What Parenthood and AI Taught This Productivity Expert About Reclaiming His Time

I'm fascinated with how the smartest people in the world get their work done. That's what Superorganizers is about: seeing all of the little habits that make up a great work day and a great life. Artificial intelligence has changed what it means to be productive and efficient at work, so we decided to revisit some of our favorite interview subjects to understand how their routines have changed in the era of AI models. Recently, we spoke to designer Marie Poulin, newsletter writer Polina Pompliano, former Holloway CEO Andy Sparks, Indistractable author Nir Eyal, and Kickstarter cofounder Yancey Strickler. Today, we’re back with the founder of Superhuman and startup adviser Gaurav Vohra.—Dan Shipper

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Gaurav Vohra believes in getting work done without interruptions. 

As a founding leader and the former head of growth at the email client company Superhuman, he arranged his day to focus completely on one task at a time. Five years ago, when he first spoke to Every, that meant checking his work email just twice each day, and setting clear expectations with colleagues that he might take up to 24 hours to respond to them.

In the years since, Gaurav has become a parent and witnessed the AI revolution take hold. He now spends most of his time advising startups, but he still works with Superhuman, the company he helped build. While he follows many of the same principles, his daily habits have changed. We caught up with Gaurav to explore how becoming a parent has changed his relationship with time, how AI has transformed his workflow, and what productivity lessons he's learned along the way.

What’s changed in life and work since we last spoke in 2020?

I had a child! He's 3-and-a-half now. This massively reduces the amount of free time I have. AI, on the other hand, gives me hours back. I research most of my problems and tasks with the help of ChatGPT.

I'm advising several startups now. Keeping on top of multiple businesses requires that I'm highly efficient with my time.

Congrats! Back then, you were only checking email twice a day. Has that practice changed?

That was for a work email account for a full-time job. Yes, I only checked and processed that email twice a day.

I check my personal email account many more times than twice a day—probably every 1–2 hours—because I am running a separate advising business where responsiveness is very important. But that's a different, newer use case.