Most people use a fraction of what their phone, laptop and the AI tools now built into everyday software can actually do. None of what follows requires specialist skills or expensive software — just a bit of setup, once, that pays off every single day afterwards. Here’s where to start.
1. Stop Typing — Use AI Voice Dictation
If you spend much of your day writing emails, messages, or notes, voice dictation is the single biggest time-saver most people never set up. Modern AI dictation tools are a different class of tool to the built-in dictation Windows and macOS have had for years — they understand context, punctuate properly, and handle natural speech (pauses, corrections, “umm”) far better.
We rate Wispr Flow as the best option currently available for this — see our full review: Wispr Flow Review: AI Voice Dictation That Actually Works. It runs system-wide, so it works in your email client, your browser, or any app you’re typing into, not just one program.
2. Let AI Take Your Meeting Notes
Manually taking notes in a meeting means you’re either half-listening while you write, or you get to the end with nothing useful written down. AI meeting note-takers solve this properly — they transcribe the whole conversation, summarise the key points, and pull out action items automatically.
If your organisation uses Microsoft Teams, this is built in and worth turning on:
- How to Record a Microsoft Teams Meeting
- How to Use Copilot in Microsoft Teams — Copilot can summarise a recorded meeting and list action items without you doing anything manually
If you use a dedicated hardware recorder for in-person meetings or calls rather than video calls, we’ve also reviewed the Plaud Note, a small AI voice recorder built specifically for this: Plaud Note AI Voice Recorder Review.
3. Set Up Your Phone to Dial Straight from Your PC
If you’re regularly on the phone while also sat at a computer, reaching for your phone, unlocking it, and finding a contact is a small friction that adds up over a working day. Microsoft’s Phone Link lets you dial straight from your PC using your phone’s own number and signal — no separate app, no extra cost.
See our full guide to setting it up: What Is Phone Link? Microsoft’s Windows-Android Linking App Explained. If you hit any issues getting it connected, we’ve also covered the common fixes: Phone Link Troubleshooting: Common Issues and How to Fix Them.
4. Use an AI Assistant for the Repetitive Stuff
Beyond dictation and meeting notes, general-purpose AI assistants are worth using for anything repetitive — drafting a first version of an email, summarising a long document before you read it properly, or checking a spreadsheet formula. A few starting points we’ve covered in depth:
- What is Claude AI? Everything You Need to Know
- What is Claude Code? The AI Coding Tool Explained — if you write scripts or code as part of your role
- What is Perplexity AI? The AI Search Engine Explained — useful for research tasks where you want sourced answers rather than a chat reply
The common thread across all of these: none of them replace your judgement, but all of them remove the slow, repetitive part of a task so you can get straight to the part that actually needs a person.
Putting It Together
None of this needs to happen at once. A sensible order, if you’re starting from scratch:
- Set up voice dictation first — it’s the quickest to configure and the most immediately noticeable change to your daily routine.
- Turn on meeting recording/Copilot summaries in Teams if you’re not already using them.
- Link your phone to your PC once, and leave it connected — it’s a one-time setup for an ongoing benefit.
- Pick one AI assistant and get used to reaching for it for repetitive tasks, rather than treating it as a novelty.
Individually, each of these saves a few minutes here and there. Together, they add up to a genuinely different way of working.
