Good to see you again here, my friend.
This is the third and final installment of this series.
And here I'm bringing you another perspective and some practical actions to take moving forward.
So, let's get started.
Few right ways and many wrong ones
You've likely heard the quote "AI won't replace you, a person using AI will".
That's true regardless of what field you're working on.
You now have to bring your A-game out there.
The competition is no longer only between people.
Comparing who has the better skills, or the most experience and "know-how", or who can execute on an idea faster and bring it to the market.
With people using AI tools.
It is now more a competition of who has better access, who can implement it in a faster way, who can create more value with fewer resources, etc.
Just don't forget that AI works best as an enhancer, not a replacement.
You still are in charge of what you want to do and why you're doing it.
For this, I like the analogy of AI being an assistant, with an insane work ethic but with very little experience.
This frame of mind helps you take advantage of this powerful tool instead of the opposite happening.
I don't like to see people afraid, saying things like "ohh AI will replace me".
They get all anxious about it and tell that to others.
But then they go and use ChatGPT or something else to do all their tasks with little involvement on their part.
And I'm like, "You don't want AI to replace you but you're literally giving it all your tasks." 🤷♂️
If your contribution to whatever you're working on is to be a middleman between the AI and the receiving side…
Then guess what, you’re not very valuable.
You are more likely to get replaced sooner than later.
It is much better for people to work on themselves first and then use AI to empower them.
Instead of them being all lazy and wanting AI to do all their work while they just lounge away and pretend to be “hustling hard”.
And that leads me to the next point.
To enhance something, it has to already be good in the first place.
Don't pretend that AI will enhance your "book writing skills" if you've never written a blog post before.
(But you watched a YouTube video saying there's a "big" money-making opportunity using ChatGPT to write children's books and then publish them on Amazon KDP 🙄)
Please, for the love of all that's holy.
Don't use AI to become a grifter.
If you're already good at something...
Use it to get much better at it.
Do much more with greater quality in less time.
That is the way.
Instead of using AI to fake it and bring in a “quick buck” for now without caring about what could happen later down the road.
Learn hard things, develop important skills and enhance them with AI
You can also use it to develop skills in an area that you have an interest in but didn’t have the resources to do so before.
Like say for example you wanted to create comics because you’ve always loved them. But you’ve had pretty mediocre drawing skills.
Now you can use AI for the illustrations and focus on the narrative part.
You could translate that example to making music, a video game, short films, etc.
Now that you know that...
We can move on to the more actionable stuff.
What to do with all of this
Whether you are a specialist or a generalist.
AI can help you boost your skills and give you a competitive advantage over others who don't use it properly.
It's true that many jobs will disappear because of it.
But at the same time, new ones will emerge.
And other roles will undergo some type of change.
AI can give many people the opportunity to not stay stuck at a job only because "it pays the bills".
I know many creative and multi-skilled types that haven't made the leap because they're unsure about what to do after leaving the job.
But with AI, this process can be shorter.
They can now get to their desired outcomes faster without paying too much attention to the uncertainty out there.
Because there's a path forward for those that want to stay competitive.
And here I'd like to bring some of the timely advice of Cal Newport.
"In this new economy, three groups will have a particular advantage: those who can work well and creatively with intelligent machines, those who are the best at what they do, and those with access to capital."
This tells us that in this shifting world we don't need to be anxious about the future if we can be in one of these 3 groups.
The 1st being the one that applies to most of us
Keep improving, sharpening your skills, and using AI as a helper in all productive activities.
Although this is easier said than done.
Because due to all the fast-paced change we've seen just this year alone...
We can't expect to learn something in a semester like most of us did in college.
We have to be swift and adapt fast.
To quote Cal again.
"To learn hard things quickly, you must focus intensely without distraction."
This is the #1 skill that can help us do just that.
Not only to learn quickly but to get experience in that field as well. And then be able to either stay there or pivot to somewhere else that can give us better results.
But here's the thing.
"Focus intensely without distractions" is a super rare thing these days.
The people who can do that consistently are only a handful in any given place.
And that's a skill that you have to develop whether there's AI out there or not.
Next steps
If you're now confused or unsure what to do to build that skill of intense focus, don't you worry.
You won't need to scour the whole internet looking for the "best" resources on how to do it.
Or read a couple of books/watch several videos on the subject and then devise a plan to get started.
(Never mind all the obstacles you'll find on the way when you do get started with it.)
Instead...
Take a more structured approach and get all the most relevant concepts.
While also taking the proper action to put those into practice.
And start developing that intense focus without distractions in less than a month.
If you are interested in doing that then I invite you to join me on a journey.
Where you'll learn what you need and what you don't while having fun in the process.
That's it for this AI series.
If you read any or all of the posts, I hope you've enjoyed them and learned something new.
I will keep sharing with you insights so that you can keep improving on your development journey.
Thanks for reading until now.
See you in the next post.
