Automate your busiest day not your biggest dream

When picking your next automation project, look at the day of the week that wears you out the most, not the flashiest idea you've been dreaming about. The busiest, most repetitive day usually hides the clearest, easiest win.

Big dream projects tend to touch many moving parts and many judgment calls, which makes them slow to build and easy to abandon halfway through — I've abandoned more than one myself this way. A busy, repetitive day, on the other hand, is usually full of small, boring, rule-based tasks that are perfect candidates for a workflow — the same reply, the same file move, the same reminder, over and over. Fixing that day first gives you real time back almost immediately, and that time is what lets you tackle the bigger ideas later.

Chase the tired feeling before you chase the exciting idea.

Try this today: circle your most repetitive day this week and pick the single task on it that repeats most often.