Nothing makes me lose interest faster than a subject matter expert spewing jargon-filled alphabet soup.

I get it. They know more than I do about whatever topic. Regardless, their gobbledygook message flies right over my head.

And I am guilty of the same sin with AI.

I have gushed about ChatGPT and artificial intelligence like a besotted high school freshman. Not a good look.

My friends’ eyes glaze over. They ask me to translate dense text into sentences decipherable by humans.

Ouch.

I am glad they did. AI is the most transformational technological advancement of our time, but that doesn’t matter if I can’t help everyone come along for the ride. The stakes are too high, for you and for me, to fail so I need to flip the narrative.

Why for you? Because AI is now ubiquitous. You need to understand how to leverage its benefits and to recognize its pitfalls. To be “AI illiterate” today is perilous to both your earning potential and your mental health.

Why for me? Because one of the services I plan to offer is AI troubleshooting for small business. If I can’t quickly and succinctly articulate how a person can use AI while getting the most bang for their buck, that service won’t leave the launchpad.

Ultimately, the key is not about what AI can do. Instead, it’s all about what challenge you need to solve and how AI can help you do it faster.

Here are three concrete and free ways you can use AI now. Or you can skip ahead to share your one challenge I can help you solve.

1. Turn Scribbled Notes Into A Meeting Recap

You’ve jotted notes on a slip of paper. Maybe at a doctor’s office. Maybe after a meeting with your boss.

You want to turn them into notes you can save rather than stuffing the paper into a folder and never seeing it again. To do that, you could type everything into a Word or Google Doc yourself.

Or you could do it faster with AI:

1. Open the ChatGPT app on your phone. Start a new chat.
2. Select the plus sign in the lower left corner of the chat. Select the camera. Snap a picture of the notes.
3. In the chat, ask for what you need. Meeting notes? Action items? A summary. Whatever you want, just ask.
4. Once ChatGPT returns the analysis, select the copy icon – the two squares in the bottom left corner of the chat – then paste it into iOS Notes or whichever app is simplest for you.

2. Make a Pantry Raid Recipe

It’s 6:00 p.m. You’re hungry but you don’t want something delivered because your cupboard and refrigerator are well stocked.

You could think of a dish to make, Google it, then plow through pages of results. Maybe you’d find one that sounds good, but then you have to scroll through too many ads to find a recipe which may call for an ingredient you don’t have and take too long to make.

Or you could do it faster with AI:

1. Open the ChatGPT app on your phone. Start a new chat. Tell it the dish you want to make, the ingredients you have, and how long you want to cook. Ask it for three suggested recipes.
2. Pick the one which sounds best. Check the ingredients. If you’re missing something, ask it to substitute it in the recipe.
3. Keep chatting until what the recipe calls for matches what you have.
4. Cook and enjoy your delicious, delivery-fee-free meal.

3. Learn Anything Fast

You have to figure out how to do something, and you don’t have a lot of time to do it.

You could Google the problem, then go down an influencer-laden YouTube rabbit trail filled with preroll ads, flashy graphics, and outdated instructions. Hours later, you’re still stuck.

Or you could do it faster with AI:

1. Open the ChatGPT app on your phone. Start a new chat and ask for a five-step beginner guide to learn how to do just about anything.
2. If the steps don’t make sense, ask it to explain it even more clearly or to break the sentences down into easy-to-follow bulleted lists. You can also ask it to describe what you should see or hear at each step of the process.
3. If you hit a roadblock, take a picture and add it to the chat like you did in the first example. Showing AI what you see is a powerful way to guide it to a better result.
4. Stick with it. You may need to ask for clarification more than once, but you’re not being bombarded with ads in the chat. And AI is programmed to help you succeed rather than to refer you to watch five more videos or sign up for an email newsletter.

What Challenge Do You Have?

I’ve used AI to solve each of these three problems. It consistently saves me time and heartburn while improving my outcomes.

And you don’t care about that. So how can I help you solve one challenge you have today?

Use the following form to tell me about one thing that slows you down or you can’t figure out. I’ll answer all the submissions in an upcoming blog post so you’re welcome to remain anonymous. However, if you want me to craft a solution then respond directly to you, please add your email address.

Share your one pain point, and let’s flip the narrative together.

Image source: Rodrigo Rodriguez on Unsplash