Into inbox archaeology, meetings about meetings, and searching for the thing you already made. The numbers are ugly: ~49 hours a month on email, ~33 hours hunting for information, and ~99 hours communicating vs ~75 hours creating. (Sources: McKinsey Global Institute; Microsoft Work Trend Index.)
Eisenhower’s simple lens - from years ago - still works: urgent vs important. Pair it with AI and you get a calm system that protects what matters and bins the rest.
⛳Triage the inbox: AI sorts by priority, summarises long threads, drafts sane replies. You approve, not compose. ⛳Ask, don’t hunt: one AI search across docs, chats and wikis. Natural-language queries. Fewer wild goose chases. ⛳Make meetings earn their keep: AI builds the agenda from the thread, records and summarises, extracts actions and owners. Cancel anything without a purpose. ⛳First drafts on tap: briefs, slides, specs and emails start with an AI draft grounded in approved sources. You edit with you human invaluable lens. ⛳Automate the rote: status reports, timesheets, expense checks and trackers generated by AI. Exceptions only to humans. ⛳Measure and reinvest: track hours saved and spend them on customers, coaching and thinking time
A small stoic nudge: control what you can. Your attention. Your rituals. Your tools. Accept that some chores exist, but stop volunteering for them. Let machines carry the mundane so people can carry the meaningful.
If your teams want those hours back, we are happy to share what’s working for us at Synaptyx AI and how we are helping others win back their hours. Start simple - start now.