I've been thinking a lot about automation and AI Agents lately due to the amount of scattered information I seem to have accumulated over the years. Google Docs, Notion Folders, 10 years worth of Gmail, Calendar, and an out-of-control Dropbox folder… the list goes on.

This week I got ChatGPT to do a ‘deep research’ of old issues of The Brief (2016-2019 we worked on individual Google docs) and not only was it a great trip down memory lane, it was also a re-education in some of the topics we were talking about, some evergreen, some not so much. (With a side salad of …”how did we get away with saying some of the things we did!!”)

Broad studies (IDC, McKinsey) paint a reasonable picture of how searching through that stuff contributes to productive time lost: the average professional spends almost two full workdays each week on low-value busywork. Document hunting – roughly nine hours – and email triage – about 13 hours – add up to 22 hours that aren’t directly dollar productive. While these figures come from cross-industry research rather than a real estate-specific census, they serve as solid benchmarks for understanding where our time is spent.

Now that tools like Claude and ChatGPT can integrate directly into our emails, calendars, and document storage, help could be at hand… (and I say could because there are likely privacy issues you would need to navigate)…

But once you have navigated any internal concerns and have a firm AI policy in place, here are some ideas on using these features to help you become more productive.

Imagine having a personal analyst who can review multiple property documents simultaneously and provide you with critical insights, such as risky contract clauses, market trends, settlement deadlines, and potential red flags – all in seconds.

Here's how to set it up:

Your Google Calendar already knows exactly how you spend your time—now make it work harder for your bottom line.

Start tagging your meetings with keywords like #buyer, #seller, and #admin, and connect them with AI to gain insights that directly impact your income.

You could take this calendar idea even further - set up a tool like ChatGPT's Operator to send you a report every Friday. This data becomes invaluable for:

Email integration might transform your Gmail from a source of stress into a strategic advantage.

Result: A prioritised list of 3-4 critical items, allowing you to tackle high-impact tasks first.

Before meeting the Chang family:

Benefit: Walk into every client meeting fully prepared, demonstrating professionalism and attention to detail.

When a complex enquiry arrives:

Time Saved: Receive a polished draft that requires minimal editing.

Be like the great Bob Wolff and plan your tomorrow before finishing your today:

Result: Start tomorrow with a clear action plan instead of reacting to emails.

The short answer is yes, but only if you're strategic about implementation.

And… here’s the reality check: you won't save 2 hours on day one. Like any system change, there's a learning curve. You'll spend the first week figuring out which prompts work best for your business, the second week refining your processes, and by the third week, you'll start seeing real-time savings.

But here's what makes it worthwhile – those saved hours don't just disappear into thin air. They get redistributed to the activities that actually grow your business:

The possibilities are endless when you think AI first.

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