Five ways out of a repetitive task, and when AI is the right one

A lot of advice on repetitive work starts with a tool and then looks for tasks to use it on. That order is how people end up with an AI assistant drafting an email a saved template would have handled better, or polishing a report nobody needed. Start with the task instead and run it past five exits, cheapest first. AI is the last of them, and for plenty of tasks you’ll stop before you get there.

By the end of today you’ll have three of your own repetitive tasks matched to the right fix, and one fix already working, such as a saved template or a filter that sorts your mail without you.

Start with the task

Write the task down as one plain sentence: what you do, how often, and what comes out at the end. For example: “Every Monday I copy last week’s figures from three spreadsheets into an email to my manager.”

Then look at what repeats: the same words typed again, the same sorting of messages, the same chasing of missing details, or a routine someone set up years ago that nobody has questioned since. Each of those points to a different exit.

Five exits, cheapest first

“Cheapest” means what the fix costs you to set up and keep running, including the minutes spent checking what it produces. A template is written once. An AI draft gives you new words each time, and new words have to be read.

1. Stop it, or do it less often

The test: if you skipped it for a month, who would notice, and what would they lose?

For example, an operations manager sends a weekly status report to fifteen people. Before writing the next one, she asks what they actually use. If the answer is the risks section, the report shrinks to that section, or goes out every other week. A weekly meeting where everyone reads out updates can often become a written update, with a call only when someone flags a problem.

This exit costs nothing, and people skip it because stopping a routine feels like dropping a ball. Announce a four-week trial and ask afterward who missed it.

2. A template

The test: do you write nearly the same words more than once a week?

For example, a school coordinator answers parents’ questions about enrollment dates and required documents, the same handful every year. A saved reply in the email app, or one document of tried answers, handles most of them, with blanks such as [NAME] and [DATE] for what changes. For dates, prices and policies, a template has an advantage over AI: it says the same thing every time.

3. A rule or filter

The test: can you tell what to do with a message from the sender or subject line alone, without opening it?

For example, a project manager gets notifications from the task tracker and the shared drive, plus newsletters he wants to read, just not at 9 a.m. A rule in his email app moves each kind into its own folder, and he reads them at set times. Many tools also let you switch to fewer notifications or a daily digest in their own settings.

4. A form

The test: do the same requests arrive in different shapes, so you spend time asking for what’s missing?

For example, an HR assistant receives requests for employment verification letters by email, by chat, by phone and in the hallway, many without the addressee or the dates to cover. A form with those fields marked as required turns each request into one complete row in a spreadsheet. Google Forms and Microsoft Forms can both collect the answers in a spreadsheet (checked in October 2026).

5. An AI first draft

The test: does the text change every time but follow a pattern you could describe, and can you check a draft in a few minutes?

For example, a finance analyst writes a short commentary on the monthly figures: what went up, what went down, and why. The spreadsheet calculates the differences, and the assistant turns those figures and her notes on the reasons into a first draft. The same exit suits a reply to an unusual complaint or a proposal drafted from your meeting notes.

AI comes last because every use asks something of you: a prompt to write, and a draft to read and correct. Write the prompt once, with blanks, and the first part shrinks to pasting:

Write a first draft of [the monthly commentary] for [my manager].
Use only the facts below. If something you need is missing,
write [CHECK] in its place instead of guessing.
Keep it under [150] words and match the tone of the earlier
one I've pasted at the end.

Facts and my notes:
[paste the figures and why they changed]

An earlier one I was happy with:
[paste it]

Assistants don’t always flag their own gaps, so check every name, number and date against your source before the draft goes out, starting with the [CHECK] markers. If the material includes details about customers or colleagues, read Before you upload a client document first. Let the spreadsheet do the math and the assistant write the words walks through the monthly commentary in detail.

A decision table to copy

Paste this into a note and run each task through it.

Ask in order. Stop at the first yes.

1. Could I stop it, or do it half as often, without anyone
   losing something they need?
   Yes: stop or reduce it. No: go to 2.

2. Are the words nearly the same every time?
   Yes: write a template. No: go to 3.

3. Can I decide what to do from the sender or subject alone?
   Yes: set up a rule or filter. No: go to 4.

4. Do the requests arrive incomplete or in different shapes?
   Yes: build a form. No: go to 5.

5. Does the text change each time but follow a pattern
   I can check in a few minutes?
   Yes: use an AI first draft.
   No: keep doing it by hand for now.

Write the exit next to the task, with today's date.

One task can take more than one exit: a request form can feed a reply from a template.

Where AI is the wrong exit

AI assistants turn a pattern into a plausible draft. They do badly with two kinds of work.

Context only you have. A reply that depends on what a customer said on the phone last week, or on why the last attempt failed, takes longer to explain than to write. If the context is stable, such as your role and the formats you use, write it down once; Set up your AI assistant once shows how.

Output you can’t check quickly. If checking a draft takes as long as writing it, you’ve gained nothing. Keep that task by hand, or split off a part you can check quickly, such as a table of figures, and fix only that part.

Measure your own minutes

Nobody can tell you how much time a fix will save you, and that includes us. Your own numbers can. Copy this card next to the task:

Task:
Minutes each time, before the fix:     Date:
Minutes each time, after the fix:      Date:
Times a month:
Minutes it took to set up the fix:

Minutes back each month = (before − after) × times a month
Months until the setup pays off = setup minutes ÷ minutes back each month

Time the “before” from start to sent, including the minutes spent hunting for last month’s version. Time the “after” on the second or third run, since the first run of anything new tends to be slow.

Try it today

Before you log off:

1. Write down three tasks you did today that you’ve done before, each as one sentence that says how often it comes up.
2. Run each one through the table and write its exit next to it.
3. Pick the cheapest fix on the page and do it now: save the template, create the filter, or send the message proposing that next week’s meeting become a written update. If the exit is a form, build a first version with only the fields you’re always chasing. If it’s an AI first draft, fill in the prompt above for that task and save it where you’ll find it next time.
4. On the card, write how long the task took you today, marked as an estimate, and time it properly next time.

You’re done when one fix is in place and its “before” time is on paper.

Where to go next

Three tasks from one day are a sample. How to find your most repetitive work ranks every recurring task on last week’s calendar, and this table tells you what to do with each one. Then pick the tutorial for your exit: email filters for newsletters and notifications, email templates built from your sent folder or a request form that fills a spreadsheet. If your exit was an AI draft, Keep your best prompts in one place gives today’s prompt a home, with room for the next one.