Hello again. Recently, I’ve been mulling over the common idea that AI is here to free us from the drudgery of busywork, giving us more time for creativity and, well, being human. The notion sounds splendid, but in practice, it rarely feels that way.
A Closer Look at the Productivity Promise
If you’re like most knowledge workers, your day is filled with report writing, research, and various content creation tasks. It’s been suggested that AI can now handle between 50% and 70% of these duties. If that were truly the case, you might expect a significant increase in leisure time. Yet, despite these advances, many of us still find our schedules crammed, and in many ways, even busier than before. The reason is simple: we’ve long been conditioned to value more, faster, and higher—always striving to outdo ourselves.
Every new innovation—from the internet to modern computers—has been marketed as a time saver. However, instead of finding ourselves with extra hours to relax or pursue our interests, we seem to end up with a few more tasks on our plates. The promise of productivity often comes with an unspoken expectation to keep up the pace.
The Reality of Modern Ambition
The issue isn’t solely with technology. Our own ambition plays a big part. With AI handling routine tasks, one might imagine we’d suddenly have time to focus on what really matters: family, creativity, or even a quiet moment over a cup of tea. Instead, the drive to do more and be more productive seems to have grown, pushing us to work longer hours rather than enjoying a well-earned break.
A Simple Solution?
Rather than worrying about AI taking our jobs, perhaps we should be more concerned about it making us work harder. The answer might be as simple as learning to say ‘enough’—to prioritise working less and making the most of the time we have. If we can manage to shift our focus from constant output to meaningful rest, perhaps we’ll finally start to enjoy the benefits that AI promises.
For now, though, it seems we’re likely to remain on this relentless treadmill, even with a little digital help chugging along in the background.
Cheers, Farez
P.S. If you have any thoughts on finding balance in this modern work-life or just fancy a chat, do get in touch.
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