Different post than usual. But this was stuck in my head and I recently learned that sharing about our difficulties and how I handle mine can help others. After a lot of internal debating, here’s a post on how AI, specifically Microsoft 365 Copilot, has made my day-to-day work a lot less overwhelming. This post is mainly meant for neurodivergents, however, I am certain these situations can apply to neurotypical individuals as well.
The image above represents how my brain feels when I have to keep track of multiple things, especially when vocal tasks are involved. I can take notes, sure, but remembering to look at those notes, or to keep listening while taking notes, is not the easiest thing in the world. I also need some time to process what has been said before I can react with a question. With Microsoft 365 Copilot in Teams, I can focus on the meeting while having Copilot transcribe the meeting. This means that I can use Copilot to:
* Ask questions about what has been discussed so far
Prompt: “Copilot, can you summarize the key points discussed in the meeting so far?”
* Recap the meeting for me
“Copilot, please provide a recap of the entire meeting, highlighting the main topics and decisions made.”
* Show me what tasks have been assigned to me
“Copilot, can you list all the tasks that have been assigned to me during this meeting?”
* Ask if there are any documents applicable to the discussed items already available. And of course there are many other use cases, but these are the ones that I use the most.
Prompt: “Copilot, are there any documents related to the items we’ve discussed in this meeting? If so, please show them to me.”
If you do get your hands on a Microsoft 365 Copilot license (and you should have some good reasoning why it helps you after this blog!), you can use it to help you set priorities in your tasks. Simply ask Copilot to check your calendar, email, and chats and have it generate a step-by-step to-do list for you. You could use this prompt: “Copilot, please create a detailed to-do list for me based on the tasks and action items mentioned in my recent Teams chats and Outlook emails. Break down each task step by step, and categorize them by priority and due date. Include any relevant context or instructions provided in the messages.”
Figuring how what someone’s tone of voice is in written messages can also be one of those things that neurodiverse individuals just don’t pick up on as much. You can use Copilot, even the free Bizchat version, to analyse the text of an e-mail, chat or document. If you do not have a Microsoft 365 Copilot license, just use BizChat version to ask questions about the text! The example I have used in the picture below might be very obvious to you, but it is only an example. I have used Copilot to break down what is expected of me. You can also attach documents (pdf, docx, txt, rtf and xlsx) to the conversation and have Copilot help break down their contents.
And these are just a few examples of how AI, in my case Copilot, helps me out so I can focus on my delivering my best work. It’s about making technology work for you, so you can work smarter, not harder. So that we can all be happier and less overwhelmed in the demanding modern day work environments!
You can start by using the free version, only requires you to have an Entra ID organisation account, at Copilot | Microsoft 365.