I Tried to Procrastinate This Morning, But Claude Wouldn't Let Me.
5 surprisingly useful ways AI helps me get out of my own way.
āYou lack priorities, not information. Problems are easy to solve if you know what youāre after.ā
This is a quote from Alex Hormozi that sent me straight into classic creator procrastination this morning.
Having been doomscrolling through LinkedIn yesterday I broke a cardinal rule and left the app open on my computer so that quote was the first thing I saw when I opened my laptop this morning. š (Note to self - close all apps before bed!)
So, fresh cup of tea in hand, I went straight to Claude.
āRight Claudeā, I determinedly typed, āletās just run through my strategy and plan for the rest of the year to make sure Iāve really got my priorities nailed.ā
Claude pushed back:
āYou donāt have a plan problem.ā It said.
āYou already have the plan. You named it, you stress-tested it, you locked it in May. So why are you here again asking for another version?ā
It then listed my plan back to me, (the one that Iād already committed to during my last creator procrastination session.)
Then it said:
āWhen your brain gets overwhelmed, it reaches for replanning instead of executing. A fresh plan feels like progress and costs almost no energy, which is exactly why itās so tempting. The hunt for the perfect plan is your avoidance. No plan will ever feel final and absolute enough, because finality isnāt a feature of the plan, itās a decision you make and then defend.ā
I was rumbled (and a little relieved).
Two hours of āplanningā was about to disappear into a black hole, and the work I needed to do wouldnāt have got done.
Instead, here I am, writing this post.
Which got me thinking. I see a lot of posts about how to use AI as a writing assistant. Generate posts, outline articles, draft emails, etc. But the real magic isnāt asking AI to write for you. Itās using it to help you show up better.
Here are 5 ways Iām using AI to get more done, day-to-day:
1. Holding Me Accountable
This is the one that just earned its keep this morning. Iāve uploaded a doc to Claude with my goals, my rules, my one thing. Now when I open a session and start drifting (replanning whatās already planned, or chasing something shiny), it calls me out.
AI has become known as a yes-machine. And yes, push it hard enough and it will generally agree with everything you tell it. But if you give it explicit permission to tell you No, it will agree to that also!
Try this: open a text file or note, write down your three most important commitments and goals, plus a line that says āIf I come back here asking to replan, re-strategise, or refocus anything youāve already helped me lock in - push back. Donāt let me waste my energy.ā
Save it as a .txt or .pdf. Upload it to Claude or ChatGPT. Let it do its job.
2. Voice-to-Page Without Sitting at a Desk
This post youāre reading right now? I typed very little of it.
I dictated the whole thing into an app called Letterly, which transcribes my voice into text. Then I paste the transcript into Claude and ask it to turn my dictation into a structured article.
And because the words are mine, spoken in my voice, the draft comes out sounding almost exactly like me. I then go in, strip out any AI-isms (the āitās not this, itās thatā patterns, extra words it sneakily adds), and whatās left is a post thatās properly mine, written in a fraction of the time. (see what I did there š)
Super useful when Iām travelling and canāt always have the laptop perfectly balanced on my lap.
3. As a Thinking Partner
This one is probably the one that covers the most ground for me on a daily basis. (Being the over thinker I am)
Sometimes I have a few ideas about a post but Iām not sure which angle to come at it from. Iāll throw them into Claude and ask for a few possible angles, hooks, or opening lines.
I almost never use any of them as-is. But seeing them on the page breaks what I call āblank page syndromeā. Suddenly I can see which ones donāt work, which means I can see what the right angle actually is.
Also if Iāve got an opinion brewing but canāt quite articulate what it is, or Iām wrestling with a decision Iām not ready to name out loud yet, talking it through with Claude, getting it to ask clarifying questions, and helping me to process my thoughts, can clear my menopausal fog.
None of this is AI writing for me. Itās AI helping me to untangle the thoughts in my brain.
4. Compressing Research
You know how we say āwhat did we do before google maps?ā when we expertly navigate our way somewhere new. (Just me?)
Well, thatās what I now say about AI when it gives me the names, dates, and historical perspective when Iām writing a more complex travel post, or helps me work through a new tax rule, or even work out how a new platform feature works (although ChatGPT regularly gets new features wrong - Gemini is far superior for that task!)
Before AI, Iād lose two hours to Google or YouTube, have tabs open everywhere, and be reading half-relevant articles, or forum threads from 2019.
Now I ask Claude or ChatGPT (or Gemini) and 5 minutes later I have instructions, or a summary, or a table or whatever I need.
If youāre not using the photo feature yet then try this: next time the smart tv stops being so smart or the washing machine throws up an error message, just flick open ChatGPT, take a photo and say ātell me what to doā. Boom.
Itās like Google Maps for figuring stuff out.
5. Reading Your Stats Back to You
This one, done well is a bit of a goldmine. (But can also be a time suck so use wisely).
Most of us collect data but never really interpret it. Open rates, click-throughs, post views, sales numbers, subscriber growth. We glance, we feel briefly good or briefly anxious, and we move on.
AI is excellent at the interpret layer. Paste in your last month of post stats (or sales data, or engagement metrics) and ask it to find the patterns.
Which posts or notes performed best?
What do the top three have in common?
Whereās the gap between people opening and people actually reading?
I did this with my Substack stats recently and Claude spotted that posts with personal anecdotes in the first 50 words consistently outperformed the ones that started with a broader observation. Hence most of my posts now start with a personal anecdote.
How Are You Using AI?
So theyāre the main ways Iām using AI on a daily basis. Iām sure I use it in plenty of other ways too, but those are the ones that come to mind right now.
If youāre using AI in ways I havenāt mentioned, let me know in the comments. Iām always curious whatās working for other people.
Right. Iām off to do some more tasks Claude wouldnāt let me put off this morning, before heading for a pool afternoon with my daughter!
Have a great Monday.
š Vegas, baby! š°




I love Claude. Itās hilariously mumsy!