Pick the first task to automate

If you feel buried in small, repetitive jobs but don’t know where automation or AI fits, start with just one task. This guide helps you pick the right one, write down exactly how you do it, and work out whether an AI chat, a feature already in your software, or a tool that connects your apps is the simplest way to take it off your plate.

Before you start

• A notebook, a note on your phone or a blank document to keep a list for a week.
• A rough idea of the apps you use every day, such as your email, calendar, booking system, accounting software and spreadsheets.
• About 30 minutes in total, spread across the week: a few seconds each time you jot something down, then 20 minutes at the end to choose.

Want to do it yourself?

Difficulty

4 out of 10

Estimated completion time

45–90 minutes, plus a week observing tasks and a week testing

Skills you’ll need: List repeated tasks, compare their value and risk, and document the chosen workflow clearly. Building it may need further setup.

I’ll do it myselfI’d rather get help

How this helps your brand

Choosing one predictable job lets you improve the process behind your website without automating every decision. Start with a visible handoff, such as recording a new enquiry, and check that it saves effort without losing requests.

1. 1

   Step 1: List every repetitive task for one week

   Don’t try to remember them all in one sitting. You’ll forget the small ones, and the small ones add up. Instead, for one normal week, write a line each time you catch yourself doing something you’ve done many times before.

   Keep each line short. Note what the task is, roughly how long it took, and what started it. For example:

   • “Copied a new enquiry from the website form into my spreadsheet. 5 minutes. A form email came in.”
   • “Sent a reminder to a customer the day before their appointment. 3 minutes. Checked tomorrow’s bookings.”
   • “Typed up the same answer about opening hours. 2 minutes. Someone asked on Facebook.”

   Tip: If you have staff, ask them to keep a list too. The jobs that annoy them most are often ones you never see.

2. 2

   Step 2: Score each task on three things

   At the end of the week, go through your list and give every task three quick scores. You don’t need exact numbers; a rough guess is fine.

   • How often: how many times a week does it come up?
   • How long: how many minutes does it take each time? Multiply the two and you have roughly how much of your week it uses.
   • How risky: what happens if it goes wrong? Low if a mistake is easy to spot and fix. High if it involves money, private customer details, legal wording, or something a customer would be upset to get wrong.

   Tip: Group near-duplicates together. “Reply about prices” and “reply about prices on Instagram” are the same task.

3. 3

   Step 3: Pick one task that is frequent, boring and low-risk

   The best first task is not the biggest job on your list. It’s the one that comes up often, follows the same steps every time, and wouldn’t cause real harm if it went wrong once.

   Cross off anything that needs your judgement each time, like pricing a custom job or handling a complaint. Cross off anything high-risk, like sending invoices or moving money. You can come back to those once you trust your setup.

   From what’s left, choose the one that uses the most minutes a week. Just one. Starting with five at once is the most common way automation projects stall.

   Tip: Good first picks are often copying details from one place to another, sending the same reminder or confirmation, saving email attachments to a folder, or sorting incoming emails.

   Illustrated exampleThe longest task is not always the first pick

   Example week · time spent before automation

   • Label incoming enquiry emails20 times × 2 min
     40 min / week
     Low · easy to undo First pick

     Adds an internal label. No replies or deletions.

   • Reply about opening hours12 times × 2 min
     24 min / week
     Low · review each reply

     Use the same answer; check before sending.

   • Price custom jobs6 times × 15 min
     90 min / week
     Needs judgement

     Every job is different. Set aside for now.

   • Send invoices10 times × 5 min
     50 min / week
     High · involves money

     Set aside while you learn to trust the setup.

   Remove risky or judgement-heavy jobs first. Then choose the biggest time cost left: 40 minutes a week.

4. 4

   Step 4: Write down its steps exactly as you do them

   Next time you do the task, write down every step as you go, the way you would explain it to a new employee on their first day. Include the boring parts. A computer can’t fill in the gaps the way a person can.

   For each step, note:

   For a website-led business, try mapping this first candidate: a visitor submits a quote request → the form provider stores it → a supported submission trigger adds one row to the enquiry list → the owner is notified → the owner checks the request and replies. Name the real provider, accounts, fields, and person for your version. A call or manually entered request can be the source instead; the automation needs an actual input, not simply a website address.

   If that intake does not work yet, set it up and test it before automating downstream work. Use “Add a contact or booking form”, then “Connect your tools so info moves itself”. Start with recording and notifying; keep judgment, custom prices, and complaint handling with a person. An acknowledgement can confirm receipt without promising an outcome you have not checked.

   • What starts the task: an email arriving, a form being filled in, a time of day, a new booking.
   • Every click, copy and paste, in order, and which app it happens in.
   • Any decision you make along the way, like “if it’s a repeat customer, I skip this step”.
   • What “finished” looks like: a row added, an email sent, a file saved.

   Tip: If you find yourself writing “it depends” more than once or twice, the task may need your judgement. That’s a sign to pick a different one, or to automate only the predictable part.

   Illustrated exampleRecord the decision as well as the clicks

   Starts whenA new email arrives in Gmail

   1

   Open the email and checkDoes the subject contain “Website enquiry”?

   Yes

   2. 2Open the email’s label menu.
   3. 3Choose Enquiries and apply it.

   Finished: email has the Enquiries label and stays in the inbox.

   No

   Leave the email unchanged in the inbox.

   No label added

   This is the manual process to record before setting up an email rule. The condition, action and finishing point are all explicit.

5. 5

   Step 5: Choose the simplest tool that fits

   There are three common ways to take a task off your plate. Start with the simplest one that covers your steps, and only move to the next if it can’t.

   • A feature already in your software. Many email, calendar, booking and accounting apps already include things like email rules and filters, saved reply templates, automatic appointment reminders and repeating invoices. This is usually the cheapest and safest option because you’re not adding anything new. Search your app’s help pages for the task, for example “automatic reminders” or “email rules”.
   • An AI chat, such as ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini. Best when the task is mostly reading or writing: drafting replies, summarising notes, tidying up a list. You still copy, paste and press send yourself, so you stay in control.
   • A connector tool, such as Zapier or Make. These link your apps so that when something happens in one (a form is filled in, an email arrives), something happens in another (a row is added, a message is sent) without you. Best when the task is mostly moving information between apps. Check the tool’s website to confirm it works with the apps you use.

   Tip: Prices and free-plan limits change often, and connector tools usually charge by how many times your automation runs. Check each tool’s official pricing page before you build anything, and work out roughly how many times a month your task would run.

6. 6

   Step 6: Run it alongside doing it by hand for a week

   Once it’s set up, don’t switch off the old way straight away. For one week, let the new setup run, and keep doing the task by hand too (or at least check every result it produces).

   Compare the two each day. Look for missed items, wrong details, odd formatting, and anything sent to the wrong person. If something’s off, fix the setup and keep testing until a few days pass with no surprises.

   Only then let it run on its own. Even after that, check on it every so often, especially after you change an app, a form or a password, because that can quietly break a connection.

   For the enquiry example, submit a recognisable test from the website and compare the original submission, final row, and owner notification. During the trial, record missing or duplicate requests and who handled each one. Check every result instead of sending a second automatic customer message by hand. Only rely on the automation after the whole route works and someone knows what to do when it fails.

   Tip: Write down who to tell and what to do if it stops working, even if that’s just you. A short note saves a panic later.

I run a small business and I want to automate one repetitive task. I’m not technical, so please explain everything in plain English and avoid jargon.

The task: [a one-line description of the task]
How often it happens: [for example, about 15 times a week]
How long it takes each time: [for example, 5 minutes]
What starts it: [for example, a new enquiry arrives from my website form]
The apps involved: [for example, Gmail, Google Sheets, my booking system]

My steps, exactly as I do them now:
[paste your written steps, with customer names and private details taken out]

Please:
1. Read my steps and point out anything that’s unclear or that seems to need my judgement each time.
2. Tell me which of these fits best, and why: a feature already in one of my apps, an AI chat that I use by copying and pasting, or a connector tool like Zapier or Make. Start with the simplest option that would work.
3. If you suggest a built-in feature or a connector tool, describe the setup in general terms and tell me what to search for in that app’s official help pages. Don’t guess at exact menu names or prices.
4. Point out anything risky, such as steps involving money, private customer details, or messages sent to customers without me checking.
5. Give me a simple one-week test plan for running the new setup alongside doing the task by hand.

Explain where the chosen task fits in the website or other intake journey. For an enquiry workflow, map source capture, the supported trigger, final record, notification, and human follow-up. Identify missing intake or account setup before proposing automation. Start with a low-risk recording/notification step, and include a controlled end-to-end test plus checks for missing or duplicate enquiries.