How ChatGPT stole my Monday

PRIORITIES

Aug 4

ISSUE #003

Get A Little Unscattered in your inbox. Subscribe→

Busy is a very convincing disguise.

I hate to admit how many hours I have burned on things that looked incredibly productive. Asking ChatGPT for just one more headline. Then another.

Tweaking a website section that was already perfectly fine.

Reorganizing the calendar because apparently that was the thing standing between me and success.

By 5:00, I was tired. But the thing I actually needed to move? Still sitting there.

That is the sneaky thing about being busy. It gives you a full day without necessarily giving you progress.

Some work keeps you moving. Some work moves something.

There is a distinction I come back to a lot: motion vs. action.

Motion is everything around the work.

✔️ Researching.

✔️ Planning.

✔️ Organizing.

✔️ Tweaking.

✔️ Learning.

✔️ Talking about what you are going to do.

None of those things are inherently bad. Sometimes they are absolutely necessary. The problem starts when they become a really respectable hiding place from the thing that actually needs to happen.

Action changes something.

✔️ You send the proposal.

✔️ Make the call.

✔️ Publish the page.

✔️ Ask someone to decide.

✔️ Launch the thing.

✔️ Stop the thing.

✔️ Have the uncomfortable conversation.

One feels productive. The other creates an outcome.

ChatGPT stole my Monday

Okay. ChatGPT did not technically steal anything. I handed it over willingly. 😂 I would ask for ideas, get perfectly usable ideas, and then think: Hmm. Maybe one more round.

Then another. Suddenly I had 47 options and somehow felt less clear than when I started. AI makes this even easier because you can stay in research and iteration mode forever.

There is always another prompt. Another version. Another angle. Another rabbit hole that feels adjacent enough to the work that you can tell yourself you are still working. And this is not really an AI problem.

Before ChatGPT, I could do exactly the same thing with Google. Or Adobe. Or a spreadsheet. Or rearranging my week for the fifth time.

Give me a sufficiently useful tool and apparently I can procrastinate very professionally.

Capable people can be especially good at this

This is the part I think gets underestimated. The more capable you are, the easier it can be to make motion look legitimate. You can accomplish ten things before lunch.

→ Answer emails.

→ Clean up a document.

→ Research three vendors.

→ Fix a process.

→ Help someone else.

→ Update the plan.

And every single thing may be useful. But useful and important are not the same thing. That matters even more inside small mission-driven teams because there is always something worthwhile to do.

There is always another person to help. Another process that could be better. Another communication to send. Another idea someone cares about.

You can stay extremely busy doing good work and still avoid the work that matters most. That is where priorities have to do more than sit on a planning document.

They need to filter the day.

Look at what actually changed

One of the simplest questions I use now is: What will be different because I did this?

Not: Can I justify doing this?

I am very good at that question. Give me thirty seconds and I can explain why almost anything is strategically important. 😉

Instead: What changes if I spend the next hour here?

Maybe:

a decision finally gets made
a customer gets an answer
something ships
an owner becomes clear
a problem gets solved
a priority actually moves

Or maybe the answer is: I will have a nicer spreadsheet.

Again, sometimes we genuinely need the nicer spreadsheet. But at least now we know what we are choosing.

A quick motion-or-action test

When I catch myself circling, I use a pretty simple filter.

Ask:

1. What priority does this move?

If I cannot connect the work to something we have already said matters, that is useful information.

2. What will exist, change, or be decided when I finish?

This forces me to name the outcome instead of the activity.

3. Am I doing this because it matters... or because it is easier than the next thing?

Oof. That one has ruined a few perfectly enjoyable afternoons of unnecessary research. But it works.

Because sometimes the real issue is not prioritization. I know exactly what needs to happen. I just do not particularly want to do it.

Motion often feels safer

Sending the pitch can lead to rejection. Publishing the idea means someone can disagree. Making the decision closes other options. Having the conversation might make someone uncomfortable.

So instead, we prepare.

And prepare.

And prepare a little more.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to feel ready. But eventually preparation stops reducing risk. It just delays exposure to it.

That is usually my cue.

I do not want to eliminate motion

I want to be clear about that.

→ Research matters.

→ Planning matters.

→ Thinking matters.

→ Systems matter.

Sometimes slowing down before acting saves enormous amounts of wasted effort later. The goal is not to turn every minute into visible output. That sounds exhausting.

The goal is to notice when the work around the work has quietly replaced the work itself. There is a difference.