AI, KITT, and the 15 Minutes Before the Work Starts

Sometimes I think about Michael Knight (remember Knight Rider?) stuck in traffic on the way to lunch, white-knuckling the steering wheel while KITT sits there. Fully capable. Waiting to be asked.

That’s kind of where I’ve been with AI.

The shift I’ve been noticing in my own work, slowly, is less about the big stuff and more about the fifteen minutes before the work starts.

Last week I needed a spreadsheet to track ROAS across a few ad campaigns. Normally I’d open a blank sheet and spend twenty minutes on setup: headers, bold, freeze the top row, turn on filters, color-code the columns, wire up the formulas. Maybe try a new font. I know how to do all of that. It’s just friction.

Instead, I opened up an AI app,described what I needed and why, and got back a finished sheet. It was color-coded, formulas built in, ready for data… in about a minute.

Ok, maybe it wasn't as exciting as KITT Turbo Boost! I still had to know what I was tracking and whether the formulas made sense. That part didn’t go away. But the setup did. 20 minutes of routine setup went away.

Where AI Has Been Most Useful for Me

That’s the pattern I keep finding. Not handing things off entirely. Just skipping the part that’s mostly clicking. The stuff that has to happen before the thinking can start.

What About You?

I’m curious whether any of you have stumbled into something like this: a task that used to eat time before you could get to the real work.

If one comes to mind, send me a note. I’d genuinely like to know what it is.