In defence of slowing down: what the small tasks teach us
Date published:
By Jessie Kelly-Baxter, policy manager
At a recent event on Artificial Intelligence (AI), one theme kept coming up: AI excels at the jobs that weigh us down. It can summarise reports, draft first versions of documents, and turn messy meeting minutes into something coherent. In short, it clears the routine work so we can focus on higher-level thinking, creativity and decision-making.
It is an exciting vision, and hard not to cheer for. Who wouldn’t want more time back?
And yet, the small, repetitive tasks we are so eager to hand over are often where the real magic happens.
I come from a research background, and my current role still involves hours of reading white papers, dissecting green papers and working through research articles. I take notes, scribble margins and draft insights. These activities are not filler; they are the process that deepens understanding and sharpens ideas. The very effort of wrestling with the material often brings clarity that shortcuts cannot.
As a researcher, I have spent countless hours painfully transcribing interviews word for word. I have also stared at a blank page, paralysed by writer’s block, wishing someone or something could just get me started. Today, AI can erase both frustrations in seconds, and that is extraordinary. But I have long recognised that this slow, frustrating work, the notes, the drafts, the false starts, is a vital part of the thinking process. With AI advancing so quickly, the risk is that we lose sight of these benefits. The challenge is to keep hold of the reflective, immersive parts of work even as technology accelerates everything else.
Of course, my perspective is shaped by my own role. In many other sectors, including small businesses that are constantly strapped for time, AI is not just convenient; it is transformative. In healthcare, law, finance, engineering and manufacturing, tasks that once consumed hours can now be completed in moments, freeing professionals to focus on decisions, analysis, innovation and human connection in ways that were previously impossible.
The future of work, then, is not about eliminating small tasks. It is about balance. AI can take away the work that drains our energy, but it also asks us to pause and consider: when is speed the right answer, and when might slowing down help us think more deeply?
So here is to AI, and here is to the small tasks, the pauses, the frustrations, even the occasional bout of writer’s block. Because the work that matters is not always the fastest or the sleekest. Sometimes it is the slower, steadier path that makes the end result stronger.