When AI Saves You Time
Do you fill it with more work, or more life?
Most conversations about AI circle back to efficiency. Do it faster. Automate the boring parts. Squeeze more into the day. Sure, that's powerful. But every time I hear it, I ask: faster for what?
When I finish something in half the time, my first instinct isn't to rest. It's to add more.
More tasks, more projects, more output. It feels productive in the moment, like I'm squeezing the juice out of the day. But really, I'm just moving the finish line further away. The more space I make, the more I fill.
If I'm honest, it often leaves me more depleted, not less. And I don't think I'm alone in this.
Productivity has become the default measure of progress. "Time savings" almost always translates to "extra capacity for work." But at some point, we have to ask: where does it stop?
A Different Lens
What if the real win with AI isn't about doing more, but about working less? Not in a lazy sense, but in the sense of reclaiming energy. Of finishing work properly, so we can actually switch off.
I had this moment a few weeks ago: I asked AI to help me draft a meal plan. Normally it takes me at least an hour. Scrolling through recipes, juggling schedules, making sure the kids will eat what I cook.
With AI, I had a workable plan in about 15 minutes. My first instinct? "Perfect, now I can squeeze in an extra bit of work before pickup."
But then I caught myself. Instead, I closed my laptop and went for a short walk before heading out. Nothing groundbreaking. Just 20 minutes in the sun, listening to a podcast.
But I came home feeling lighter, more present. The dinner conversation that night wasn't rushed, and I actually enjoyed cooking the meal AI had helped me plan.
That's the difference I'm chasing: not just faster work, but a fuller life.
The Two Options
When AI saves us time, it quietly offers us a choice: Fill it with more work. Or use it to create space for life.
The first one feels natural, almost automatic. It's the logic we've been trained in for decades: if you can do more, you should do more.
But I think the second option is where the real value lies. And it's the one we have to consciously choose, because it won't happen by default.
Why It Matters
Here's the thing: technology will always be able to speed us up. That part isn't going away.
But the deeper question is what that speed is for. Do we want AI to help us hit the gas pedal on the same old race? Or do we want it to make the race optional?
I'm learning that if I don't pause to ask, the time I save just gets swallowed. And then AI isn't making my life lighter. It's just making the treadmill faster.
So I'm curious: when AI saves you time, what do you do with it? Do you fill it with more work, or do you let it spill into more life?
And if it's the first one, why? I don't have a final answer yet.
But I do know this: the future of AI doesn't just depend on what the tools can do. It depends on how we choose to use the time they give back to us.
If you're here because you're curious about using AI not just as a work tool, but as a way to design a simpler, fuller life, this is exactly the space where I'm exploring that.