The AI productivity paradox

Keep reading if this sounds familiar: You're working 50+ hour weeks, drowning, desperately needing a lifeline — and someone suggests you learn AI to save time. Your immediate thought? "I don't have time to add one more thing to my plate!” 🫠

Sorry to say it but you just described exactly why you need AI more than anyone else.

While you're drowning, other EAs are already using AI and automation to operate at the next level.

You need to invest time to get time back

In every Carve AI cohort, there's usually one or two assistants in high-pressure roles who need to hit pause and tell me, "I just can't dedicate the time right now."

I understand completely — I've been there — but it still tugs at me, because alumni data show the program gives back 3-4+ hours each week, on average.

The tradeoff is they need to invest 2-3 hours weekly for 7 weeks to get those efficiencies.

Why this isn't just about individual willpower

Take heart, this isn't your fault.

The biggest barrier isn't your own motivation — it's organizational culture. Teams and companies with a learning culture make learning AI & automation a priority. Here’s how:

1. They give explicit permission to experiment with AI and to uncover new tools that could help.

2. They celebrate efficiency gains openly, instead of treating AI use like “cheating”. They showcase, share and celebrate the success stories.

3. They put budget behind your learning, and protect learning time.

The strategic solution: start small, be consistent

If you're stuck in the productivity paradox, here's your escape plan:

Week 1: The 10-minute daily commitment. Pick ONE repetitive task. Spend 10 minutes daily experimenting with AI on just that task. Not everything — just one thing. Maybe it's creating meeting briefings, or drafting your exec’s emails.

Week 2: Document wins. Track your time savings. When you can show concrete evidence ("This used to take 40 mins, now it takes 8 mins"), you create a compelling case for more learning.

Week 3: Scale what works. Take your proven use case and teach it to someone else on your team. This forces you to systematize your approach and positions you as an AI champion in your organization. (Bonus: post about it publicly somewhere like LinkedIn ✨)

Week 4: Negotiate your learning investment. Armed with actual metrics, approach your exec to request budget for structured learning: "I've already saved 1.5 hours this week with AI. If I could dedicate 2-3 hours per week to Carve AI over 7 weeks, I could triple these efficiencies. It’s an investment that will add a 13th month to the year, effectively. The ROI is clear.”

Your next 48 hours

The productivity paradox only exists if you let it. Make Monday Day 1 of your 10-minute daily commitment to use AI week. Here’s how:

Day 1 (Monday):

• Block 10 minutes on your calendar for "AI experimentation"

• Choose ONE task you do daily that feels repetitive to focus on

• Open your AI chatbot and ask: "How could I automate or streamline [specific task]?"

Day 2 (Tuesday):

• Go back to that task and optimise the prompts you were using (try our free COIF Prompt Writer in ChatGPT)

• See how far you can polish your outputs in 10 mins with better prompting

And I know you can take it from there 🚀

The busiest EAs need AI most. Every week you delay is another week of manual work that could have been part automated. Start Monday.

Fi

p.s. we opened the doors to the Summer Cohort of Carve AI last Friday and we’ve already filled 2/3rds of our seats. If you want support in your AI explorations, maybe this is the nudge you’ve been waiting for 🙃 July 8-Aug 19, 7 weeks of AI learning & experimentation. Early bird pricing on until June 13th (unless we fill up before then!) — join us.