5.7km is not enough

I’m 4.27km into what was meant to be a 6.1km run at a 6:10/km pace. That’ll get me about 6.5km total. But the voice in my head says: pick up the pace a little and you can make it 7km.

It’s a familiar pattern. Not content with what’s already good enough.

I’ve been thinking about this in the context of AI. There’s a podcast I’ve been listening to that talks about 10–15x ROI on GenAI. And I believe it — I see it in my own work. But that ROI isn’t making its way up to the company level. It stays with the individual. With me.

Part of the problem might be how I see myself. Even though I manage people, I still think of myself as a worker rather than part of the company. And maybe that distance is why I’m struggling — I’m trying to force this thing on my team rather than making the case for it at a higher level.

I don’t have a neat conclusion yet. But it feels like it has legs. The question isn’t whether AI is productive — it’s where that productivity ends up, and who captures it.

Maybe the more honest question is whether I should stop adding to the pile altogether. Another tool, another workflow, another thing to evangelise — at some point the compounding stops being a gain and starts being a habit. Before this becomes an addiction, it’s probably worth stepping back and asking: what am I actually trying to achieve here, and for whom?