How can I start using AI?
Maybe you’ve asked yourself that. Not in a hype-driven, “I need to automate everything” kind of way (at least not yet). But quietly.
In the middle of your workday.
When you’re stuck on a blank page.
Overthinking a decision.
Or postponing something that shouldn’t take this long.
You know AI is powerful. You just don’t know where to begin.
And that uncertainty is what keeps most people stuck.
I know — because I was there too.
And honestly, part of the overwhelm isn’t AI itself. It’s the explosion of tools.
Every week there’s a new app.
A new assistant.
A new “game changer.”
It’s easy to think you need to try all of them.
You don’t.
You don’t need more tools. You need a better way to think about them.
Learning to use AI is productive work
When I first started using AI, I felt like a complete beginner. I wasn’t sure what it was actually good for.
And I wasn’t sure if I was using it “correctly.”
Sometimes it felt like I was wasting time I could have spent doing something more productive.
What I didn’t realize back then was this:
Learning how to use AI is productive.
If you understand how it supports your work, it stops being a distraction — and starts becoming leverage.
Most beginners make the same mistake.
They think too big.
They assume they need to understand AI before they’re allowed to use it seriously.
So they hesitate.
Overthink.
Wait.
But the best way to learn AI is by using it.
The shift for me was simple:
I stopped seeing AI as something foreign, as some mysterious system I had to decode.
I started seeing it for what it really is:
A tool.
A tool for thinking.
Like a notebook.
Or a sounding board.
Once it became practical, it stopped feeling intimidating.
So, How Can I Actually start Using AI?
Here’s the simple framework I use:
Step 1 – Identify friction
Don’t start with tools.
Start with tension.
Ask yourself:
- What takes too long?
- What drains my energy?
- What do I repeat every week?
- Why do I even want to use AI?
Maybe you struggle with decision fatigue.
Maybe you overthink every move.
Maybe you procrastinate because starting feels overwhelming.
As I wrote in my previous post about AI and leverage, procrastination often isn’t laziness. It’s uncertainty and friction.
AI is surprisingly good at helping you move past the blank page — or the blank mind.
It helped me start faster.
Decide faster.
Move forward instead of staying stuck.
Sometimes, momentum is all you need.
Step 2 – Use AI as a thinking partner
This changed everything for me.
I don’t use AI to make decisions.
I use it to think better.
I don’t ask it for final answers.
I ask it for perspectives.
If I’m working on marketing copy, I might ask:
- Write this from the customer’s perspective. What would they actually care about?
- What objections would they raise?
- Where would they hesitate?
Or I’ll shift roles.
- Rewrite it as if a CEO is addressing her team.
- What would a skeptical reader push back on?
Then I’ll change perspective again.
- How would this actually help a client — say, someone in retail?
- Would it move products, or am I just trying to sound clever?
And then I turn it against myself.
- Where is the reasoning weak?
- Where am I oversimplifying?
- How could this be sharper?
The answers aren’t always perfect.
That’s not the point.
The point is what happens in my own thinking.
Each angle sparks new ideas.
Each perspective creates a small shift.
Each question pushes the thought somewhere it wouldn’t have gone on its own.
It becomes a creative conversation.
A cognitive jump.
And from that jump, new ideas emerge.
Those are the ideas I bring back into the material.
Not because AI wrote them for me.
But because the conversation helped me discover them.
AI doesn’t replace judgment.
It expands it.
The value isn’t in obedience.
It’s in reflection.
Step 3 – Iterate
When I write articles, I rarely start with a clean outline.
I start messy.
I usually talk my ideas into AI tools like ChatGPT in no particular order.
Half sentences. Random thoughts.
AI helps me draft a rough version.
Then I do the real work.
I read it.
Question it.
Add ideas.
Remove what feels generic.
Restructure what’s unclear.
We go back and forth until it feels clear, sharp, and publishable.
Yes — I obsess over word choice.
I tweak tone.
Push for sharper phrasing.
Sometimes I probably test its patience.
But that’s the point.
As a copywriter, language matters.
AI doesn’t replace that sensitivity.
It responds to it.
It’s a feedback loop.
Not a shortcut.
The same applies to strategy.
Refine.
Challenge.
Adjust.
Shift perspective.
Iteration is what speeds things up.
Not blind trust.
You don’t need more tools.
You need better questions.AI won’t free you.
But the time you save might.
