Forget the complicated frameworks. The most useful approach to artificial intelligence in your job comes down to asking yourself just three things, each with three answers.
Start by naming the three most important priorities in your role, ranked by impact. What does success actually look like for you right now? Be specific about the hierarchy. Next, identify three tasks you suspect shouldn't be on your plate at all. These are the things that feel obligatory but seem wasteful, outdated, or better handled a different way. Finally, pinpoint three things AI could handle better than you, especially the work that would multiply your output if a machine took it over.
That's nine answers total. Simple math, serious clarity.
Run this exercise and you hit one of two outcomes. At minimum, you force a conversation with your manager about what truly matters versus what just feels urgent. Walking out of that talk, everyone knows what the priorities actually are. No confusion. No wasted motion.
Better yet, you cut the busywork entirely and redirect your day toward work that only a human can do. The AI handles the grunt tasks that were eating your calendar. You get your time back. Your output jumps.
This framework arrives as companies scramble to figure out how AI fits into existing workflows. The temptation is to bolt AI onto whatever you're already doing. Instead, the smarter move is to use AI as a lens to rethink what you're doing at all. Kill the stuff that never mattered. Double down on what does. Let machines handle the rest.
The beauty of this three-question structure is that it works regardless of your title or the size of your company. A junior staffer uses it the same way a department head does. The specifics will differ, but the method stays intact. It's asking you to think, not asking AI to think for you.
The exercise also surfaces misalignment fast. If you and your boss answer these questions differently, you've just found the real problem in your working relationship. That clarity alone could reshape how you spend your time.
Try it this week. Don't overthink it. Just write down your nine answers and see what shifts.
Author James Rodriguez: "This is the kind of practical tool that should've existed years ago, but AI finally gives us a reason to actually use it."
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