We say we need more hours, but what we really need is more clarity. In recent weeks, I've observed a recurring pattern among managers who already integrate AI into their daily work: they work faster, yes, but not necessarily better. The tool accelerates; sound judgment brings order. When the latter is lacking, the former only amplifies the chaos.
A Harvard Business Review study reported that executives lose, on average, 28% of their week on administrative and repetitive tasks that could be automated. It's an uncomfortable figure because it doesn't reflect a lack of resources, but rather a lack of will. Most of that time doesn't require talent; it simply requires a system.
AI can already handle much of that workload: summarizing meetings, drafting initial reports, making preliminary classifications, and filtering information. However, many leaders still dedicate hours to tasks that a machine can accomplish in minutes, and minutes to tasks that require real-world presence: making decisions, prioritizing, and thinking strategically.
The critical thing is not the tool, but the question it forces us to ask:
Where am I truly indispensable and where am I acting out of inertia?
When an executive starts delegating to AI what should never have been on their agenda, something simple yet profound happens: time expands. Not because there is more of it, but because it stops being wasted on tasks with no strategic impact.
And right now, it's worth looking at your week with more honesty than routine. Not to add technology, but to eliminate noise. AI won't make you more productive if you don't first decide to stop investing the best of your mind in the least relevant items on your schedule.
What's coming in the next few days will demand that kind of attention: focused, clear, without unnecessary clutter. And that clarity isn't achieved by working more, but by working from a different standard.
