The AI Tools That Save Me 20 Hours a Week

This Week

Ever felt crushed by the pressure to do more with less?

I asked that question to 200 travel industry executives last week. Every single hand went up.

A few years ago, mine would’ve been first. I was juggling budgets, client calls, projects, even IT support and barely keeping my agency afloat. 

Every new client came with a side order of panic:
“How am I going to get this done?”
 “What if the work isn’t good enough?”

Then I started treating AI like my copilot. Suddenly, I wasn’t alone.

• It brainstormed campaign ideas

• Drafted headlines and emails

• Turned call transcripts into proposals

Now when a new project lands on my desk, I don’t feel dread.

I feel ready.

With AI at my side, I move three times faster while still taking a proper lunch break and shutting down at 5pm (sometimes even 3!).

Want to know how I do it?

I’ve road-tested a ridiculous number of AI tools. Most were forgettable, but four of them stuck and they’ve saved me more time (and sanity) than I thought possible.

Read on to see what they are.

Finally, an AI Email Tool That Doesn’t Waste My Time

I've tried every AI email tool under the sun. Most of them talked a big game, saving time, crushing clutter, inbox zero, but none delivered.

Until I tried Shortwave.

I didn’t have to read a help doc, it didn’t create 57 new folders, and I didn’t roll my eyes when talking to the built-in chatbot.

Here’s why I’m sticking with it:

• Setup takes minutes. I was up and running with just a few button clicks.

• It organizes your inbox automatically. It sorts important messages, prioritize threads, and groups related emails. It’s basically self-cleaning.
  

• It’s helpful. It summarizes long threads, turns emails into task lists (with labels and priorities), and can suggest meeting times based on your calendar availability (this one saves so much time!). It will even offer to unsubscribe from newsletters you’re no longer reading.

• The chatbot has a personality. It’s just cheeky enough to make answering emails feel less like a chore.

That said, it's not perfect.

You still have to click “Send” yourself (which breaks the flow a bit), and I’ve hit a few bumps along the way—like errors trying to drop a draft into an existing thread and some hiccups creating new labels.

Also, if you’re an Outlook user, you’re out of luck—it only works with Gmail. That said, the founder has promised Outlook is on the roadmap and coming soon.

If your inbox is like the heart of the jungle, Shortwave may be the answer. You can get started for $24/month. 

 👉 Check out Shortwave

The AI That Knows Where Everything Is

I’m constantly losing time hunting for stuff I know exists somewhere—an email, a doc, a meeting note. Digging through inboxes, Slack threads, and Google Drive is maddening.

That’s why Littlebird hooked me.

I couldn’t remember the date of a project kickoff, and instead of spending 15 minutes clicking around, I just asked. Seconds later, it gave me the exact date and the doc. No digging or wasted time.

That’s the essence of Littlebird: it helps you find things, organizes your day and keeps you on track. It’s like having a personal assistant that’s ready to help the second you ask.

How does it pull this off?

Littlebird runs quietly in the background, weaving together what it learns from your apps, emails, calendars, and notes to build a deep understanding of how you work.

From there, it delivers smart updates, like surfacing the right document at the right time, auto-updating your task list, or generating a daily journal without you lifting a finger.

You can also set up Routines—automated tasks, reminders or reports that drop into your inbox on schedule. I have one that sends me a weekly summary of projects, tasks and goals at 4:45pm on Friday (you could do the same and then send it on to your boss). It’s a great way to stay on track and know what you’ve accomplished for the week.

It’s worth calling out a few limitations.

Littlebird is still in beta, and the integrations are lightweight right now, so if you’re expecting it to plug seamlessly into Slack, Asana, or a dozen other platforms, you may be disappointed. I’ve also noticed the occasional hiccup as the product matures, which is to be expected at this stage.

The bigger consideration is privacy.

For Littlebird to be genuinely useful, it needs access to your digital environment, which means collecting and storing meaningful data about your work in the cloud. The team is upfront about this: they’re SOC 2 in progress, use best-in-class security practices, and give you full control to see, manage, or delete your data.

You can also temporarily stop it from seeing your screen at any time. You just select the "Pause Context Collection" when working with sensitive information. Still, if you require absolute, local-only data privacy where nothing leaves your device, this might not be the right fit…at least not yet.

But for me, it’s already saving time. I just wish it could find my keys in the morning.

 👉 Try Little Bird

The AI That Proofreads So I Don’t Have To

I think of Grammarly as the co-worker who never gets tired of fixing my mistakes.

The magic of Grammarly is that it’s built into my work flows. Whether I’m drafting in Google Docs, editing in Canva, or polishing in Word, it’s right there. I don’t have to copy-paste into yet another platform.

And it’s more than just spelling and commas. The coaching feels like a real-time writing mentor—suggesting when I’m too wordy, catching my bad habits, and helping me polish my sentences. It’s even got plagiarism and AI copy detection built in, which is super helpful when you’re working with LLMs to create content.

The weekly reports are a great motivator too. Seeing my streak, word count, or even the “tone breakdown” of my writing has nudged me to keep improving.

That said, it’s not perfect.

The little Grammarly button has an annoying habit of covering up action buttons in certain apps, so I’ve found myself turning it off more than once. And while the free version is solid, the full experience (advanced tone, clarity, plagiarism checks) sits behind the $12/month Pro plan.

👉 Try Grammarly

What If Meeting Notes Weren’t Awful?

Do you groan when someone shares meeting notes, knowing you’ll be stuck wading through 30 minutes of filler just to find the two things you care about?

That’s why I love Granola. 

Unlike other AI note-takers, it doesn’t dump a novel on you.

It’s incredibly accurate and somehow knows what matters. The summaries cut straight to the decisions, action items, and key discussion points—without telling me who just got back from vacation or what someone’s dog did over the weekend. This stuff is fun for the meeting, but do you really need it memorialized forever in the notes?

I love that it sits quietly in the background. No constant “let me in?” pop-ups during calls. That said, I always let people know it’s running and ask permission.

What makes Granola really stand out:

• You can jot notes inside Granola as it transcribes, and they’ll be polished and woven right into the final summary.
  

• Garbled half-thoughts? It cleans them up automatically.
  

• Need a follow-up email or a shorter version of the notes? Ask the built in chatbot.
  

• Sharing is seamless, you can push notes directly to Slack, email, or just send a link.

• Want to know how to improve your communication style or meeting flow? Ask Granola Chat and it will give you spot on advice.

It never slows down my computer, it’s simple to set up and it doesn’t use your data to train its models.

A few downsides: it only works on Mac and Google Workspace for now (Outlook and Android are on the waitlist), and it doesn’t record video. If you need the actual meeting footage, a tool like Otter.ai might be a better fit.

For me though, Granola has nailed the sweet spot: clean, actionable meeting notes without the fluff.

👉 Check out Granola

I Need YOUR Recommendations

I’ve been sharing the tools that keep me sane, but I know you’ve got your own tricks. I want to hear them.

What’s the productivity tool you swear by? And bonus points if you’ve cracked the code on project management with AI. I’ve been running everything out of Notion. It does the job, but its AI isn’t cutting it for me. If you’ve found something better, hit reply and let me know. 

And while you’re at it, tell me what you’d like me to cover next!

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