Getting Back to Work in 2023: AI Tools to Help You Work Smarter, Not Harder

It's a new year and you're feeling the pressure to get back to work and hit the ground running. As we begrudgingly move into the new year and try to shake off those post-holiday blues, it can be tough finding the energy and motivation to get back into the working groove. We've all been there, sleepily moving through our days, counting down the time until we can crawl back into bed.  For many of us, the post-holiday blues can seriously zap our motivation and energy.

So how can we possibly rev up our engines and get back to work?

Social Media is filled with fit, beautiful, and highly polished influencers hocking all the generic, new year’s tips you can eat:

• Set measurable and attainable goals. Rather than fixating on the entire year ahead, focus on one day at a time. Breaking down your goals into smaller, more manageable chunks will help you stay motivated and celebrate every success, no matter how small.
• Move your body. Sitting still all day isn't doing you any favors when it comes to productivity. Take walks, hit the gym, or just take a stretch break every now and then. It doesn't have to be much, but it can go a long way in waking you up and improving your mood.
• Feed your brain. Eating healthy foods and staying hydrated will help keep your mind sharp and focused. Skipping meals or relying on caffeine to power through long days will only leave you feeling burned out and unproductive.
• Get plenty of sleep….
• The list goes on. Mostly reminding me of all the things I started last year and that I stopped by Jan 15.

The beginning of the year can be a perfect time to make some changes and discover new ways to do things. With the help of the latest Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools, you can save energy and get ahead - giving you the fuel you need to get back on the field. In this blog, I’ll be discussing tips on how to find tools that won’t just help you survive another year, but thrive. Let’s get started!

One way to save energy and increase productivity is by using AI tools to offload repetitive work. For example, AI-powered virtual assistants can handle tasks like scheduling, and emails, freeing up your time and mental energy for more important tasks. They can help us streamline our days, automate tasks, and prioritize our time for optimal productivity.  Here are a few examples:

•  Jasper is an AI tool that helps you automate your blog posts and articles. It can write content for you at scale so that you can focus on other aspects of your business. Jasper allows content creators to focus on what they’re good at – coming up with ideas and being creative.
•  Copy.ai is an AI tool that helps you generate creative and engaging copy for your marketing, sales, or social media campaigns. It can write headlines, slogans, captions, emails, and more. You can simply enter your topic, audience, and tone, and Copy.ai will generate multiple suggestions for you to choose from or edit as you wish.
•  Calendly - This tool allows you to schedule appointments and meetings with clients and team members by providing a link to your calendar availability.
•  Futurenda – This is an AI tool that helps you plan and schedule your tasks and appointments. It can help you prioritize your tasks, estimate your time, and balance your workload. It can also help you sync your tasks with your calendar, and adjust your schedule automatically based on your preferences and availability. Futurenda uses AI to create a personalized and realistic plan for you, and to help you achieve your goals and deadlines.
•  Outlook - Outlook provides you with MyAnalytics, a dashboard that shows you how you spend your time and how you can improve your productivity and well-being. MyAnalytics uses AI to analyze your email and calendar data, and to provide you with insights and suggestions, such as how to reduce distractions, manage stress, and achieve work-life balance.

 AI-powered project management tools can also help you stay organized and on track, minimizing the energy it takes to stay on top of your workload. They can manage workflow, assign tasks, and keep everyone on the same page.

•   ClickUp - lets you manage your projects, tasks, time, and collaboration. It uses AI to automate workflows, integrate with other apps, customize your workspace, and provide voice assistance. ClickUp also has a Chrome extension, an email add-on, and a smartphone app for easy access.
•  Socrates – This AI-driven task management platform provides a virtual assistant that helps you prioritize and manage your tasks, get instant feedback, and troubleshoot potential roadblocks.
•  ProjectPlanner.ai - an AI-powered system that automates many of the typical tasks required in project management, such as task scheduling, resource allocation, budgeting estimation and tracking, issue identification, and risk management. It also makes it easier to collaborate with team members and use data to find better solutions faster.
•  Microsoft Teams - Microsoft Teams is a collaboration platform that allows you to communicate with your team, manage projects and tasks, and integrate with other tools and apps. Microsoft Teams includes a variety of communication tools, including chat, video and audio calls, and file sharing, which can help you stay connected with your team and collaborate on projects. It can also can be integrated with a wide range of other tools and apps, including Office 365, Trello, Asana, and many others. This can help you streamline your workflow and manage all of your tools and tasks in one place.

AI can also assist us with analytics, monitoring our progress and performance data, so we can fine-tune our processes, identify bottlenecks, and make necessary improvements.

•  Zephyr Health- This AI-driven analytics platform helps you monitor and analyze your organization's performance, helping you quickly identify bottlenecks and uncover opportunities for improvement.
•  Ahrefs - This SEO and online marketing platform also offers performance monitoring tools, allowing you to monitor your website traffic, analyze your competitors, and refine your strategies.
•  SurferSEO - This is an AI tool that helps you optimize your website and content for search engines. It can help you analyze your competitors, keywords, and ranking factors. It can also help you write SEO-friendly content that matches the search intent and user expectations. SurferSEO uses AI to provide you with data-driven insights and suggestions to improve your SEO performance.
• Microsoft Editor - Editor is a writing assistant that uses AI to help you improve your grammar, spelling, punctuation, and style. It also helps you avoid plagiarism, enhance your vocabulary, and tailor your tone to your audience. It can also provide you with feedback and suggestions to improve your writing skills. You can download it as a web extension or use it natively as part of Word, Outlook, Edge and PowerPoint.
•   Clarity - This is a relatively newer website analytics tool that lets you see how visitors interact with your website. It can track and analyze your website's performance, identify potential issues, and make optimizations based on real user data.

Finally, don't be afraid to delegate tasks or ask for help. It takes energy to try and do everything on your own, and sometimes it's just not possible. By sharing the workload, you'll have more energy to focus on what you do best.

The list of tools above is far from exhaustive. So many new AI tools are popping up every day.  Hopefully, some of these new tools will help you change the way you used to do things, saving time, and saving energy as a result.  Don't be afraid to get creative and try out different strategies to see what works best for you. And remember, it's okay to take breaks and recharge – your energy levels (and productivity) will thank you for it.