't start from scratch every time. It's yours just for being part of this community.
Most people think the danger of AI is that it will take their job, but the truth is that the real danger is far more personal: it will take whatever you're willing to give it, including things that were never supposed to leave your hands. In those moments, I tell myself, Your integrity is worth more than a deadline.
This is about your Tangible and Relational rhythms, and this issue sits squarely at the intersection of both.
Your Tangible rhythms govern how you work: what you give your time to, how you protect your energy, and whether the tools in your life support your capacity or quietly drain it. If AI can return 4+ hours to your week and you never pick it up, those hours don't disappear—they convert to late nights, rushed decisions, and a version of you that has less left to give when it counts. But AI used ineffectively can also drain time and energy.
Your Relational rhythms remind you of what AI can't touch. The conversations that change someone's direction. The meeting where presence matters more than information. The relationship that only exists because a human showed up. No tool does that.
If you don't learn how to use it effectively, you'll keep spending irreplaceable hours on tasks that don't require you, which means less of you available for the work and the people that do.
But if you carve out 30 minutes this week to set up one tool that handles even one recurring task, that leaves more time for the work that really matters, and your people get the energy that was buried in busywork.
This week's rhythm: Pick one admin or research task you do every week manually. It could be work-related or a personal task. Spend 20 minutes this week setting up a Claude project to handle it. One task. Twenty minutes. That's the whole assignment.
Reflection question:What's one task you're doing every week that you know isn't the best use of your time, and what would you do with that hour if you got it back?
Hit reply and tell me: What’s your answer to the reflection question? I’d love to hear. I read every response.
Until next time,
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Join hundreds of other business owners, leaders, entrepreneurs, ambitious professionals, solopreneurs, and purpose-driven high achievers—people with big callings and even bigger calendars—who are ready to start living and leading from a place of internal rest rather than busyness, burnout, and overwhelm.