How to Use AI Every Day and Not Feel Like It’s Work
It’s just another tech habit to build. And the first step is probably right in front of you.
If you open LinkedIn right now, you’re going to see a litany of “Top 10 Prompts to 10x Your Productivity” or “The Ultimate AI Cheat Sheet.” I’ve written a few. I’ve shared more than a few. And I’ve rolled my eyes at ten times more than that. Don’t get me wrong, I find great prompts every day, and if a prompt can save you 15 or 30 minutes in your day; that adds up.
But what’s missing from all those posts is the how. Not “how do I write a prompt,” but “how do I actually make AI a part of my day so I don’t even have to think about it?”
You probably have your email app open all the time. Probably your web browser. Slack? Teams? Zoom? You’re in the habit of using these tools, sometimes because you have to, but (hopefully) because they are useful to you in your day.
AI tools aren’t any different. So here’s how to get started.
1. Just keep the tab open
It sounds stupidly simple, but it’s the biggest hurdle—and easiest thing to fix. And it comes down to one, single thing:
Out of sight, out of mind.
If you have to open a new tab, type in the URL, log in, and wait for the screen to load every time you want to use AI, you aren’t going to use it much. You just won’t. The friction is too high. It’s not top of mind. It’s not easy.
Gemini lives as a pinned tab in my browser. Always there. Always open. If the tab is there and open, there’s a lot less friction between “maybe I could do this with AI…” and doing it.
Seeing it means using it.
Just pin the tab and keep it open.
ChatGPT, Claude, and Perplexity all have stand alone apps (ironically so does NotebookLM), either have them open all the time or on your Dock so they are just there.
2. Know when to search and when to use AI
If I need to know the exchange rate between US and Canadian dollars or how many tablespoons are in a cup, I’m not going to ask Gemini. That’s a Google search. It’s a “zero click” response. I see the answer and I move on. There’s pretty much one answer and even (especially) using AI mode in Google, I get what I need and go.
AI is for the questions that don’t have a single right answer.
For example, I recently went down a rabbit hole trying to figure out the best way to get an LLM to ingest massive amount of information I have in Notion—over 300 prompts I’ve saved—to create some custom prompts. For a downloadable set of marketing prompts I’m working on.
I knew there wasn’t one way to do this. There was a no-code way, there were API connectors, and something in the middle. If I Googled that question, I wouldn’t get what I need which is a range of options and the ability to ask follow up questions and get detailed instructions. Instead, I used Gemini: “I have a large amount of data in Notion, what are the ways I can use it in an LLM? I need options for how to do this including using a locally installed LLM.”
While that did send me down a rabbit hole for using the LLM apps I do have installed on my MacBook; that was actually exactly what I was looking for.
3. Find a few people to follow
If you try to follow every “AI Influencer” talking about the newest models, apps, and updates you’re going to get overwhelmed fast. I love all this stuff and I sometimes have to say enough is enough and stop reading all the “hot takes” what’s new.
The trick is to find a few people who actually know what they’re talking about and write for where you’re at in your AI journey. There is no point in reading a newsletter all about vibe coding when all you want to do is make your marketing workflows better. I might be following a few too many people, but here are some Substacks I recommend.
Pick two or three voices you like. Ignore the rest. You don’t need to know about every new bleeding edge tool that launched this morning, you have work to do.
4. If you do it twice, save it for later
This is the only geeky, semi-advanced step here, but it’s worth learning.
I have way, way too many prompts stashed in Notion. I’ll probably never use a fraction of them (except for the ones I wrote and have saved). But when I find or write a prompt and I wind up using it more than a couple times, I make it into a Gemini Gem. In ChatGPT they are called Custom GPTs, Claude they are Artifacts, but they all do the same thing: let you save a prompt to use over and over again—including supporting context documents (aka knowledge blocks).
Here are the links for how to create them in Gemini, ChatGPT, and Claude. The free versions of the tools might let you create only a few, but it’s worth it. If you have more prompts than you can make into Gems/Custom GPTs/Projects, create a text file in Notepad or TextEdit, paste the prompts there, and save it somewhere handy. It won’t scale well if you start saving more than a couple dozen prompts, but it’s a start.
*Free ChatGPT accounts can’t create GPTs, but while on a free trial of ChatGPT Plus you can create GPTs and when your trial expires they still work (with limitations).
5. Don’t sweat it (It’s not a race)
I saved this for last because it’s the most important. Relax.
AI and all its related stuff is moving faster than anything I’ve ever seen in my career—and I remember when we were hand-coding HTML in text editors. It’s impossible to keep up with everything. If you try, you’ll just get stressed out, overwhelmed, and feel like you’re falling behind.
But you aren’t.
If you are using AI a few times a week, if you understand that there is more than just ChatGPT out there; you are already ahead of the curve. You’re in good shape.
Go slow. Build the habit. Maybe tomorrow you just use it to draft an email. Maybe next week you try NotebookLM (which I love) to summarize a meeting recording. Just keep the tab open and give it a shot.
AI is just another tool to use
That’s really it. That’s how I made AI a habit. I kept the tools open so I see them, asked a lot of questions, tried a lot of stuff just to kick the tires, and learned from the people smarter than me.
If you do want some specific prompts to get you started, leave a comment or message me. I’ve got plenty to share.
But for now? Just pin the tab.
Originally published at https://trishusseywriting.substack.com/p/how-to-use-ai-every-day-and-not-feel
