--- title: "Book Brew 191: The Automation That Was Supposed to Save Me Time (And Absolutely Did Not)" description: The reality of automation may not always save you time. Assess the trade-offs between manual processes and automated solutions. image: https://thoughtsbrewing.com/hubfs/Mindful%20Musings.jpg --- [![Thoughts Brewing Logo](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Thoughts%20Brewing%20Logo_Round_Final_Light%20Blue_Transparent%20Background-1.png?width=200&height=600&name=Thoughts%20Brewing%20Logo_Round_Final_Light%20Blue_Transparent%20Background-1.png "Thoughts Brewing Logo")](https://www.thoughtsbrewing.com/) Search toggle - [Home](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/home) - [About](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/about) About - [About Us](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/about) - [FAQs](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/faqs) - [Blog](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog) Blog - [Blog Subscription](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/blog-subscription) - [Ask A Question](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/ask-us-anything-business-tech) - [Blog Home](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog) - [AI Articles](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/tag/ai) - [Articles by Damien](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/author/damien) - 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[Human + AI Playbook Template](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/human-ai-playbook) - [NotebookLM Masterclass](https://maven.com/thoughts-brewing-llc/learn-notebooklm-in-a-weekend-2-cohort) - [Fractional COO/CTO Services](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/fractional-coo/cto-services) - [Contact](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/contact) What are you looking for? # Book Brew 191: The Automation That Was Supposed to Save Me Time (And Absolutely Did Not) October 5, 2026 ![Picture of Danielle Price Griffin](https://app.hubspot.com/settings/avatar/31045232924d123af765cd9b1925a9ce) [Danielle Price Griffin](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/author/danielle) ![Book Brew](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/hubfs/Mindful%20Musings.jpg) I recently spent an embarrassing amount of time setting up an automation I was convinced would save me hours. > *“Pain + Reflection = Progress.” - Ray Dalio*   ## The idea was solid on paper Automatically move blog posts from Google Docs into HubSpot as drafts. I thought it would streamline things for me by giving me: - Fewer clicks. - Less manual work. - A future version of me sipping coffee, scrolling through nonsense capybara videos while systems hum quietly in the background.   ## What actually happened was this I lost an afternoon *(the one setting it up).* Then part of another one (the one in which I spent cleaning up everything that the automation did).   While the automation worked as I programmed it to, I ran into other unexpected issues: - Formatting quirks I didn’t consider. - Setting tags that normally just show up when I clone a previous post. - Rewriting the post URL. - Alt text for the image not appearing.   Yes, I could have gone through and made a full list of each and every detail that didn’t work as I had hoped and figured out how to program each aspect into the automation. But, I realized that the amount of time and effort I would need to put into that was much greater than if I just continued with my previous “manual” method.   So I stopped. I walked away. And that was the correct decision (for now….if our workflow changes drastically, I will have to revisit this in the future).   ## Not everything is meant to be automated > *“Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.” - Greg McKeown*   Despite all the hype out there, you don’t have to automate everything, since not all automation/AI usage results in net wins of your time (or sanity).   This is the part of the conversation that rarely gets airtime. AI and automation are sold as automatic time-savers….when, in reality, they save time after you understand the tradeoffs. - There’s setup time *(and if you don’t invest your time here, you might as well not even begin because this is where the heavy lift of an effective automation lives).* - Maintenance time. - Cognitive overhead.   Sometimes the manual process is faster, more flexible, and easier to recover from when something breaks. - Gemini is great when you want fast drafts or quick analysis without building a whole system around it. - Gemini Notebook shines when you want leverage from content you already trust. - Neither requires you to architect a miniature software company inside your business.   And to be fair, I have written about[automations that worked well for us](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/book-brew-44-automate-for-success). The lesson from this example was knowing when the extra setup stopped earning its keep.   ## Upskilling Upskilling in an AI world includes learning when to stop. When the return isn’t there. When “good enough” is actually optimal.   That’s a skill we spend a lot of time on in our [Next-Level AI Workshops](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/next-level-ai-workshops), because nobody talks about it until they’ve wasted a few afternoons.   If you’ve ever walked away from an automation thinking, “Well, that was a fun experiment,” congratulations. You’re doing this correctly.   ## Ponder This 1. What task are you still trying to automate because you’ve already spent time building it? 2. If you counted the setup, cleanup, and maintenance, would you choose that automation again today?   ### Books/Newsletters - Essentialism - Greg McKeown - Principles - Ray Dalio ![Next-Level AI Workshops](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/hs-fs/hubfs/Next-Level%20AI%20Workshops%20(2000%20x%201000%20px).png?width=600&height=496&name=Next-Level%20AI%20Workshops%20(2000%20x%201000%20px).png) ## Make the Policy Match the Work Next-Level AI Workshops help your team understand approved tools, data boundaries, and human review points before Kevin accidentally becomes responsible for AI governance. [Explore →](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/next-level-ai-workshops) ### Share: [Share on Facebook](http://www.facebook.com/share.php?u=https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/book-brew-191-the-automation-that-was-supposed-to-save-me-time-and-absolutely-did-not&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook) [Share on LinkedIn](http://www.linkedin.com/shareArticle?mini=true&url=https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/book-brew-191-the-automation-that-was-supposed-to-save-me-time-and-absolutely-did-not&utm_medium=social&utm_source=linkedin) [Share on X](https://twitter.com/intent/tweet?original_referer=https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/book-brew-191-the-automation-that-was-supposed-to-save-me-time-and-absolutely-did-not&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&url=https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/book-brew-191-the-automation-that-was-supposed-to-save-me-time-and-absolutely-did-not&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&source=tweetbutton&text=Book%20Brew%20191:%20The%20Automation%20That%20Was%20Supposed%20to%20Save%20Me%20Time%20(And%20Absolutely%20Did%20Not)) [Business Development](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/tag/business-development), [Business Systems](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/tag/business-systems), [AI](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/tag/ai), [Book Brew](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/tag/book-brew), [Google](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/tag/google), [Gemini](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/tag/gemini), [Capybara](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/tag/capybara), [Gemini Notebook](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/tag/gemini-notebook) ## Comments ## Related posts ##### Menu - [Home](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/home) - [About](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/about) - [Blog](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog) - [AI Training/Courses](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/courses) - [Fractional COO/CTO Services](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/fractional-coo/cto-services) - [Contact](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/contact) [Privacy Policy](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/privacy-policy)   |  [Terms of Use](https://thoughtsbrewing.com/en-us/terms-of-use)    |   Herndon, VA   |   703-296-9912   |   ©2022-2026 Copyright Thoughts Brewing, LLC [Follow us on LinkedIn](https://www.linkedin.com/company/thoughts-brewing-llc) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.youtube.com/@thoughtsbrewingllc) [Find us on Google](https://g.co/kgs/YhpnVFp) [Find us on Yelp](https://www.yelp.com/biz/thoughts-brewing-herndon) [Follow us on Facebook](https://www.facebook.com/thoughtsbrewingllc) ```json { "@context" : "https://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Danielle Price Griffin", "url" : "https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/author/danielle" }, "dateModified" : "2026-10-05T18:45:00.901Z", "datePublished" : "2026-10-05T18:45:00.000Z", "headline" : "Book Brew 191: The Automation That Was Supposed to Save Me Time (And Absolutely Did Not)", "image" : [ "https://thoughtsbrewing.com/hubfs/Mindful%20Musings.jpg" ], "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@id" : "https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/book-brew-191-the-automation-that-was-supposed-to-save-me-time-and-absolutely-did-not", "@type" : "WebPage" }, "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://thoughtsbrewing.com/hubfs/Thoughts%20Brewing%20Logo_Round_Final_Light%20Blue_Transparent%20Background-1.png" }, "name" : "Thoughts Brewing, LLC" } } ``` ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "Organization", "address" : { "@type" : "PostalAddress", "addressCountry" : "United States of America", "addressLocality" : "Herndon", "addressRegion" : "Virginia", "postalCode" : "20170", "streetAddress" : "205 Van Buren Street, Suite 120" }, "email" : "contact@thoughtsbrewing.com", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://24461783.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/24461783/Thoughts%20Brewing%20Logo_Round_Final_Light%20Blue_Transparent%20Background-1.png" }, "name" : "Thoughts Brewing, LLC", "telephone" : "703-296-9912", "url" : "thoughtsbrewing.com" } ``` ```json { "@context" : "http://schema.org", "@type" : "BlogPosting", "abstract" : "The reality of automation may not always save you time. Assess the trade-offs between manual processes and automated solutions.", "author" : { "@type" : "Person", "name" : "Danielle Price Griffin" }, "dateModified" : "5 Oct 2026, 18:45", "datePublished" : "2026-10-05 18:45:00", "headline" : "Book Brew 191: The Automation That Was Supposed to Save Me Time (And Absolutely Did Not)", "image" : "https://24461783.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/24461783/Mindful%20Musings.jpg", "inLanguage" : "en", "keywords" : "[Business Development, Business Systems, AI, Book Brew, Google, Gemini, Capybara, Gemini Notebook]", "mainEntityOfPage" : { "@type" : "WebPage" }, "name" : "Book Brew 191: The Automation That Was Supposed to Save Me Time (And Absolutely Did Not)", "publisher" : { "@type" : "Organization", "logo" : { "@type" : "ImageObject", "url" : "https://24461783.fs1.hubspotusercontent-na1.net/hubfs/24461783/Thoughts%20Brewing%20Logo_Round_Final_Light%20Blue_Transparent%20Background-1.png" }, "name" : "Thoughts Brewing, LLC" }, "text" : "I recently spent an embarrassing amount of time setting up an automation I was convinced would save me hours. “Pain + Reflection = Progress.” - Ray Dalio The idea was solid on paper Automatically move blog posts from Google Docs into HubSpot as drafts. I thought it would streamline things for me by giving me: Fewer clicks. Less manual work. A future version of me sipping coffee, scrolling through nonsense capybara videos while systems hum quietly in the background. What actually happened was this I lost an afternoon (the one setting it up). Then part of another one (the one in which I spent cleaning up everything that the automation did). While the automation worked as I programmed it to, I ran into other unexpected issues: Formatting quirks I didn’t consider. Setting tags that normally just show up when I clone a previous post. Rewriting the post URL. Alt text for the image not appearing. Yes, I could have gone through and made a full list of each and every detail that didn’t work as I had hoped and figured out how to program each aspect into the automation. But, I realized that the amount of time and effort I would need to put into that was much greater than if I just continued with my previous “manual” method. So I stopped. I walked away. And that was the correct decision (for now….if our workflow changes drastically, I will have to revisit this in the future). Not everything is meant to be automated “Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done.” - Greg McKeown Despite all the hype out there, you don’t have to automate everything, since not all automation/AI usage results in net wins of your time (or sanity). This is the part of the conversation that rarely gets airtime. AI and automation are sold as automatic time-savers….when, in reality, they save time after you understand the tradeoffs. There’s setup time (and if you don’t invest your time here, you might as well not even begin because this is where the heavy lift of an effective automation lives). Maintenance time. Cognitive overhead. Sometimes the manual process is faster, more flexible, and easier to recover from when something breaks. Gemini is great when you want fast drafts or quick analysis without building a whole system around it. Gemini Notebook shines when you want leverage from content you already trust. Neither requires you to architect a miniature software company inside your business. And to be fair, I have written about automations that worked well for us. The lesson from this example was knowing when the extra setup stopped earning its keep. Upskilling Upskilling in an AI world includes learning when to stop. When the return isn’t there. When “good enough” is actually optimal. That’s a skill we spend a lot of time on in our Next-Level AI Workshops, because nobody talks about it until they’ve wasted a few afternoons. If you’ve ever walked away from an automation thinking, “Well, that was a fun experiment,” congratulations. You’re doing this correctly. Ponder This What task are you still trying to automate because you’ve already spent time building it? If you counted the setup, cleanup, and maintenance, would you choose that automation again today? Books/Newsletters Essentialism - Greg McKeown Principles - Ray Dalio Make the Policy Match the Work Next-Level AI Workshops help your team understand approved tools, data boundaries, and human review points before Kevin accidentally becomes responsible for AI governance. Explore →", "url" : "https://thoughtsbrewing.com/blog/book-brew-191-the-automation-that-was-supposed-to-save-me-time-and-absolutely-did-not" } ```