I believe in AI. But my AI assistant gave me more work than it could finish

I opened my daily to-do list and found 156 items.

“Daily” was doing some ambitious work in that sentence.

I’m a writer, publisher and entrepreneur.

I expect a certain amount of chaos.

There are manuscripts, emails, projects, follow-ups and the occasional administrative mystery that arrives disguised as a perfectly ordinary Tuesday.

Still, 156 items suggested that my productivity system had developed career ambitions of its own.

It was building a department.

Soon it would need an org chart.

Some of the work was already underway.

Some items overlapped.

Some were reminders about other reminders.

Tasks that belonged together had become separate obligations, each carrying the emotional weight of an unfinished thing.

I had asked for help getting work done.

I was getting very good at maintaining evidence that work existed.