Building Personal AI Workflows
Design custom AI workflows for your specific role and recurring tasks — turning AI tools into a personal productivity system.
From Tools to Systems
Individual AI tools are powerful. But a connected system of tools — each handling what it does best, with outputs flowing into the next step — multiplies productivity. This lesson is about designing that system for your specific work.
Mapping Your Recurring Tasks
Start by listing your top 10 most time-consuming recurring tasks. For each one, ask:
- What information does this task require?
- What's the desired output?
- Which AI tool is best suited for each step?
- Can any step be automated?
Example: Weekly Competitive Brief
Manual process: 3 hours/week browsing competitor sites, news, LinkedIn.
AI workflow:
- Perplexity API: Pull competitor news (automated, weekly)
- Claude: Synthesize into "what changed and why it matters"
- n8n: Format and distribute to Slack
Result: 10 minutes of review vs 3 hours of research.
Example: Proposal Writing
Manual process: 4 hours per proposal.
AI workflow:
- Template prompt to Claude: "Write a first draft of this proposal given [client context]"
- Human review: Edit for accuracy and voice (30 min)
- Claude: Polish and consistency check
- Human: Final review and send
Result: 1.5 hours vs 4 hours, better consistency.
Automation Platforms
n8n — Open-source workflow automation. Connect any API. Best for developers.
Make (formerly Integromat) — Visual workflow builder. Best for non-coders.
Zapier — Easiest to start with, most integrations, highest cost at scale.
Starting Simple
Don't try to automate everything at once. Pick the single highest-leverage recurring task, automate it, and learn from that experience. Then automate the next one.
After 6 months of this approach, you'll have a custom productivity system that compounds — each automated workflow gives you more time to build the next one.
The ROI Calculation
For each potential workflow:
- How many hours does the manual process take per month?
- How many hours to build the automation?
- Break-even point (build time divided by monthly savings)
Build automations with under 3 month break-even first. This creates a habit and demonstrates ROI before investing in more complex systems.