Feel confident in adding AI to your workday with these 3 steps.

AI can help you streamline tasks and spend more time on high-value work. But how can you be sure AI boosts your productivity and isn’t the latest procrastination hideaway?

As an early adopter, I eagerly tried and tested different tools. But without a dedicated IT team to set up the systems and provide guidelines, I walked into the AI playground armed with the advice of a few blogs and the latest tips from social media. 

After a few weeks, I wondered whether AI was a good fit for Better Workday. Could this technology make me work smarter, or would it dull my creativity and originality? And I didn’t feel like I was working too many hours before this technology became available. So, did I really need the help?

This is where we sometimes struggle with change. On the one hand, it’s exciting to try new things. On the other, it’s normal to want to stick with our usual routines. 

So what do you do? After spending a few weeks hopping on and off the AI train, I went for a long walk and considered how to make AI work for me and Better Workday. 

If you want AI to be a supporting member of your team rather than the latest procrastination temptation, read on. I’ll break down the steps I went through to onboard AI into Better Workday.

What is AI

Before we dive into the steps to making the most of AI, let me explain what AI is and show you how much you already use it in your daily life.

AI, or Artificial Intelligence, is when computers and machines can do things that normally need human intelligence to get done.  Here are some examples of how we use AI in everyday life:

• When you ask Siri or Alexa a question. 
• When you get recommendations on YouTube or Netflix 
• When you use a digital map to find your way somewhere
• When you use Face ID on your iPhone

Now that you can see how AI can enhance your everyday life, it’s time to focus on the workday.

Step 1: Identify the job for AI

I spent my first few hours aimlessly wandering around different tools. I looked at chatbots to improve the experience on the website, automating repetitive tasks and generating content ideas for a new podcast, YouTube channel or course. But while these were all very interesting, they didn’t align with my current workload. I seemed to have created even more work for myself.

The first step in using AI to create a better workday is to know the job you want AI to help with.

AI  is an excellent opportunity to streamline current work and speed up new projects. But it’s a complete waste of time if you use it to get information about stuff you do not intend to do. Worse still is if you add new activities to your work because AI can do it. 

Just because AI can help with a task, it doesn’t mean it’s a task that you need to do.

1. Make a list of daily, weekly and monthly tasks.
2. Add any projects you plan to start in 3-6 months.
3. Create a separate list of things you would like to explore with AI. (You can set aside a couple of hours each week to try new things without it overtaking the workweek).

Step 2: Clarify what type of help you need.

Once I decided what tasks I would use AI for, my next mistake was choosing how to use it – or the support I needed. For example, I enjoy writing blog posts, but it’s not always easy to do it consistently. This seemed like the perfect AI candidate. I used Chat GPT and asked it first to generate ten ideas for blog posts. Then, I asked it to create a draft post for the one I liked most and copied the output into a Word document for editing. Sounds perfect, right?

But there were more than a few problems with this approach.

First, I ignored existing sources of inspiration, which were likely to be more valuable. This included questions, survey responses from my audience and customers, and my observations of the workplace. Chat GPT gave me some good ideas, but they needed to be more original.

The second was that I found editing the article Chat GPT generated challenging. It’s like I was handed an article written by someone else and then asked to rewrite it and make it my own. I got complete writer’s block. 

If you want AI to support your workday, leverage it in the areas you need help with the most. The SWOT is a great tool to help you with this.

1. What are your strengths? What is the work you excel at or enjoy?
2. What are your weaknesses? What tasks do you procrastinate on or struggle with?
3. What are the opportunities for AI? How can AI best support you so you can spend your time on the most valuable work to you?
4. What are the threats when it comes to using AI? Examples could be incomplete or inaccurate information. Identify these threats and the steps you can take to mitigate them.

After completing the SWOT, I reassigned AI to the role of editing assistant. (And this blog has benefited from it!)

Step 3: Select the right tools.

The third challenge I faced was deciding which tools to use. At first, I downloaded all the apps and enabled AI on all my existing apps. To say it was confusing is an understatement.

If you feel overwhelmed with the many tools available, follow these steps.

1. Identify the work you need help with and the type of help you need, as outlined in the sections above.
2. Check if any of your existing tools or applications have features that can meet this need.
3. If you need to add something new, select one tool for each job you need help with.

Will you pick the best AI tool for every task? Maybe not.  But good enough is better than not using it at all or spending all your week trialling new apps instead of doing your work. Unless you have a dedicated team focused on AI in your business, good enough is good enough for now. You can continually improve as you go along.

Knowing what I needed help with, the type of help I needed and where I would get the help transformed AI from a bottomless pit of prompts and possibilities to a supportive aid. Now it’s over to you. Follow these steps to leverage AI and make the most out of your workday.