Hey Work Fun Nation,

Been reflecting on this AI journey now that I'm past the 50-day mark.

What actually happens when you build with AI every day for almost two months?

Everyone talks about the cool results. The automation wins. The time saved.

Nobody talks about the messy reality of actually doing this work.

So here are the 4 things I wish someone had told me on Day 1:

AI ALSO Amplifies Your Existing Problems

If you're disorganized, AI makes you faster at being disorganized.

Ako mismo, I already struggled with file organization in my regular work. Then AI came along and suddenly I'm creating prompts everywhere - client feedback decoders, video scripts, email outreach templates.

Instead of solving my organization problem, AI made it exponentially worse.

The chaos:

• ChatGPT conversations impossible to search through, even when I knew I'd solved that exact prompt before
• Claude conversations archived and saved, but buried in hundreds of past chats
• Google Docs scattered everywhere with no naming system
• Spending more time recreating prompts than actually using them

I started feeling overwhelmed as everything piled up.

AI doesn't fix your fundamentals - it multiplies them.

The solution I came up with? One master Google Doc with a simple table. Keywords for each prompt, where it lives, what problem it solves.

For my most used prompts, I use a text expander to inject prompts in any text field.

The Real Competition Isn't Other Freelancers

While everyone's worried about AI replacing jobs, I discovered something different.

The real competition is becoming the person who makes AI useful for people who don't have time to figure it out themselves.

Most businesses are drowning in AI possibilities - they need translators, not technicians.

During this challenge, I got more consultation requests from people who needed help implementing AI than from people wanting to learn it themselves.

They don't want to become prompt engineers. They want someone who already is.

Consistency Beats Perfection (But Nobody Believes It)

Day 15: I almost quit posting because my tools weren't "ready."

Day 32: People started paying me for AI consultations.

Day 39: I got invited to moderate a panel at the AI First Summit.

The difference? I kept building publicly while others waited for the perfect moment.

Here's what I learned: people don't follow perfect execution.

They follow authentic progress.

The posts where I admitted being stuck got more engagement than the ones where I had all the answers.

Momentum compounds. Perfectionism just compounds delay.

AI Makes You More Human, Not Less

The biggest surprise: clients don't want perfect AI outputs.

They want work that feels intentional and personal.

My best projects happened when I used AI to amplify my personal perspective, not replace it.

Like when I helped a client fix his robotic AI messaging. The breakthrough wasn't better technology - it was making the AI sound like a real person having a real conversation.

People can smell fake from a mile away, even when it comes from a machine.

The future isn't about competing with AI. It's about becoming more yourself, faster.

52 days down. 38 to go.

The tools keep evolving. The frameworks keep improving.

But these fundamentals? They're not changing anytime soon.

What's your biggest AI struggle right now, ?

Reply and let me know - I read every single one.

Shoden "AI Reality Check" San

PS. If you're drowning in scattered AI prompts like I was, start that master doc today. Your future self will thank you.

🎉 Pst. Don't Keep Me A Secret. refer this newsletter to your freelancer friends. This REALLY REALLY helps me a lot, thanks! Or if you're done referring and you just want to buy me some coffee, I won't stop you.