AI Fundamentals · Lesson 8 · about 20 minutes
Your 30-Day AI Plan at Work
Knowing what AI can do changes nothing until it changes your week. This lesson turns the course into a plan you can start on Monday.
Step 1: choose three tasks
Go back to the list you made in lesson 1. Pick three tasks that:
- you do every week,
- are mostly reading, writing or spreadsheet work, and
- would be cheap to get wrong while you learn (you can spot and fix a mistake easily).
Leave the high-risk tasks for later, when you trust your prompts and your checking.
Step 2: write and save a prompt for each
Use the five-part formula from lesson 3. Save each prompt in your prompt library with blanks for the parts that change.
Step 3: measure, using your own numbers
Before you start, write down how long each task takes you now. After two weeks, write down how long it takes with AI, including checking time. Then do the sum:
| Line | How to work it out | Your number |
|---|---|---|
| A. Minutes saved per task | Time before minus time with AI | |
| B. Times per month | How often you do it | |
| C. Hours saved per month | A × B ÷ 60, added up for all three tasks | |
| D. Value of one hour of your time | Your monthly pay (or what you would pay someone to do the task) ÷ hours worked per month | |
| E. Monthly value of the time saved | C × D, in shillings |
If E is bigger than the cost of a paid plan, the plan pays for itself. If it is not, the free version is enough for now.
Step 4: the 30 days
- Days 1 to 7: use AI on your three tasks every time they come up. Note every correction you make.
- Days 8 to 14: improve your prompts based on those corrections. Measure the time again.
- Days 15 to 21: share your best prompt with one colleague and agree the AI rules from lesson 7.
- Days 22 to 30: add one more task. On day 30, fill in the table and decide what stays.
What comes next
You now know more about using AI at work than most people in most offices. To keep going:
- Join our live AI for Your Work class to practise on your own tasks with a trainer and ask questions as you go.
- If you run a business, take our free AI Business Assessment to find where AI would save your whole team time.
- Ready for something advanced? Our paid AI Agents Course teaches you to build a system of AI agents that runs an online shop.
- Read our guide to ChatGPT for business in Kenya for more ideas by department.
Congratulations on finishing the course.
Key takeaways
- Start with three weekly tasks that are mostly reading, writing or spreadsheets and cheap to get wrong.
- Write down how long each task takes now, so you can measure what AI really saves.
- Work out the value of the time saved: hours saved per month multiplied by what an hour of your time is worth.
- Review your own numbers after 30 days and keep only what actually saved time.
Your task this week
Fill in the 30-day plan in this lesson with your own three tasks, your own hourly value and your own time estimates. Put a reminder in your calendar for day 30 to review the numbers.
Check your understanding
Three quick questions. Your answers stay on your device.