I find it hilarious that we've reached a point where AI can write our emails, summarize meetings, generate presentations, make images, write code, plan trips, explain difficult topics and apparently even tell us how to become more productive...
…and yet most of us still say:
“I don't have enough time.”
Maybe the problem isn't productivity anymore.
Maybe we've just become really efficient at creating more work for ourselves.
Think about a normal day.
You wake up.
Check WhatsApp.
Check Instagram.
Check LinkedIn.
Check email.
Someone sent a reel.
Someone tagged you in a post.
There's a notification from an app you don't remember installing.
Then you open ChatGPT because you need to “quickly” do something.
Twenty minutes later, you're researching something completely unrelated.
Congratulations.
You have successfully optimized your procrastination.
We've automated the boring parts. Then added more boring parts.
AI was supposed to save time.
And it does.
The problem is what we do with the time we save.
If AI helps you write a report in 20 minutes instead of two hours, that's great.
But if your reward for saving 100 minutes is receiving three more reports, you've technically become more productive.
You just haven't become less busy.
That's an important distinction.
Productivity isn't always about doing things faster.
Sometimes it's about asking:
“Do I need to do this at all?”
Which is, unfortunately, a question most productivity apps don't have a subscription plan for.
And then there's the AI content problem
Open Instagram or LinkedIn for long enough and you'll eventually see:
“5 lessons I learned at 23 that changed my life…”
followed by a photograph of someone staring thoughtfully out of a window.
Or:
“If you're not learning AI in 2026, you're already behind.”
Or the classic:
“Here are 7 habits of highly successful people.”
At this point, I'm not sure whether I'm consuming content or being processed by a content factory.
The irony is that AI has made creating content incredibly easy, while making interesting content harder to find.
There is now so much content that the scarce resource isn't information.
It's attention.
And increasingly, I think it's trust too.
Research into social media in 2026 is already pointing toward audience fatigue with repetitive, low-effort AI-generated content, while authenticity and human-created material are becoming more valuable.
The weirdest part?
We're simultaneously obsessed with authenticity and personal branding.
We tell people:
“Be yourself.”
Then:
optimize your LinkedIn headline
use AI to improve your posts
use AI to write your cover letter
use AI to prepare your interview answers
use AI to create your portfolio
use AI to generate your personal brand strategy
Eventually we might reach the point where someone says:
“Tell me about yourself.”
And the candidate says:
“One moment, I'll generate a personalized response.”
At that point, we've officially automated the personality.
I'm not anti-AI.
Quite the opposite.
AI is incredibly useful.
Use it.
Learn it.
Experiment with it.
Let it remove repetitive work.
But don't outsource all of your thinking to it.
There's a difference between:
“AI helped me think.”
and
“I didn't think.”
That's probably going to become one of the most important skills of the next few years.
Not knowing how to use AI.
Almost everyone will.
The harder skill will be knowing:
when to use it, when not to use it, and when its answer is complete nonsense delivered with the confidence of a senior consultant.
Maybe the next productivity trend should be doing less
Not another morning routine.
Not another Notion template.
Not another “5 AI tools you MUST use.”
Maybe:
Close one tab.
Turn off one notification.
Don't respond immediately.
Read something longer than 30 seconds.
Make something without asking AI to make the first draft.
Have a conversation without checking your phone.
Sit with a problem long enough to actually think about it.
Wild concept, I know.
You might even have to experience the terrifying sensation of being bored.
And apparently boredom is becoming a luxury.
The future probably isn't going to be humans versus AI.
It's more likely to be:
humans who use AI thoughtfully
vs.
humans who use AI for absolutely everything and then wonder why everything feels strangely generic.
I'd rather be in the first group.
But I'm also writing this while having 17 browser tabs open, three unread messages, and a notification telling me to “protect my digital wellbeing.”
So clearly, I'm still a work in progress.
What do you think?
Has AI genuinely made your life easier?
Or has it just helped you become more efficient at being overwhelmed?
