Welcome to the Repair Shop.
Most career advice is about adding more. More habits, more apps, more meetings.
I believe in subtraction. Remove the friction. Remove the decision fatigue. Remove the amateur mistakes.
Here are 3 fixes to repair your daily operations.
1. The Work Fix: The "Echo" Technique
The Signal You need help from a busy expert (or your boss), but you are afraid of annoying them. You worry that asking questions makes you look incompetent, so you waste hours trying to figure it out yourself.
The Insight Experts rarely get annoyed by questions. They get annoyed by laziness.
When you ask a naked, open-ended question ("How do I do this?"), you are demanding they do the mental labor for you. This triggers their defense mechanism because you are assigning them homework.
The Fix Never ask a naked question. Wrap it in an "Echo." State what you think is true, then ask for verification.
Bad: "How does this client report work?"
Good: "I assume this report pulls from Q3 data but excludes the October merger numbers. Is that right?"
This proves you did your homework. It changes the interaction from "Teaching" (High Effort) to "Correcting" (Low Effort). People love correcting others; use that to your advantage.
2. The Body Fix: Your Lunch Ritual is a Trap
The Signal Your "break" is actually a stressor. You spend 15 minutes debating where to eat, 20 minutes standing in a loud queue, and the rest of the afternoon fighting brain fog. You return to your desk more tired than when you left.
The Insight You are suffering from a double-hit: Decision Fatigue and Biological Sedation.
The Logistics: The mental energy you spend navigating the "Lunch Rush" (crowds, noise, choices) drains the willpower you need for deep work in the afternoon.
The Biology: Most office lunches (sandwiches, pasta, fast casual) are carb-heavy. This causes a massive glucose spike, followed by an insulin crash that sedates you by 2:30 PM.
The Fix Treat lunch as fuel, not entertainment.
Automate the Logistics: Stop "deciding" every day. Pick one reliable spot where you can pre-order or skip the line. If you meal prep, eat the same thing M-F. Boring is efficient.
The Protocol: High Protein, Medium Fat, Low Carb.
The Result: You reclaim 30 minutes of quiet time and bypass the afternoon crash entirely.
3. The AI Fix: Stop Asking for Answers
The Signal You use ChatGPT like Google. You ask it a question, it gives a generic answer, and you move on. You feel like AI is "overhyped" because the output feels average.
The Insight LLMs (Large Language Models) are average at creating, but they are world-class at critiquing. The biggest value unlock isn't getting AI to write your work; it's getting AI to tear your work apart before your boss does.
The Fix Use the "Roast" Persona. Paste your important email draft, project plan, or strategy into ChatGPT and use this specific prompt:
"Act as a skeptical senior executive. Review this text. Don't rewrite it. Instead, list the 3 biggest logical holes or weak points in my argument."
It will find the gaps you missed because you were too close to the work.
The Quick Fix (Speed Round)
Tech: Press
Windows + V(Windows 10+). It opens your Clipboard History, showing the last 20 things you copied, not just the last one. This saves about 15 minutes a week.Health: The 20-20-20 Rule. Every 20 minutes, look at something 20 feet away for 20 seconds. It physically resets the ciliary muscles in your eyes to prevent headaches.
Tool: Unhook (Chrome Extension). It removes the "Recommended Videos" sidebar on YouTube so you can watch the one tutorial you need without falling down a rabbit hole.
See you next Sunday.
— The Editor