Curious Companion: How to Start Using AI Without Getting Overwhelmed

LISTEN TO THE EPISODE

You don’t need to know everything AI can do to start using it, in fact, thinking about all the possibilities is likely the very thing that’s preventing you from getting started. In this episode I walk through 4 big picture steps for how to get started using AI (to do things, not just answer questions) in a way that won’t overwhelm you. My biggest piece of advice: stop looking at what everyone else is building, start with your own problems, and when you get stuck, just ask the robot.

Is It For You?

Today we are talking about the gotdamn blue tsunami that hit the US last week!!!! JK, we’re not, but also, LFG.

What we’re actually talking about today is how to start using AI without getting overwhelmed.

If you’re an avid reader of this newsletter or listener of the pod, this episode might not be the best fit for you so feel free to forward it to someone who’s asked you for some help. I do however realize that there’s also a chance that you perhaps read this Companion or listen to the episodes simply to stay informed, and maybe you haven’t actually felt the need or desire to dive into AI yet. AND THAT’S OK! If that sentiment changes, this episode will be for you!

For those of you who this episode is a fit, I’m going to give you 4 big picture steps you can take to begin your AI journey. Worth noting: I’m talking about using AI to help you with tasks and to actually do things, not just to answer questions you have. It’s totally fine if asking questions is how you want to use AI, but you already know how to do that…because that’s exactly how Google works.

Alrighty, let’s dive into my approach for how to start using AI without getting overwhelmed.

Step 1: Understand That You Can Use Any of the AI Platforms Out There

ChatGPT, Claude, etc. All the big names do the same thing, so pick the one you like the most and just use that.

Clearly, my penchant is for Claude. That’s largely because of the ethical issues and how some things have been handled behind the scenes. But at the end of the day, all the AI companies have good guys and bad guys, and they all have the same capabilities. So just pick one, and get started. You’ll be fine

Obviously, if you’re going to keep using this podcast for help, Claude might make the most sense since that’s the one I reference the most, but, again, any AI will do!

Step 2: You Can Always Just Ask the Robot

When you get started, and as you embark on your journey, remember that you can always just ask the robot.

If you get stuck at ANY point when you’re trying to do ANYTHING, you can always just ask the robot:

“How do I do this?”
“Can you help me do this?”
“Can you do this for me?”

That’s it. That’s the step. Take comfort in the fact that you’ve always got a guide with you.

Step 3: Use AI to Solve Problems That You Have

This is probably the most important step as it relates to preventing overwhelm. When you’re trying to figure out what to use AI for, use AI to solve problems that you have.

So what counts as a problem? It could be something like:

You hate doing a certain task
You want a way to get something done faster
You keep repeating the same process over and over and you’d like a way to automate it
You wish you could execute something a particular way in your business, but that specific solution doesn’t exist yet

I think the biggest thing that causes overwhelm is that people just ask AI what it can do, or they look at what everyone else is doing and what other people are using it for. They see everything that’s out there (some of it is incredibly overbuilt and unnecessary – nobody needs to have a zillion agents running at once) and just get really overwhelmed. That’s a terrible starting point.

Your best bet is to start by thinking about the specific things you don’t like doing, and then ask AI if it can help you with those things.

I personally would start with one thing at a time and go in with the understanding that a certain level of back and forth will probably be needed.

The biggest thing to remember, and the feature I think is actually the most impressive when it comes to AI, is that you use natural language to communicate with it. If you like talking, you can just talk. If you want to dictate, you can do that. If you want to type, you can do that. Whatever your preference, you don’t need to speak any differently than you do in your normal day-to-day life, which is honestly INCREDIBLE. No coding, no advanced training, just doing what you’ve been doing…since…childhoold. Mindblowing. Truly.

Step 4: Adjust the Personalization Settings

Once you’ve been using AI for a little bit, adjusting the personalization settings can be helpful.

This mostly affects things like the tone it uses and the length of its responses, and the goal is to make it more pleasant to interact with.

Remember, as per always, you can just ask the robot how to do this. If you’re like, “Man, these answers are too long,” (this will 100% be the case) ask the robot: “How do I set it so that you always give me shorter answers?”

Alternatively, you can go into the settings and add that to the custom instructions, depending on which AI tool you’re using. They all have their own version of this, so…ask the robot.

Now, regarding any of the more advanced things like connectors, plugins, Skills, or even the different models within each AI: don’t worry about that stuff! Ha! No, but really, don’t worry about any of that when you’re just starting out, and simply use the default model for that AI. (For Claude, that’s Sonnet 5.5.)

If and when the more advanced tools could be helpful, you’ll start using them organically. You’ll have a specific problem that needs solving, that more advanced thing will be part of the solution, and your AI will have suggested it to you. From there you can once again just ask the robot all the questions that you have.

And there you have it! Four big picture steps for getting started with AI and having it actually DO things for you, not just answer questions, all without getting overwhelmed.

Like I stay saying, the best way to understand this stuff is to simply dive in and try it yourself, so hopefully now you have a gameplan for doing exactly that.

If this episode inspired you to get started, or to try using AI for something other than answering questions, I’d love to hear from you.

How I Used AI This Week

Speaking of using AI, let’s wrap things up with our usual end-of-the-episode segment. Each episode I share a quick example of how I used AI that week.

This week I used AI to randomize the order in which the folks in my Crew 52 accountability group gave their updates.

I know, it sounds like a simple task, and it is. For me, the cool part was how simple it was to do, now that I have Claude connected to Drive.

My prompt, verbatim, was:

“Hey can you go into my drive and find the Crew 52 sheet that has the registrants. When I host the live call I go through and call on each person one at a time. I’d like for you to give me a list here (do not touch the sheet) that randomizes the names so i can call them in a random order this time.”

Delivering that simple prompt is objectively faster than me going into Drive, copying the names, and putting them into an online randomizer, or doing anything of the sort. So to me, that’s a win and a really cool (and helpful) personal use case.

Whiiiiiich is exactly what we’re going to be talking about in next week’s episode (unless the interest bug bites me and takes my brain somewhere else): a breakdown of what I think is the best way to be using AI. So make sure you tune in next week for that.

Da Wrap-up

You don’t need to know everything AI can do to get started. Pick a platform, start with a problem you actually have, and when you get stuck, ask the robot. The advanced stuff will come when you need it. Until then, don’t even worry about it.

As always, endlessly grateful for you and your curiosity.

Catch you next Thursday.

Maestro out.