👋 Before we get into it
How often do you find work hiding inside things like emails, messages, or meeting notes?
If you picked the first or second option, this issue is for you.
If you picked the third, you’ll probably start noticing it after this.
To put it simply:
Most real work isn’t written out as tasks. It’s buried inside conversations, notes, and messages.
Things like follow-ups, decisions, blockers, and assumptions often sit there quietly until they cause problems later.
This week’s automation is about pulling that hidden work out so it’s clear what actually needs attention. I’ll show you a simple way to do that, plus a tool and a prompt that help you reuse work instead of starting from scratch.
Here’s what’s inside this week:
🧰 A tool that turns long videos into short clips you can actually reuse
⚙️ A simple automation that pulls real work out of messy emails and messages
💬 A repeatable prompt for borrowing structures that already work
🗞 A quick scan of AI news that matters for how tools and workflows are changing
Lets dive in 👇
⚒️ Tool of the Week
OpusClip is useful when you already have long videos, but they tend to sit there untouched.
Things like:
Podcasts
Recorded Zoom calls
Webinars
Long talking-head videos
You know there’s good stuff in them, but cutting clips always gets pushed to later. OpusClip handles that part for you.
You upload a video, and it automatically scans for moments that are likely to work well as short clips. It trims them down, adds captions, and formats them for platforms like Reels, Shorts, and TikTok.
Where this fits nicely with automations:
A lot of people are using it as part of a simple background flow:
Record one long video
Let OpusClip create short clips
Use AI to draft captions or schedule posts
That way, one piece of content doesn’t stay stuck in one format.
If you create video even occasionally and keep thinking “I should turn this into more posts,” this tool makes that happen without adding another task to your list.
🚀 Simple Automation
⚙️ The “Hidden Work Extractor” Automation
A lot of real work lives inside everyday text. Client emails, Slack threads, Meeting transcripts, Long messages etc.
The problem is that the important parts are mixed in with everything else. Tasks, decisions, follow-ups, blockers, and questions all sit there quietly until something gets missed.
This automation helps pull that work out so it’s clear what actually needs attention.
The Idea:
Instead of asking AI to explain or rewrite something, you use it to extract the work inside it.
Not a summary. Not a task list alone. A breakdown of what’s really going on.
Most people are surprised by how much useful work was already there once it’s laid out properly.
The Repeatable Automation Prompt:
You can pin this and reuse it daily.
You are my Hidden Work Extractor.
When I paste any email, message, meeting transcript, or notes, do the following:
1) List any actions required (even if they are implied)
2) List any decisions that have already been made
3) List anything I am waiting on, and who it depends on
4) List any unclear or risky points that need clarification
5) If nothing needs action, say “No action needed”
Rules:
• Do not summarise the content
• Do not rewrite it
• Keep each item to one short line
• Only extract what is actually there — no assumptions
How people actually use this:
Drop in long email threads and instantly see what matters
Paste meeting transcripts and recieve the real work without rereading
Check client messages for follow-ups
Scan Slack threads without missing commitments
It becomes a second set of eyes that catches things you’d normally overlook.
💬 Prompt of the Week — Copy, Paste & Go
💡 Steal-This-Structure Prompt
Use this when something works well and you want to understand why.
It helps break an example down into its main parts so you can apply the same structure to a different topic without guessing how to start or what comes next.
Prompt:
Analyze the structure of this example:
[paste the example]
Break down:
• how it opens and grabs attention
• how it builds trust or credibility
• how the ideas are ordered
• how it transitions between points
• how it closes
Now apply this same structure to:
[my topic]
Keep the content original. Only reuse the structure.
Good for:
Writing posts
Emails
Presentations
Landing pages
🔥 Weekly AI News
🧠 OpenAI plans to launch its first hardware device in 2026
OpenAI is reportedly planning to introduce a first-of-its-kind hardware device later this year. While details are still under wraps, early reports suggest the device could be a small, possibly wearable gadget designed for direct AI interaction, rather than a traditional screen-based product. This move hints at AI becoming more integrated into daily workflows beyond apps and browsers, potentially changing how people interact with assistants and systems in everyday tasks.
🩺 EMA and FDA align on AI principles for medicine development
The European Medicines Agency and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration have jointly released a set of key principles to guide the responsible use of AI across the medicine lifecycle — from research and development to clinical use. These principles aim to improve safety, transparency, and reliability as AI tools are increasingly used in medical diagnostics and drug discovery. For anyone thinking about AI in health tech or compliance, this signals that regulated industries are moving toward clearer expectations for AI systems.
🔄 A new survey finds AI still generates a lot of cleanup work
A recent report shows that for every 10 hours AI saves in a workweek, nearly four hours are spent fixing mistakes made by AI tools. This highlights a growing reality for many businesses and teams: the promise of saving time with AI often comes with a cost — correcting outputs, rechecking details, and reworking errors. It’s a useful reminder that practical automation systems still need oversight and processes that account for imperfect AI output.
🌯 What to try this week
If you want to keep it simple, pick one:
Run one old video through the tool instead of creating something new
Pin the Work Extractor prompt and use it on your next long email or message thread
Use the structure prompt the next time you’re stuck starting something
Skim the news section just to stay aware, then move on
Even using one of these properly is enough to make the week feel lighter.
If you do try any of it, hit reply and tell me how it went. I read every reply and I’m always curious what actually works for everyone.
What part of this issue was most useful to you?
Till next time,
