AI has become an integral tool over the last two years. As someone who wears many hats and has a lot of interests and side-hustles/gigs, AI helps alleviate many burdens that used to slow me down significantly.
In this guide, I will show you the various ways AI assists me on a day-to-day basis.
- Automating time-consuming manual computer-based tasks
- Creating stock images and illustrations
- Designing logos and logo concepts
- Fixing grammar and punctuation in social media posts, emails, marketing copy, and more
- Formatting all types of written content, including HTML/CSS, proposals, meal plans, recipes, and workouts
- Performing various calculations like macronutrients, time, distance (marathon training), percentages etc
- Creating YouTube descriptions, key moments timecodes, titles, and hashtags
- Brainstorming virtually anything
- Conducting internet research where a conversational approach yields better results
- Writing anything—I prefer to write it myself and have AI fix the grammar and structure
- Creating “stock” background music
- Converting text/PDF to natural speech for “reading” and learning on the go; I prefer audiobooks, as it turns out
This may sound obvious, but most people don’t know how to communicate with a computer effectively. The way I see it, you should talk to AI exactly as you would to an offshore developer to get something done—providing explicit instructions with no room for creativity or deviation from precisely what you need.
Even with clear instructions, AI can go rogue, much like offshore developers. You may need to repeat and refine your instructions, or the final output could be a waste of time.
AI is not as reliable as many people think. I often have to repeat commands multiple times, and it frequently fails to deliver what I need due to various limitations or restrictions. Therefore, it’s essential to understand these potential roadblocks and how to navigate them.
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Here’s a good example: Content created using an AI-generated voice-over and script. Additionally, the recipe was formatted by AI, macros were calculated and verified by AI, and the title was AI-generated.
What wasn’t created by AI includes the actual filming, syncing the voice-over with edited clips, the visualizer effect, and other manual edits.
While AI-assisted editing is getting better, it hasn’t yet mastered the full assembly of video production. There are tools available, but if you’re already skilled at editing, you’d rarely choose them. Adobe is working day and night to get these tools into Premiere and After Effects but it’s been a slow process.
AI is just a toolset—nothing more. The more creative, skilled, and knowledgeable you are, the more effectively AI will enhance your work. BUT if you rely entirely on AI, expect it to be full of errors and issues.
9/18/24.
Issue: Upskilling and the course has tons of reading materials. I prefer to learn via seeing, hands-on or audio. So I took conventional reading materials intended to be printed and made them audiobooks. Here’s an example:
I LOVED the ISSA Running Coach course! One downside was that it was entirely in PDF format and required reading. Since I prefer learning on the go, I converted this important chapter into an audiobook. Keep in mind, some of the words, graphs and charts may sound a bit off, so you’ll need to follow along in those sections. I listened to this specific module at least 5x!
There are 10 modules with dozens of chapters in the course. I really liked the info but feel the course platform is a little behind the times, so I stepped it up. Literally. I did 10,000 walking steps each time I put it on and it inspired a better run. My key takeaway for both casual running and marathon training is this: To run fast, runners must dedicate significant time to running slow. This time spent on foot is crucial for building endurance and the ability to run longer distances.
