Just as athletes train their bodies, knowledge workers need to train their minds — not just to think harder, but to think in tandem with machines.
We’re entering a new era of knowledge work. AI isn’t just a tool — it’s a collaborator, an amplifier, and a creative partner. But like any partnership, it only works if you know how to work with it. That’s why I’ve built what I call my AI workout: a personal practice designed to build fluency in how to think with AI.
The goal? Stay relevant. Stay ahead. Stay human — but augmented.
Below is a glimpse into the “exercises” I’ve been doing over the past year, from the practical to the playful, all designed to strengthen my AI intuition and expand my creative and analytical reach.
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🧠 Designing My AI Stack
The foundation of my workout has been building a set of custom GPTs tailored to my workflows. Think of them as specialized teammates: I’ve created a “Life Navigator” to help me make tough decisions, a “Research Assistant,” a “Japanese Tutor,” a “Co-founder GPT” for vetting startup ideas, and even a Therapist because life’s messy, too.
These didn’t require technical skill — just clear thinking and the ability to define what “good” looks like. I write instructions the way I would to an intern. The twist? I also define who the GPT is (e.g., “You are a world-class behavioral psychology researcher who keeps up with cutting-edge academic work.”). Then, I feed it text files of books/articles/authors that I want to cede influence to.
Just like I schedule workouts or yoga, I now build 30–60 minutes of daily “AI exploration” into my routine. It’s not idle play — it’s structured experimentation designed to sharpen how I collaborate with intelligent systems.
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🏋️ Projects as Reps: My AI Workouts in Action
Here’s a sampling of the real projects I’ve tackled to build skill and intuition:
✅ AI-powered productivity tools
- Automating photo organization (renaming, sorting by GPS).
- Health check analysis via a GPT trained on my Japanese lab reports.
- Creating a custom GPT to edit and style-match case studies for my portfolio.
✅ AI as a learning amplifier
- Using NotebookLM to decode technical papers on AI interpretability.
- Using NotebookLM or ChatGPT to simplify complex articles to 10 lines or a 3rd-grade reading level.
- Built a GPT to help me internalize great writing by uploading favorite texts and asking: “What would this author ask about my project?”
✅ Real-world business experiments
- Reverse-engineering TikTok shop ads using Kalodata + AI image/audio tools.
- Creating a custom GPT to strategize marketing funnels across industries, personas, and platforms.
✅ AI to stretch into fun & niche areas
- Overlaying my GPX running data to visualize routes across cities–it’s kinda cool to see a map appended with all of the streets you’ve covered on foot!
- Experimenting with ChatGPT as a Japanese conversation partner using voice mode.
- Prompting AI to write better prompts — a self-improving loop for more effective interaction.
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💡 Lessons From the Gym
- Don’t prompt cold. The quality of output is directly tied to the quality of setup. I now ask AI to help me write the prompt before I ever give it one. No need to overthink this–there’s no better expertise in prompting than the tool that actually receives all of said prompts.
- You don’t need to be technical. Most of what I’ve done didn’t require coding. When I did need code, I relied on back-and-forth troubleshooting, just like pair programming.
- Treat GPTs like people. When you give your AI a defined role and clear criteria it is more helpful, like a teammate who understands the job.
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🧭 Why This Matters
This isn’t just play — it’s training for the next era of work. The money skill won’t be knowing the most, but thinking the best with AI. Just like Google didn’t replace the need for thinking, AI won’t either — but it changes the kind of thinking that wins.
I’m directionally optimistic about GenAI technology, but I’d be lying if I pretend that it doesn’t scare me too (and I’m sure I’m not the only one). But this AI workout practice has already made me more efficient, more curious, more creative, and more confident that I’ll be able to find my way through all the uncertainty.
Don’t just learn AI — train with it.
I’m happy to share templates, GPTs, or ideas if you want to start your own workout.