I've Taken AI as Far as I Can on My Own

I finally admitted something to myself this week that I'd been dodging for a while. I've taken my understanding and application of AI about as far as I can on my own.

Not groundbreaking, I know. But I think it's an important distinction, so I'd rather write it down than let it sit as a feeling.

The golf version of this

It's the same place I've been with golf for years. Yes, this is my second golf and AI post in thirty days. You can see where my head is this summer.

You buy the clubs, you go to the range, you watch the videos. You get better for a while. Then you stop, and it's not because you stopped trying. It's that whatever's holding you back is the stuff you can't see from inside your own swing.

At that point more range time isn't the answer. Someone standing behind you is. I've known that about golf for years and quietly refused to do anything about it.

The same shape, faster

AI has the same shape and it showed up a lot faster.

The self-teaching phase is real and it's productive. Prompting, orchestration, harnessing, insert buzzword here. You read, you try it, you break it, you fix it, and you get better every week.

From talking with others, it seems like a lot of us have hit the point where that's run its course. Reading one more thread and trying one more thing on my own just doesn't move me the way it used to.

The problem with building alone is that the only thing grading you is the thing you built.

What I'm doing about it

Proactively looking for new ways to learn outside my own personal and business projects. Taking classes. Watching webinars. Having more in-person conversations with practitioners, new and old, who can share what they know. If you're doing this work and you'd talk to me about it, reach out.

Anyway, that's where I'm at, and I bet a lot of you are too. Honestly pretty excited to get back into learning mode in the months ahead.

As for golf, the private lessons may have to wait another season.