#222: What jobs will AI replace, and which are safe?

8 Habits That Improve Your Focus, According to Brain Health Experts

Author

Jenae Spry
October 03, 2025

Productivity Stacks Newsletter

(Formerly Productivity Express)

Issue No. 222

The Best in Evidence-Based Productivity

for Small Business Owners, Freelancers & Founders

Helping You Work Smarter and Live More

The Rundown

  • Most Daily Actions Run on Habit, Not Conscious Choice

  • From SEO To GEO: How Can Marketers Adapt To The New Era Of Search Visibility?

  • 8 Habits That Improve Your Focus, According to Brain Health Experts

  • 4 ways NotebookLM actually helps me stop procrastinating

  • What jobs will AI replace, and which are safe?

🔥Quote/Prompt

❝

There are some things you learn best in calm, and some in storm.

Willa Cather

Use the quote as a writing or thinking prompt to finish your week strong.

A bit from mine:

(posted in our Doer Entrepreneurs Free Community — off social media)

Real talk: I used to think I could only be productive in perfect conditions. Quiet workspace, cleared schedule, everything "just right."

Then life (and business) taught me differently.

Some of our most important skills develop in […]

Did someone forward this to you?

📈 Performance

Those routines you follow without thinking? They're running more of your life than you realize. New research from the University of Surrey reveals that two-thirds of our daily behaviors happen on autopilot, driven by habit rather than conscious decision-making.

"Our research shows that while people may consciously want to do something, the actual initiation and performance of that behaviour is often done without thinking, driven by non-conscious habits. This suggests that 'good' habits may be a powerful way to make our goals a reality. For people who want to break their bad habits, simply telling them to 'try harder' isn't enough. To create lasting change, we must incorporate strategies to help people recognise and disrupt their unwanted habits, and ideally form positive new ones in their place."

Key Insights:

  1. Your brain triggers 65% of your daily behaviors automatically based on environmental cues, not conscious decisions. For example, you might automatically reach for your phone when you sit at your desk, regardless of whether you intended to check it.

  2. Nearly half of habitual actions align with your conscious goals, meaning your brain naturally creates routines that support what you want to achieve. For example, if you value productivity, you might have unconsciously developed a habit of clearing your inbox first thing each morning.

  3. Breaking bad habits requires more than willpower - you need to disrupt environmental triggers and replace them with new routines. For example, if you habitually snack while working, moving your workspace or keeping healthy alternatives nearby can help rewire the pattern.

Read the full article for specific strategies on habit formation and disruption, plus insights on why exercise is uniquely resistant to becoming fully automatic.

⚙️ Optimization

SEO used to be straightforward - optimize your keywords, build backlinks, and watch your rankings climb. But with AI tools like ChatGPT and Google AI Overviews now synthesizing answers directly from content, ranking alone won't cut it anymore. This shift to Generative Engine Optimization (GEO) means your content needs to be structured for AI to understand, select, and cite it.

"Generative Search Optimization (GEO) is the practice of ensuring that your content is selected, understood, and cited by large language models (LLMs) and generative engines. [...] Traditional search engines use bots to crawl webpages and rank them. LLMs synthesize patterns from massive pre-ingested datasets. LLMs and answer engines don't index; they use them as their conversational padding. [...] To increase your visibility in LLMs, your content must be: Present in trusted sources (your site, profiles, product pages, reviews). Structured with clarity and semantic depth, Seen as credible and consistent across the digital ecosystem."

Key Insights:

  1. Structure beats keywords - AI prioritizes well-organized content with clear headings, bullet points, and summaries over keyword-stuffed pages. For example, FAQ sections and comparison tables make your content more likely to be selected by AI systems.

  2. Trust signals matter more than ever - LLMs favor content with author bylines, cited sources, and consistent information across all your digital properties. For example, having the same business information on your website, Google Business Profile, and social media profiles strengthens your credibility.

  3. Answer the question and its follow-ups - AI looks for comprehensive content that anticipates related queries. For example, if writing about "email marketing ROI," also cover how to measure it, what KPIs to track, and common benchmarks.

Read the full article for 15 specific GEO optimization tips and detailed examples of how to structure content for both human readers and AI systems.

⏲️ Time Management

Your ability to focus isn't broken - it's just buried under notifications, endless emails, and the myth of multitasking. Brain health experts say you don't need a complete life overhaul to reclaim your concentration. Simple adjustments like tweaking your phone settings or changing how you take breaks can dramatically improve your ability to stay on task.

"Chunking is a great habit for increasing focus. Chunking works because it makes tasks feel more manageable, and it takes less of a toll on our working memory, allowing us to remember things better. [...] For example, this technique can help people memorize long strings of numbers by first remembering portions of the number or code. Once we remember one piece, we can add on more parts more easily. [...] Another more common example of chunking is to focus on three smaller tasks (or micro-steps) at a time. Say you're writing a report: Instead of writing the entire thing in one sitting, you might first outline the key points, then draft a rough version, and finally refine the details."

Key Insights:

  1. Phone-free periods rebuild your attention muscle - start with 30-minute breaks during meals or hobbies, then gradually extend them. For example, putting your phone in another room while watching TV or eating dinner can immediately improve engagement and mindfulness.

  2. Chunking large tasks into three micro-steps makes them less overwhelming and easier to complete. For example, instead of "write report," break it into "outline key points," "draft rough version," and "refine details."

  3. Habit stacking links focus-building activities to routines you already do automatically. For example, doing squats while brushing your teeth or writing in a gratitude journal while drinking morning coffee creates reliable cues that direct your attention.

Read the full article for all 8 focus-building habits, including specific mindfulness routines, the best types of background audio for concentration, and how structured physical activities can improve working memory by 15%.

💻 Tools & Technology

Procrastination often comes down to friction points - those moments when fact-checking sends you down a browser tab spiral or your own research notes feel too overwhelming to tackle. NotebookLM addresses these exact pain points by turning scattered material into something digestible and structured, making it easier to start and maintain momentum on projects.

"One of the fastest ways I typically lose momentum is by drowning in my own notes and sources. I've got so many half-watched courses and scattered research notes that are too overwhelming to sort through. NotebookLM's instant summaries cut that barrier down. Instead of reading and watching everything, I just drop it in as a source, and NotebookLM can generate a short bullet list or recap on demand. [...] This is also where the Reports feature comes in very handy. I really like the Briefing Doc format for how it structures all the information into something that's easy to follow."

Key Insights:

  1. Instant summaries eliminate overwhelm by condensing long notes and sources into digestible bullet points under 300 words. For example, dropping in half-watched course materials and getting a structured Briefing Doc lets you review and apply the content immediately.

  2. The Timeline and Mind Map features provide clear starting points by showing you exactly what comes first in a project sequence. For example, instead of juggling every fragment of a project simultaneously, you get a simple "this comes before that" structure.

  3. NotebookLM becomes a searchable personal knowledge vault where you can instantly retrieve specific details without scrolling through drafts. For example, you can ask it to recall how you structured dialogue in a previous chapter and get a source-grounded answer immediately.

Read the full article for specific prompting techniques, how to create dedicated notebooks for problem areas, and tips for using the context-aware prompt suggestions when motivation runs low.

🤖 AI

Your ability to stay employed in the AI age comes down to three factors: whether your job requires physical presence, regulatory protection, or human trust. While everyone's worried about AI taking over, I disagree with the common narrative that knowledge work unconnected to physical tasks will automatically disappear. When experts use AI tools, they get excellent output precisely because their expertise guides the input - something non-experts can't replicate. Most knowledge workers bring human understanding and interfacing that makes them irreplaceable, even if their work isn't physical.

"If something can get done instantaneously or continuously, and it doesn't involve physical exertion, those jobs are really under scrutiny. [...] Workers who focus their careers on solving real-world problems (versus a specific function/role) aren't competing against AI — they're partnering with it. [...] Recruiting is not going to go away because of AI. Recruiting goes away because the demand goes down. With fewer job openings for critical roles — since workers stay longer and AI augments their output — there is simply less need for recruiters to find workers to fill non-critical roles."

Key Insights:

  1. Jobs requiring judgment, empathy, and physical skills remain safe - therapists, surgeons, and skilled trades can't be replicated by machines. For example, a plumber fixing your sink or a therapist helping you process trauma requires human presence and connection that AI can't provide.

  2. Routine knowledge work without specialized expertise faces the highest risk of automation. For example, basic transcription, scheduling, and repetitive data entry are already being replaced by AI tools that work continuously without breaks.

  3. Many roles won't disappear but will transform through AI augmentation rather than replacement. For example, radiologists will use AI to improve diagnostics but are still needed for patient interaction and final medical decisions based on complex factors beyond what AI can assess.

Read the full article for specific examples of gray-area jobs that will evolve, strategic workforce planning advice for employers, and insights on why regulatory barriers keep certain professions human-dominated.

🎉 Celebration Corner

Every week Doers Inner Circle members do a weekly review & get help when they need it — check out the progress they made this week!

  • Completed all weekly goals (and enjoyed a planned Friday off).

  • Managed to deliver private client jobs.

  • Wrapped up the Instagram course just in time.

What did you do this week? We feature non-member successes too. Just post them here!

🔒Inner Circle: Events & Announcements

  • Announcement: Book club event is posted! RSVP here

  • Monday: {EU Time} Work ON Business. Theme: 2️⃣ Process & Productivity  RSVP here

  • Tuesday: Work ON Business. Theme: 2️⃣ Process & Productivity RSVP here

  • Monday/Friday: Goal Setting + Plan Your Week Party

  • Accelerators: October 10 is your Office Hours  RSVP here

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I hope you found this valuable!

Wishing you much productivity!

- Jenae :)

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