AI | What Actually Works

Step 1 Watch the lesson · 3 min

Your First 15 Minutes With AI: Pick One Tool and Go

Step 2 Read it and try it ↓

AI didn't click for me in a training class. It clicked when I sat down with one boring task I did over and over, and used the AI tool I already had to set it up so it mostly does itself.

Here's how

1. Use the AI tool you already have.No new logins. A new login kills momentum on day one.
2. Pick the task you dread most.The repetitive one, not the hardest one.
3. Stay with it until it works once.The first try will be wrong. Tell it what's wrong. Try again.

It took me 40 minutes. It gives me five hours a month back.

Try it this week: pick one task and give it 40 minutes.

Not sure which tool to open? Start with the Intro to AI guide →

Step 1 Watch the lesson · 6 min

Where Do I Start With AI? Build a Practical Foundation — includes the two rules that keep you safe

Step 2 Read it and try it ↓

The team that pushed back hardest on AI ended up using it the most. They weren't saying no. They were asking fair questions:

• Where does our information go?
• Who can see it?
• What gets saved?

Here's how

1. Ask what they're actually worried about.The most careful people ask the sharpest questions.
2. Answer the information questions first.Where it goes, who sees it, what is kept.
3. Write the answers on one page, in plain words.People follow rules they can find.

Once the rules were written down, the pushback stopped.

Try it this week: ask your team their #1 worry about AI, then write down the answer.

Step 1 Watch the lesson · 5 min

How to Talk to AI So It Actually Understands You

Step 2 Read it and try it ↓

Vague answers come from vague requests. Most of us have never had to write down exactly what we want.

Here's how — say these five things, in order

1. GoalWhat you want done.
2. ContextThe background it needs.
3. AudienceWho will read it.
4. FormatA list, an email, a table.
5. CheckAsk what it assumed before you trust the answer.

Most people skip audience and format. Add those two and the answer gets usable.

Try it this week: rewrite one request using all five lines and compare the answers.

Fill in the five blanks with the free Prompt Builder →
Go deeper: How to Write Better AI Prompts (3 min)

Step 1 Watch the lesson · 2 min

How to Use AI at Work Without Losing Your Judgment

Step 2 Read it and try it ↓

AI writes a first draft 10 times faster than I can. That's the easy part. The real work is checking it — and that's where the saved time should go.

Here's how

1. Never send the first version.It's a starting point, not the finish.
2. Check every number and every source.That's where AI is wrong while sounding sure.
3. Keep the judgment calls.Tone, risk, and who hears what stay with you.

AI drafts it. You check it. You decide.

Try it this week: before you send anything AI wrote, check every number in it.

The 5-step habit, including the checking step →

Step 1 Watch the lesson · 5 min

How to Start Using AI: A No-Jargon Beginner's Guide — includes building one small workflow

Step 2 Read it and try it ↓

An "agent" is AI that does one job on its own, without you asking each time. Across 50+ AI projects, the big, exciting ones stalled. The boring ones are still running: a weekly summary, a folder that sorts itself, a monthly report.

Here's how

1. Start with something boring.A weekly summary. A messy folder.
2. Give it one thing that tells it to start.When you click, at a set time, or when something new arrives. Pick one.
3. Test it on a copy first.So a mistake costs you nothing.

Small and boring beats big and exciting.

Try it this week: name the most boring task you repeat every week. That's your first one.

Step 1 Watch the lesson · 4 min

Feeling Overwhelmed by AI? Start Here

Step 2 Read it and try it ↓

Week one, everyone logs in. Everyone gets access, there's a sales demo, a big announcement. By day nine, almost nobody has a reason to open it again.

What happened

1. What didn't workAccess for everyone, a demo, and an announcement.
2. What changed itOne person, one hated task, built until it worked.
3. What spread itThey told their team. Not me.

Try it this week: pick one person and one task they hate. Sit with them until it works once.