Welcome to the Forward Obsessed Founder, my newsletter with insights, awesome tools, and real-world advice to grow your business and career.
GO FORWARD THOUGHT OF THE WEEK ➡️
Last Tuesday at 7pm, I couldn't hold a conversation with my wife. Not because I was distracted, but because I was mentally wiped out.
I'd crushed six hours of deep work into 90 minutes using AI, then filled the rest of my day with more deep work. By evening, my brain felt like burnt toast.
Here's what nobody tells you about AI productivity tools: they don't make you less busy. They make you capable of filling every minute with harder problems.
The Parkinson's Law Problem
You know Parkinson's Law: work expands to fill the time available. But here's the AI twist… When you can finish tasks 10x faster, you don't get 10x more free time. You fill those saved hours with 10x more difficult work.
I'm living proof. AI lets me code faster, design faster, strategize faster. I've built systems for my systems. But instead of using that speed to create margin in my life, I've jammed my calendar with nothing but cognitively demanding tasks. The mundane work that used to give my brain a break? Gone. Automated. Replaced with another hard problem.
And I'm not alone. Every founder I talk to who's deep into AI is hitting the same wall: exhausted, burnt out, and wondering why productivity gains feel like punishment.
The Real Cost of Optimization
Here's what we lost when we automated everything: cognitive reset time.
Mundane tasks aren't bugs in your workflow. They're features. Your brain needs them. Not every moment needs to be deep work. Not every task needs to be optimized to the nth degree.
When you spend from 9am to 7pm doing nothing but mentally demanding work (even if you're crushing it) you end up fried. Your brain isn't built to maintain peak performance for 10 straight hours, no matter how good your tools are.
Stop Chasing New Tools. Master What You Have.
Instead of looking for the next game-changing AI tool, here's my challenge for you: get 10x more out of what you're already paying for.
Take ChatGPT or Claude. Most people use maybe 10% of what these tools can do. I recently watched someone recreate their entire $35/month content repurposing tool inside Claude with the right prompts. It took one session with me to do that. Now they're saving $420/year. That’s just one tool.
Scale that thinking. What if you replaced ten $30-300/month tools by mastering your primary AI subscription? What if you could build in-house replacements for services you're outsourcing?
How to Actually Use AI Without Burning Out
Here's what I learned the hard way:
You need to protect cognitive recovery time
- Not everything needs automation
- Mundane tasks = mental breaks
- Schedule buffer time between deep work sessions
Try to optimize for focus, not speed
- Stop context-switching between tools
- Master one platform deeply before adding another
- Consolidate where possible
Recognize the AI productivity trap
- Productivity savings shouldn't always equal more work
- Speed is only valuable if it creates margin
- Some parts of life should be slow and intentional
Run this quick AI efficiency audit:
- What tools are you paying for?
- Which could you replace with better prompts in your main AI platform?
- Where are you optimizing away necessary cognitive breaks?
- What would happen if you worked slower on purpose?
Look, I write about AI productivity all the time. I help companies scale with AI. But I'm also sitting here realizing I've optimized myself into exhaustion. The irony isn't lost on me.
Not everything in life needs to be efficient. Not every saved minute needs to be filled with harder work. Sometimes the best move is to cook dinner instead of ordering takeout. Read a book. Pick up around the house. Let your brain coast for a bit.
That's not lazy. That's sustainable.
Here's your challenge
Before you add another AI tool to your stack, double down on the one you already have. Learn it well. Master it completely. You'll probably find it can replace half the tools cluttering your workflow.
And maybe, just maybe, use some of that saved time to actually rest.
What's one tool you're paying for that you could replace with better use of ChatGPT or Claude?
Click reply and let me know.
Pete Sena
P.S. - I'm opening up three 1:1 AI coaching spots for November. If you want to learn how to get more out of what you're already paying for, reply to this email. We'll meet weekly and I'll show you how to get dramatically more from what you already pay for.
Please take a second and hit the FWD button ▶️, to share this email with your favorite growth-obsessed peer. I want to inspire 1 million awesome minds like you.
