The Butterfly Effect of Your Daily Tasks (And a Sneak Peek into AI's Role)

I took this Sunday morning to compare my planned daily schedule with what I actually did over the last few weeks.

Turns out most days tend to shift strongly towards 2-3 of these areas, ruthlessly neglecting the others, depending on the priorities at the time.

Changing focus is not easy, especially for deep work.

Nevertheless, I'm trying hard to stick to this schedule – even when I'm a far cry away on some days.

I believe that having an anchor to look at can remind you that all parts are important – that squeezing in some of the "non-priority" tasks, even on the most hectic days, can unlock rewards in the future.

Because all actions compound over time, even small ones, like that proverbial butterfly's wing fluttering causing a tsunami on the other side of the earth.

For example, if on a crazy day I have to dedicate 70% to one thing alone, I'd still try to push for 5%, 5%, 5%, 5%, 5%, 5% on the others. 

Or 3%, or 1%, just to get them covered. Just to punch the clock, be it a whatever small amount. Even if it's just one message, or one email, or one like. 

That day will never come again. And once it's gone, the chance to send that message out on that day is gone. Forever! Whatever the outcome of that small action at that PRECISE moment in time, it is gone forever.

This really makes you think twice if you'd take a thirty minute call or better cut it down to fifteen minutes. Or even to five minutes?

The truth is that one person’s productivity only goes so far. There’s a lot that falls through the cracks, many small actions that we should have done, but we just didn’t have the bandwidth to squeeze them in. When other matters are more important, we postpone them.

But the small things will become the big things.

As long as I stick to those percentages roughly, on a monthly time frame, it’s ok. But if I spend double the amount on a task in the long term, I have to reassess if I’m heading into the right direction, and cut down on the unimportant.

Of course some of these tasks are lower leverage than others, but they still need to be done. They keep your business alive.

Soon Generative AI will be so powerful that it will replace the repetitive and mundane tasks completely. It will act like a human assistant, completely embedded in our daily work.

But we’re not there yet. We still have to do a lot of that work manually, even if it means only supervising and directing the AI. In order for an autonomous AI future to emerge, we have to figure out how to integrate these tools into our daily work.

The times of “pre-AI” and “post-AI” are not cleanly separated. There’s a long time of integration in between, full of innovation, breakthroughs, and setbacks.

If you want to learn how to get there, you can ask me your most burning AI question right away, by replying to this message.

Cheers,
Robert