Last week I was at an 8-person founder breakfast in Aspen. Guy goes around the table and asks everyone how they're using AI day-to-day. I was super embarrassed to answer the question, but I did.
Me: “I don’t.”
Everybody looked at me like I had five heads.
The guy sitting next to me said he uploaded his DISC personality test to Claude and used it as a thought partner to identify blind spots on his way to work, someone else stacked agents on agents to run their entire GTM…
You get the point.
I mean I’ve tried. I try to use Claude to help me with posts for a while, then I stop. I try to use it as a thought partner to help me with strategic things, then I stop. I read an article about how if you just use it for 1h/day for a year you will understand the gravity of what’s coming. I’d do that for two days, then stop.
When I walked out of that breakfast, I shared my embarrassment with one of the Founders at the table.
He posed a pretty interesting question.
“Maybe we should all be asking ourselves how you are running your life in such a way where you can be super high leverage WITHOUT using AI.”
I thought about that for a while....
Many people think it’s nuts that I’m a CEO of a $30m ARR SaaS and don’t have an executive assistant. But I ask people why they have them:
“They book my travel” (well I don’t travel much)
“They schedule my meetings” (I use Calendly)
“They do my personal errands” (I don’t even know what this means)
“They handle my email” (I don’t want someone to handle my email)
I think I’ve managed to simplify my work life to the point where I feel like I don’t need much help or many more tools.
On Monday, I’m in internal meetings all day.
On Tuesday, I write posts and make content.
On Wednesday morning, I have a marketing meeting.
The rest of the week is trying to figure out what’s next.
What’s the takeaway?
That guy who asked me what I was doing different may have been on to something.
What if half the things people use AI for never ACTUALLY needed to be done in the first place?
Maybe the best tool is a simple life.
Adam