3 AI Habits That Boost Productivity and Save Time

1. Backwards Calendaring

Few things are more frustrating than a calendar that is completely full, or a to-do list that is stacked with tasks, yet still ends the day with nothing meaningful accomplished. A day filled with low-impact work on throwaway items is, in my view, a day wasted.

That said, it is easy to understand why so many of us fall into this trap. Humans crave a sense of control; when we tick off a simple, achievable item on a list, our brains reward us with a hit of dopamine. The uncomfortable truth, however, is that no significant achievement has ever been built on a series of meaningless tasks.

As a founder who is always on the lookout for a solid productivity hack, I was recently intrigued by the growing conversation around how generative AI is breathing new life into the "backwards calendar." While this is a well-established concept, it is being completely refreshed with a large language model (LLM) twist.

The principle is straightforward: you begin with a final goal in mind—whether that is writing a keynote speech, landing a specific client, or launching a product. From there, you work in reverse, breaking the project down into smaller, actionable tasks that can be scheduled in the days leading up to the final deadline.

It is a simple premise, and it is incredibly effective. The main drawback has always been the heavy lifting required during the setup phase—or at least, it used to be. Now, you can simply tell ChatGPT what you are hoping to accomplish and ask it to act as a master scheduler, generating a realistic timeline of concrete steps to get you there.

I put this method to the test just last week. My objective was to close out a product decision that had been dragging on for two weeks. As I worked backward through the timeline, the AI flagged a critical blind spot: I had blocked out time to "think about it" on three separate days, but I had never actually scheduled the conversation with my product lead that would have allowed me to make the call. This is where LLMs truly shine—they force you to articulate your goals clearly and define the specific steps required to achieve them, leaving no room for excuses or fuzzy thinking.

2. Find Your Peak Times

It is a familiar scenario: the clock strikes 3 p.m., you are several meetings into the day, and the effects of your morning coffee have long worn off. As the post-lunch slump takes hold, you try to summon the energy for deep, focused work. More often than not, this effort fails.

It is widely understood that energy levels naturally fluctuate throughout the day. However, the degree to which these fluctuations impact productivity is often underestimated. Research indicates that attempting to force a morning-oriented person into a late-night brainstorming session is counterproductive, just as expecting a night owl to perform at their peak in the early hours is unrealistic. This phenomenon is known as a "chronotype mismatch," and it is not something that can be overcome through sheer willpower.

Furthermore, the expectation of maintaining constant, high-level focus for an entire workday is not realistic. Dr. Gloria Mark, a professor of informatics at the University of California, Irvine, explained to the New York Times that just as we cannot lift weights continuously, we cannot expect to sustain focused attention for extended periods without rest.

To capitalize on your natural productivity cycles, you can use AI as a planning assistant. The first step is to track your energy patterns for a few weeks, recording your focus and motivation levels on an hourly basis using a scale of one to ten. Once you have this data, you can input it into a tool like ChatGPT. The AI can then analyze your personal rhythms and help construct a calendar that aligns with them, scheduling demanding cognitive tasks during your sharpest hours and reserving less critical activities—such as meetings and email correspondence—for your natural energy dips.

3. The Shutdown Ritual

Cal Newport introduced the concept of "the shutdown ritual" in 2009, and it has remained a relevant strategy for marking the end of the workday. His method involves a consistent sequence of actions: reviewing the task list, noting unfinished items, and briefly planning for the next day. He then verbalizes a fixed phrase to signal that the workday is complete.

A modern adaptation of this ritual can be enhanced with AI. At the end of the day, you can list all pending items—an unreturned phone call, an unresolved decision—and ask an AI tool to categorize them into priorities: those that require immediate attention the next morning and those that can wait. This process provides a single, clear starting point for the following day, eliminating the need to spend time in the morning trying to recall where you left off.

Before integrating AI into this workflow, there was a belief that existing systems were already maximizing efficiency. However, using a few simple prompts can reveal that this is not always the case. A calendar organized with AI assistance can feel significantly less cluttered, freeing up more time than previously thought possible. While this approach may not lead to writing 2,000 words a day like Stephen King or achieving a Nobel Prize like Marie Curie, it does provide the confidence that time is being used wisely—which is a worthwhile goal in itself.