The fastest workflow is not the one with the most automation. It is the one with the fewest unnecessary steps. AI can make work faster, but if the work is messy, AI will simply help us do messy work at higher speed, and we will still lose hours to rework, coordination, and confusion. If we want real time back, we simplify first. Then we automate. Simplification shrinks the workflow itself, and that is how we reclaim hours instead of just optimizing minutes. ------------- Context: Why Automation Often Fails to Save Time ------------- A lot of teams adopt AI with the hope that it will instantly reduce workload. They plug AI into drafting, summarizing, or reporting, and they see some speed gains. Then they notice something frustrating: the week still feels full. The calendar still feels crowded. The “urgent” messages still keep arriving. This happens because time loss is often structural, not mechanical. The biggest time leaks are not typing speed, they are unnecessary steps, unclear handoffs, duplicated work, and processes designed for a world of slower information flow. A common scenario is reporting. A team spends hours gathering updates, formatting them, sending them, then answering follow-up questions that show the report did not address what leaders actually needed. AI can help draft the report faster, but the process is still bloated if the report exists mainly because people do not trust the system. Another scenario is content approvals. We have multiple reviewers, unclear criteria, and inconsistent standards. AI can generate drafts quickly, but the output still gets stuck in review churn. The cycle time is not dominated by creation. It is dominated by coordination. We also see the “duplicate input” trap. The same information gets entered into a CRM, then copied into a doc, then summarized in an email, then repeated in a meeting. Each step feels small. Together, they cost hours. AI can speed up copying and summarizing, but the real win is removing the duplication.

This week, I break down some huge updates to Claude that, combined with the introduction of ads in ChatGPT, make Claude the best AI if you're on a free plan. Plus, I cover the barrage of OpenAI news and releases, discusses the evolution of the "OpenClaw" movement, and more. Enjoy!

Not whether you have them. Not whether they’re fair. Just how fast you move toward them. Every time you deal with something right away, your capacity grows. You trust yourself more. You stop carrying the mental weight. You get stronger without even realizing it. Every time you delay, it gets heavier. It takes more energy. It starts to feel bigger than it actually is. Over time, that difference compounds. Solving small problems quickly builds confidence. Solving bigger ones consistently builds identity. And that capacity — the ability to handle hard things without hesitation — is what actually allows you to build something great. What’s one thing you know you need to face this week instead of pushing it off?