In partnership with
SMALL Swiss Cheese Automations that reduce the stress of work.
Have you ever wondered how the simplest things consume the largest portions of your time? Not the tough stuff, the irritating little gremlins that rob you five minutes here, seven minutes there... until you find that overnight you have lost your entire morning.
It turns out, you do not require a large and fancy system to correct this. It only requires small automations that silently do the job of eliminating friction as you sleep.
THE RELATABLE INTRO
Months back, one of my friends lamented that his job was a continuous juggling process.
But when we decomposed it, he was not drowning in complicated labor. He was micro tasking himself out:
Remember to send invoices
Schedule that client call
Post content every day
Transfer files to the appropriate folder.
Revise the spreadsheet (no one will ever visit)
Nothing intense. Just constant noise.
And like any other one he thought I will remember.
Spoiler: He didn't.
We cleared his workflow, that is, not a big system but little automations. And in two days he was as though someone had taken a brick off his brain.
APPLE VALUE: THE importance of SMALL Autonomies.
Majority believes that automation refers to the creation of some complex Notion database or connection of 20 steps in Zapier.
Nope.
Small automations are easy, repeatable, and tedious, and this is the reason small automation would be effective.
The psychology of it is as follows:
Context switching is a waste of your brain. Any I need to send that later is a mute energy theft.
Repetition creates stress. Although the task may be easy, the dailyness of it develops low-grade anxiety.
Automations eliminate choices - and choices are the actual bottleneck.
You are not being lazy when you automate. You are getting rid of the non-value-added components of work the on-line version of picking up socks off the floor.
BREKEDOWN: TINier AUTOMation that Soothes the pandemonium. AUTODO anything you repeat two times a week.
Repeating it a thousand times, then it is not yours but a robot.
Examples:
Auto-send weekly invoices
Backup the important folders automatically.
Automatically archive finished files.
Auto-tag emails from clients
Auto send calendar invite templates on calls.
USE TRIGGERS, NOT TO-DO LISTS
Most of the to-do lists do not succeed due to their use of memory.
Triggers fix that.
Upon receipt of a form - send follow-up email.
Once a file gets to Google drive - move it to the correct folder.
Upon a client payment - receive a thank-you + onboarding paperwork.
In case of uploading a video - create captions automatically.
No thinking. Just flow.
Make your calendar work to your advantage.
Your calendar is a robot which needs to be operated.
Auto-planable repetitive tasks.
Auto-block your focus hours
Create an automatic reminder of a daily shutdown at the same time.
Auto-buffer 10 minutes prior to each call.
An intelligent calendar eliminates three-quarters of your Oh Crap, I forgot.
MAKE CHECKlists of anything that you do often.
It is not technically automation but cognitively it is like automation.
If you:
Post content daily
Send client deliverables
Publish videos
Onboard new users
You need to have one ready-made checklist that you simply go through.
Notion, Google Docs, phone notes - anything is good. Repeatable checklist saves even greater time than you believe.
USE AI FOR YOUR "LAZY" WORK
AI isn't here to replace you. It has come to take over the aspects of you that despise typing the same words over and over again.
Some examples:
Auto-summarize long emails
Draft client replies
Turn bullet notes into paragraphs.
Create thumbnail ideas
Make action steps out of your meeting transcript.
Create content by repurposing templates.
After being used to this, returning to it would be like going back to using a washing machine and using handwashing of clothes.
Practical hints that you can use now.
Want the fastest wins? Start with these:
Create a reminder in your phone that reminds you to do it regularly.
Choose something that you never remember - invoicing, posting, planning. Schedule it automatically.
Develop a default library of response.
Have templates ready for:
Follow-ups
Pitches
"Yes, let's do it"
"No, I'm not available"
"Here's the info you asked for"
Saves hours every week.
Match two applications that you use every day.
Zapier. Make. Apple Shortcuts. Automation applications are outrageously strong when dealing with trivial tasks.
Examples:
Store email attachments in Drive.
Log tasks automatically
Drag-pull calendar events into your day to day notes.
Don't overthink it. Start with one connection.
Assign AI your routine work starting tomorrow morning.
Think whenever you please, one full day. "Ugh, I've written this before" give it to AI instead.
You will see the difference at the first glance.
Automate your morning and night time routines.
Not lifestyle items - work prep items:
Morning: automatically generate a daily brief.
Night: write up about what you completed + what you are doing.
Weekends: clean your workspace (empty folders, put work away in archives)
You will enter into each week with less noise.
Little automations do not make you faster - they make you lighter.
Less stress. Less noise. More room for actual work.
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