3 Mundane Tasks You Should Automate to Save Your Brain for the Big Stuff Automation is one way to cut through the noise: daily check-ins, circle-backs, status updates, etc. — and leave mental space for the big stuff.
By Aytekin Tank Edited by Jessica Thomas
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Paris is home to one of the most spectacular daily light shows in the world. Every hour, the Eiffel Tower's 20,000-plus lightbulbs flash on and off. The show goes on until 1 a.m. — until recently. In September 2022, the city announced that the iconic landmark would go dark at 11:45 p.m., resulting in a four percent reduction in power consumption.
At some point in the decision-making process, French officials were likely faced with a choice — to dim the lights or to let them shine at full force for a shorter duration of time. Clearly, the latter option triumphed.
As CEO of Jotform, I take the same approach to my daily work. Rather than toil for more hours at half-capacity, I'd rather shine bright and shut down early. But this wasn't always the case.
I used to believe that busyness was a requisite for success, pulling 16-hour days and rarely disconnecting. But with time, I've learned the power of doing less — of working strategically and saving my brain for the big stuff. My mentality shift required learning to say "no." I've also leaned heavily on automation, a subject I explore in-depth in my new book, Automate Your Busywork: Do Less, Achieve More, and Save Your Brain for the Big Stuff.
When you hear the word "automation," you might imagine AI slowly taking over the world. To be clear, though I'm a believer in AI, I don't think it will ever replace our personal, highly creative work. As I explain in my book, automation means clearing from your plate the processes that can be done faster and just as well, if not better, by tools or "set it and forget it" processes. Then, carve out more time for the meaningful stuff that only you can do.
Here is a closer look at how to identify the big stuff, followed by some important (and perhaps unexpected) categories of tasks that are ripe for automation.
How to identify the "big stuff"
In my chapter on the fundamentals of automation, I write about identifying your busy work and defining your meaningful work. It's the crucial first step towards building automation into your work, not to mention a practice we can do at regular intervals. After all, our careers aren't stagnant ponds — they're dynamic oceans, always moving, changing and replenishing.
Identifying the "big stuff" requires just a few minutes of reflection. Grab a pen or launch your favorite note-taking app, and answer the following questions:
- Which tasks do you enjoy the most?
- What kind of work do you prefer to do when your mind is at its freshest and clearest?
- What kind of work would you like to do more of?
- Which tasks deliver the most impact?
For me, my mind feels sharp first thing in the morning. That's when I do my morning pages, allowing myself to wander through the garden of ideas sprouting in my brain at any given time. Morning is also when I schedule my critical tasks, like big-picture thinking for Jotform.
As you paint your own picture of the "big stuff," include as many details and as many types of tasks as you'd like. Then hold tight to the picture(s) you've created as you chisel away tasks to automate.
Related: 3 Ways to Automate Your Busy Work and Boost Your Productivity
Important (and unexpected) categories for automation
Disclaimer: Life doesn't fall into neat categories, and neither do tasks for automation. Some of the following categories might overlap, but my goal is to offer a few guideposts for identifying manual tasks that can be outsourced, leaving you with more brain power for the rest.
1. Memory
According to Scientific American, the human brain contains about one billion neurons, each of which forms around 1,000 connections to other neurons. That amounts to over a trillion connections. What's more, neurons combine so that each one helps with many memories. In sum: Your brain's memory capacity is outstanding, and you're likely holding onto a lot more information than you realize.
That said, some memories are stickier than others. For example, once you learn to ride a bike, you're set for life. A pesky PIN code, on the other hand, seems to slip out of your brain instantaneously.
Automation can serve as backup storage when our brains are overburdened. Here are a few ways we can automate our memories so we can save our brains for the big stuff:
- Email: Automations like auto-save attachments, converting emails to spreadsheets and even auto-filing emails can be huge time savers.
- To-do lists: Tools like Asana and Trello enable you to effortlessly organize, prioritize and assign tasks.
- Meetings: Applications like Calendly can help you to organize meetings without the back-and-forth — at the scheduling step, invitees only see your available time slots.
One less thing to remember is another moment saved for the big stuff.
Related: 3 Bad Habits Most Entrepreneurs Are Guilty Of — And the Simple Solution for Stopping
2. Peace of mind
When I write about automating your peace of mind, I don't mean downloading a meditation app (although that's not a bad idea). Instead, I mean setting and forgetting all of the work things that tend to keep us up at night, like data loss, legal breaches and paying bills on time.
Think about it: What are the things keeping you up at night, and how might you automate them and eliminate those concerns?
For example, if you fret over if your emails are ever read, consider installing a mail-tracking app like Mailtrack. If you're regularly stressed about meetings piling up, try connecting your calendar with spreadsheet software and plotting out your events in a spreadsheet. If you're anxious about regulatory compliance, you might want to set up custom automation with webhooks.
Even if you have to make a small upfront investment in new apps or software, your peace of mind is invaluable.
Related: 5 Ways to Overcome Your Fear of Asking for Help
3. Communication
In a 2021 story for The New Yorker entitled "Email Is Making Us Miserable," Cal Newport writes about a study that tracked the long-term health of almost 5,000 Swedish workers. Researchers found that "repeated exposure to 'high information and communication technology demands' was associated with 'suboptimal' health outcomes." Translation: being constantly connected makes us miserable. And, as Newport notes, it also makes us perform worse in our jobs.
In today's workplace, we are inundated with communication from every angle: email, Slack, Teams, Basecamp and, on occasion, the old-fashioned telephone.
Automation is one way to cut through the noise: daily check-ins, circle-backs, status updates, etc. — and leave mental space for the big stuff.
So, how can you automate communication?
Use a meeting notes app. Include video meeting links in calendar invites. Pre-screen job candidates. Try chat marketing.
In the end, all of those seemingly minor tasks add up to lots of time saved.
Final thoughts
When I write about automation, in my book and elsewhere, I'm not advocating cutting corners. Rather, I'm proposing strategies for finding every task that can be handled just as well by an application or automatic process. That way, you free yourself up for the big stuff.
You can work on the things that matter to you and your company, then shut off the lights and truly rest.
Related: Want to Break Bad Habits and Supercharge Your Business? Use This Technique.
