I taught a class on AI adoption in a small firm this week, and the part I emphasize every single time is that you need to ratchet down the pressure on what you use AI to solve.
Even if you have to start with something "stupid", like image generation or a thread where you upload pictures of plants for identification, I'll take that over nothing.
And that's the pattern we found after the first full year of putting ChatGPT into our team's hands: We kept telling them AI could solve all their biggest problems and they became too paralyzed to test it on ANY problems.
We're trying to sell a marathon before anyone has taken their first walk.
When we attend classes on AI adoption, we usually see the most dramatic examples. Especially if they're taught by software vendors.
Everyone wants to rush to show how their product, their idea, is truly revolutionary. The tax return that took thirty minutes instead of eight. The slide deck created entirely from a prompt. The practitioner who vibe coded a brand new project management platform and took down the Goliaths.
Those stories are exciting... but they're also unusual (assuming they're even true).
Most of the value from AI doesn't come from giant leaps. It comes from hundreds of tiny steps.
And what I've found is that most users become so overwhelmed by the unlimited potential available that they don't even start with the incremental potential.
None of those small improvements feel transformational enough. We'd almost be embarrassed to admit we're still using AI to help write emails.
But twenty of those tweaks in a week absolutely add up.
More importantly, the small wins change something much more valuable than productivity.
They change behavior.
The goal isn't to create AI experts. Most people will never replace an entire team with agents.
The goal is to create a reflex.
Instead of thinking, "How do I solve this?" your team immediately starts with, "I wonder if AI could help."
That is when the compounding starts.
Once someone develops the habit of asking AI first, they'll begin discovering new use cases without you teaching them. They stop memorizing workflows and start experimenting. They start to recognize the quality in the quantity.
The organizations chasing massive productivity gains will continue to struggle with widespread adoption.
The organizations whose teams instinctively turn to AI for every little process will win the race.
The stories won't be as sexy.
Less about the rockstar power user...
More about teams of ordinary people using AI as a thinking partner from step one.
Your Turn
For the next week, keep track of every time you used AI to solve a problem of any size. Track the number of times for each day. The threshold is at least 7/7, but we're really looking for a growth trend.
