Lately #003: Saving Time with AI, Paradise on a Treadmill, and What Comes Next

The last few weeks in my world have been equal parts chaotic and calm. Life's in a bit of a transition right now, but the chaos has had a lot of the "good stuff" mixed-in. More time with my kids, more space to think and reflect, and more things on my honey-do list than I anticipated (but we'll get to that).

All that to say: here's what I've been into Lately.

ICYMI — Lately #002: The "Substack Tax," iOS Shortcuts, and a New AI Assistant »

Reading: Is AI actually saving us time?

One of my favorite newsletters, contentfolks from fio D., is a great monthly read (not just for content marketers, but all marketers).

One of the more recent editions took aim at the idea that, when it comes to content marketing specifically, AI is some magical, constant time-saving unlock.

The argument, backed up with three specific examples, rests on the fact that outputs usually look right, and that's ultimately as much of a problem as it is a solution. Whether it's a CSV analysis that dropped some rows from its interpretations or a statistic that looked clean but was wildly outdated, each of these "blips," when looked at as a whole, start to become more of a worrisome pattern.

I've used AI a ton, as I've noted. Mostly, for me, it's a creative thinking partner, a sounding board, or a way to work through writer's block. But beyond the general malaise around feeds filled with "AI slop," I'm also talking to a lot of other content marketers who are feeling the same friction fio touches on in the newsletter: is this actually saving us time?

To be totally up front in my personal usage, I'm not sure it always does. I'm a relatively fast writer. By the time I've prompted, re-prompted, edited, fact-checked, and verified? I probably could've just had a really strong first draft out the door (with a couple of review cycles, to boot).

There's also the critical learnings that come from feedback cycles. As I noted in a response on one of fio's posts on LinkedIn, I've always found the review-and-iteration process to be wildly insightful, especially in my early days. Something I think we're losing in this new AI-focused world of content.

Watching: Paradise on a treadmill

I have a rule I try to abide by to get myself moving: if there's a show I'm excited about, I'm only allowed to watch it while on the treadmill.

The idea is that it keeps me active (something I struggle to prioritize among everything else going on in life) while also curbing the potential of binge-watching. The side effect, though, is that workout consistency has been hard in recent months, which is why it took me so long to get to season two of Paradise on Hulu.

If you haven't watched it and you're into post-apocalyptic thrillers, give it a go. Granted, season two hasn't quite held my attention the same way season one did, but it's still a good watch. And my steps are up, so that's worth something.

Using: The app organizing my brain

I've been a productivity app nerd for a while. There's just something I enjoy about checking out the latest task manager or calendar app and diving into the look and feel.

Todoist has been a day-one staple that — even when there's a new task manager on the App Store to try — I always end up coming back to in an effort to keep my brain organizing.

Part of this is how I've built my personal systems and routines within it over time. At this point, everything runs through it: morning routines, meal planning, budgeting, etc. It's not glamorous, but it's organized in a way that best fits my brain.

Another reason I've been a Todoist evangelist for years (and whenever I try another app, is the main thing that keeps me coming back) is the app's natural language processing. The ease of typing "Curate next edition of Lately tom 2p #Lately p1" and it automatically assigning it to the correct day, time, project, and priority is absolutely lovely.

The team is also working on some really exciting new updates that have made it all the better. They've introduced Ramble (think voice mode), an MCP so that I can connect it to Claude, and goals, which I'm finding to be a good use case for my brain. Highly recommend it if you're task-oriented, like me, and looking for a reliable tool to add to your stack.

Wild Card: Building what's next

A few weeks ago, I wrapped up my time as Socure's Head of Content.

I've decided to take a little time to exhale before diving into what's next — spending some extra time with my kids, enjoying the ability to not always be "on" and checking Slack, and resisting the urge to fill every quiet moment with something productive.

But I am allowing myself to do some thinking. Not just about what my next role might be (though that's happening, too), but also what I actually want to be doing. Taking some time to reflect on what my last decade in content marketing looked like while simultaneously thinking about what I want to do with the next one. The work I want to do, what I want to build, and maybe most importantly, who I want to be doing it for.

Part of that keeps pulling me toward doing something of my own. I've been self-employed before and loved a lot of it. The autonomy, the variety, and the ownership over the work and creative outputs is incredibly refreshing.

And the need for broader content support (whether full-time, fractional, or freelance) seems to be there. There's a throughline in a lot of the marketing conversations I've had lately: how do we balance the human side of storytelling with writing for the robots? And for the brands going all-in on AI-generated content — how do we build the right foundation so the outputs don't read like they came from a robot?

There's so much to figure out right now at every level of life, and I'm not racing to do it all at once. But it's all definitely top-of-mind as I think about what's next.

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That's Lately #003. If something resonated — or you've got a business idea, away to get rich quick, or something worth sharing — hit me up at hello@joetacosik.com or on LinkedIn.

Talk soon!