There are tasks that need to be done over and over again. The worst thing about it isn’t that it’s boring or that it’s not something inspiring to do; it’s the time you’re losing that could be used to grow your business. Repetitive tasks cannot be avoided, unfortunately. They’re literally everywhere, from replying to similar emails to updating spreadsheets or rewriting content.
Don’t worry, it’s not all bad news. Maybe you can’t avoid them… maybe, sure. But you can save a lot of time by using the right tool in the right places. That can help you take the burden off your shoulders and give you more hours for important tasks every week.
If you want to know how to make your work easier without losing quality, here are five tools that help simplify and speed up common tasks without getting in your way.
And, no worries, you don’t need a degree in automation to learn how to use them.
1. Convert Static Content into Dynamic Assets
If you‘ve ever written content such as a help article or blog post and you want it in a video form, there’s no need to do the video from scratch. You can do it pretty much by pushing a button.
Today, there are tools that let you turn link into video, and they do the whole process automatically (little to no input on your end is required). They use AI avatars and voice-overs to create a polished product. The best part is that it only takes minutes. So even if you don’t like the outcome, you can tweak it a bit and redo it until you’re satisfied.
Support centers and marketing teams love this kind of tool because it is very helpful. Why would you rewrite the same information in video format when you can easily take an existing URL and leave it to the tool to handle the rest of the job for you? You will get a video that is ready to use, and you will save production time.
It is extremely effective if your audience prefers visual content.
2. Automate Your Inbox with Gmail Filters and Canned Responses
Email management could be easily called a nightmare for most people. If you need more than 30 minutes daily to sort or reply to messages, it is time to consider getting Gmail’s built-in features. This can save you hours every week.
You can start by using filters to automatically label, archive, or forward emails based on sender, keywords, or attachments. When you finish that, you are ready to set up canned responses, called Templates.
It’s a great option for those whose inbox is full of repetitive messages like meeting confirmations, support requests, etc.
3. Zapier: The Glue Between All Your Apps
Zapier links your most-used tools and automates the recurring tasks between them. It’s like a virtual assistant running in the background. It can duplicate leads from Facebook ads to Google Sheets, notify your team on Slack when there’s a new order, or back up email attachments to Dropbox.
You don’t need to know code. Just pick a trigger and an action.
For example:
- When a new Trello card is created, create an event in Google Calendar
- When a new Stripe payment is made, send a thank-you email via Gmail
And anyone can use them. You don’t have to be a tech savant, nor are these tools super expensive; in fact, most are completely free to use while offering certain privileges for their premium (paying) users.
Even basic automations can save hours of boring copy-paste work. Once you’ve set up some workflows (“Zaps”), they run in the background as you focus on higher-impact work.
4. Notion Templates That Do the Thinking for You
Notion is more than a note-taking tool; it’s a workspace that can be customized, and its job is to replace spreadsheets, docs, calendars, and databases. But the biggest time-saver is using pre-built Notion templates for recurring workflows.
Whether content scheduling, product roadmaps, meeting agendas, or tracking habits, using an existing template eliminates setup and decision fatigue time. You’re not doing it from scratch, and the structure keeps you on track.
This is useful especially for startup teams and remote collaborators who need a central hub that’s flexible but still keeps everyone aligned. A few minutes of planning inside a template can prevent hours of repeated catch-up work.
5. Grammarly Keyboard for Instant Writing Cleanup
If you are writing a lot, this is the tool you need asap. It doesn’t matter which form of writing is in your job description; Grammarly’s browser extension and mobile keyboard are going to be your new besties.
They automatically detect spelling mistakes, correct sentence structure, and suggest tone in real-time, before you even think about clicking send.
Conclusion
Repetitive tasks are always going to be present, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t make them bearable and less time-consuming. Depending on your job and tasks you need to do, you can choose tools that are going to help you the most in working in the background, the job that you don’t have to do, and you can focus on what truly matters to you.
Using these types of tools means you’re freeing up your time. How you’ll use this ‘extra time’ is entirely up to you.