How to Get Ahead With AI: A Simple 6-Step System for Work and Life

I used to be pretty anti AI. It didn’t feel smart. It made more work instead of saving time. And most people seemed to use it to reword emails, which just didn’t interest me.

Then at the end of last year I started using it for code, automations and workflows, and everything clicked. Since then it’s taught me stuff, built stuff, saved me money and made me money. AI probably won’t replace you. But a person using AI will.

So here’s the exact system I use to get ahead with AI. It works for your personal life and your business, and you don’t need to be technical.

Here are the six steps:

1. Use AI to multiply the skills you already have
2. Use AI to learn anything faster
3. Build tools and apps with AI, no coding needed
4. Automate boring tasks with AI
5. Use AI as a second brain
6. Use AI to build leverage

Step 1: Use AI to multiply the skills you already have

You don’t need to “learn AI”. Just take your best skill and ask yourself what you could do with it that you never could before.

I’m a designer. For years I designed websites and apps in Figma, and before that in Photoshop. That was always my limit. If I wanted a design to become a real working website or app, I needed a developer. Sometimes a whole team.

AI changed that completely. Now I design something and have AI code it. I don’t have to wonder if something is possible in code, or explain it word by word to a developer. I just test it myself.

It goes further too. On aimanual.app there’s a pixel globe spinning in the header, with lines shooting between cities. I wouldn’t even know where to start designing that in Figma. I just described what I was imagining and AI built it. AI is now my builder, and I never had to learn to code.

So how do you actually apply this? Write down a skill you’re already good at. Next to it, write down the skill that’s always held you back. Then use AI to bridge that gap.

If you’re a marketer, you can build your own landing pages. No more waiting on a designer and a developer. If you’re an architect, you can build an interactive version of your design with real measurements, then show it to a builder instead of trying to describe it. If you’re an accountant, you can build systems that automate parts of your process. There’s just so much you can do here.

Step 2: Use AI to learn anything 10x faster

Most people use AI in a pretty boring way. Ask a question, get an answer, done. But it’s an incredible teacher, and I don’t think people realise how good it is.

The old way was books or searching online. But a book doesn’t know your level or how you like to learn. AI does. It can go as broad or as deep as you want, make you diagrams, build interactive guides and find you videos.

Here’s a real example. I wanted to build an automation and Claude suggested a tool called n8n, which connects your apps and moves information between them automatically. I’d never heard of it. Normally I’d have spent a weekend on tutorials and probably given up. Instead I asked Claude to teach me and walk me through setup. I had it running in a day.

So how do you use it like this? Ask AI to explain something like you’re a complete beginner. Then ask it to quiz you. Then actually go and do the thing. You can even let it watch your screen so it can point out your mistakes and show you where to improve.

Photos and videos work too. When something looked off with my car, I took a picture and asked Claude or ChatGPT if it looked normal and what to do. It figured it out with me.

One hot take. I think AI will change education, especially for kids. I don’t think traditional school makes much sense anymore. I’m biased though. School didn’t work for me. I learned far better by doing than by reading a textbook.

Step 3: Build tools and apps with AI (no coding needed)

The hard part of building isn’t the building anymore. AI can do a lot of that. The hard part now is taste, and deciding what to build.

You also don’t have to build things to sell. Lots of people now build internal tools just for themselves or their team.

One thing I built and launched is Digital Creator Club. It has paid membership, logins, membership cards, access to a private Discord community and more. It’s fully custom. A year ago I could never have built it. Now it makes tens of thousands of dollars a year.

I also used AI to create digital artwork for a wallpaper pack. That pack has made over $30,000. I’ve also helped businesses build their own internal tools. Things like a custom CRM to keep track of their customers, invoice generators and all sorts of automations.

How do you apply this yourself? Start with something you wish existed. Describe it to AI in as much detail as you can, refine it, and see if it can build it. It doesn’t have to be a website or an app. Let the AI figure out the best solution.

Step 4: Automate boring tasks with AI

Everyone has tasks they hate doing every week. Those are your first automations.

For me it was invoices. I take payments online from customers all over the world. Sending invoices was a pain, especially for EU customers who need specific details on them. So I used AI to build an automated invoicing system. When someone buys, they instantly get an email with an invoice that meets pretty much every country’s requirements. Nobody has to email me asking for one. It just happens.

Another idea is a Telegram bot for expenses. Take a photo of a receipt, whether it’s software, a client lunch or anything else, and send it to the bot. It reads the receipt, pulls out the details and logs them in a Google Sheet. Then you just submit the sheet for expenses.

Stuff like that used to be so tedious. Now it can be fully automated. Figure out how to use AI for your everyday admin and you’ll save a ton of time.

Step 5: Use AI as a second brain for better decisions

Everything so far has been about getting AI to do things for you. This step is about getting it to think with you. Not think for you, but think with you.

Most people ask a question and get a generic answer. Of course it’s generic. The AI knows nothing about you. The trick is to give it context. Big companies pay advisers, accountants and strategists for this kind of perspective. AI gives you a lot of that for the price of a subscription.

Here’s how I use it. I pointed it at a folder of my bank statements and asked it to help me understand my money. It found subscriptions I’d completely forgotten about.

I’ve also given it everything about my YouTube channels, plus all my video ideas and scripts in Notion. Now it can tell me why certain videos worked, why others didn’t, and how I can use the same ideas in future videos.

And when I launch a product, I ask it to pick apart my pricing and my launch plan. What could go wrong? What haven’t I thought of?

It’s like having a business partner with unlimited ideas who never gets tired.

So give it as much context as you can. For business, that means context from your email, your Notion, wherever your info lives. Then ask it things like:

• Here’s my situation. What am I not seeing?
• Pick this plan apart. Where does it fail?
• Argue against this decision.
• Here are my last 12 months of numbers. Where is the money leaking?
• I’m choosing between A and B. What questions should I be asking myself?
• Turn my goals into milestones and tell me what to do this week.

You can also give it your CV and a job you want, and it’ll show you the gaps. Or use it for big decisions like moving country or quitting a job. It’s great for negotiating too. I love negotiating, but even I find it useful for seeing the other side and working out what to ask for.

Just remember it’s an adviser, not an oracle. The decisions are still yours.

Step 6: Use AI to build leverage

This is where it all comes together.

The people who get ahead aren’t the ones who work the hardest. That’s just not how life works. It’s the people with the most leverage. Leverage just means getting more done without putting in more hours.

There used to be only a few kinds of leverage. Money to invest, people to hire, or code and media that work while you sleep. Most people can’t access those. AI is the first kind almost anyone can use from day one. It costs a subscription. That’s it.

The key thing is that leverage multiplies what you already have. If you’re starting out, it gets you to the starting line much faster. If you already run a business, it’s like having a whole team that’s always ready.

For me the biggest one is building. I use AI coding tools like Claude Code and Codex, and run them in apps like Conductor and Ship Studio. That lets me have multiple AI agents building different things at once. Agents are basically AI assistants that work on tasks by themselves, and they just ask me when they need my input. I’m not a developer. I’m more like a manager telling them what to do.

It’s also like having a personal assistant. Every Monday it sends me a message with how much my stores and digital products made and what’s coming into the business. I don’t have to log in anywhere to check.

And it’s become my operations person. I use n8n to move customer data from one platform to another. It quietly runs things in the background, almost like a really powerful CRM, without me copying and pasting anything.

And it works 24/7. No human can do that. A computer doesn’t care. You can have several running at once.

What’s crazy is none of this existed for me 12 months ago. I’d have needed to hire three or four people to do what I do now. I still have a team, but now they have their own leverage too.

And it works at every level. If you’re starting out, use AI for as much as you can before you ever hire. If you’re a freelancer, let it handle the admin like invoices and client follow ups.

If you have a team, everyone gets their own leverage. Your support person handles the tricky cases while an agent does the basics. Your designer ships without waiting on a developer. And in a bigger business, every department gets its own multiplier for research, reporting, first drafts and data.

The one thing I’d say though is that you’re still in charge. Agents are great at narrow jobs, but they’ll happily do the wrong thing very efficiently if you don’t check on them. Treat them like a new hire. Give them a focused task and check their work.

What AI can’t do for you

AI still can’t give you taste or judgment. It also can’t do your distribution, which just means getting your thing in front of people. Anyone can build a website or an app now, but you still need people to find it and buy it. I think AI is just really good at taking the tedious stuff off your plate. The rest is still on you.

I think of AI as a power skill. Get good at it and it makes every other skill better. It’s a bit like Google. Some people can find anything on it and some people are terrible. The gap between those two groups is about to become the gap between who gets ahead and who doesn’t.

Common questions about using AI

Do I need to know how to code to use AI?

No. I’m a designer, not a developer. I describe what I want in plain English and AI builds it. You don’t need special language or technical skills to get started.

Will AI replace my job?

I don’t think so. But a person using AI will. That’s why I think it’s worth getting good at it now.

Which AI tools do you use?

Mainly Claude and ChatGPT for learning and thinking things through. Claude Code and Codex for building websites and tools. And n8n for automating stuff and moving data between apps.

What’s the best way to start using AI?

Pick one step from this post. Start with a skill you already have, or a boring task you do every week. Get good at that, then move on to the next.

Can AI help me make money?

Yes. I’ve used AI to build a paid membership site that makes tens of thousands of dollars a year, and a wallpaper pack that has made over $30,000. It also saves money by automating work you’d otherwise hire for.

Where to start

Honestly, the biggest thing I want you to take from this is that AI multiplies the skills you already have. I’m a designer and now I can build. If you write, you can build too. If you run a business, it’s almost like having a team on hand.

You don’t have to do all six steps at once. Pick one and take your time with it. Once it clicks, move on to the next.

If you want more, I’ve got loads of guides and resources on aimanual.app. If you run a business and want help setting up AI, you can work with me and my team. And I’ve got a bunch of other videos on my channel about Claude and other ways to use AI, so check those out too.