We hear it everywhere: AI is going to make our work easier. It takes over the boring tasks, automates the routine and gives us time back. But anyone who has dived deep into the world of generative AI over the past few months notices a strange paradox. We are more productive than ever, yet by the end of the day we are also more exhausted than ever.
It is a new danger quietly creeping into our working life. And if we are not careful, we burn out at a pace as exponential as the technology itself.
The rise of the ‘digital colleague’
We welcomed AI with open arms as the ideal digital employee. It processes data, structures complex reports, writes code snippets and handles standard emails. The result? A large part of our work, the operational, repetitive part, is being automated.
On paper this is a blessing. In practice, however, it is the start of an enormous shift in our mental load.
From time-intensive to energy-intensive work
A working day used to consist of a mix of tasks. Yes, there were complex jobs in there, but also filler tasks. Retyping data or answering simple emails took time, but it demanded little of our brain. Those were moments when our mental battery could recover for a while on autopilot.
What remains after the AI revolution is the essence of our human craftsmanship:
- Decision-making under uncertainty.
- Judgement based on nuance and ethics.
- Creativity that challenges the status quo.
- Strategic depth and long-term vision.
This type of work is cognitive top sport. And here lies the heart of the problem: you cannot perform at the very highest level for 8 to 10 hours a day, 5 to 6 days a week. Your brain simply has a limit to the amount of judgement it can deliver per day.
The creeping cocktail of FOMO and brain fry
As the intensity of our work increases, the rest decreases. We are confronted with a constant stream of new tools, updates and best practices. The fear of falling behind forces us to keep reading and experimenting even in our free time.
It creeps in quietly. Because your output is rising and you are having great ideas, it feels as if you are doing fantastically well. But under the bonnet your mental battery is draining. We also call it brain fry: the pinball machine in your head that will not come to rest, keeping you busy solving complex puzzles even at night.
The need for a protective layer
If we want to deploy AI sustainably, we need to develop a protective layer. Not only for ourselves as professionals, but also within our organisations. We have to acknowledge that the nature of our work has changed from a marathon on a flat course to a succession of sprints up a steep hill.
What does such a protective layer involve?
- Rethink: deliberately choose which tasks we do not do, even if AI can speed them up for us. Not everything that can be done, should be done.
- Cognitive frameworks: accept that after a number of hours of deep, strategic work we are done. Human productivity is no longer measured in hours, but in the quality of the decisions.
- Analogue anchors: deliberately go offline to give the brain a chance to process information without new stimuli.
- Ownership: take back control over your diary and your attention. AI is the tool, you are the craftsman who decides when the tool is put down.
Conclusion
At Rescope we believe that AI adoption is only truly successful when human ownership is at the centre. The technology is ready to accelerate, but are we ready to move along with it in a healthy way?
It is time to build not only our processes, but also our mental resilience. Let us use AI to become more human, not to become a machine that is never switched off.