Automate Your Life with AI: everyday tasks, done faster

Published 8 Nov 20266 min read

Automate Your Life with AI is a practical course on how to use AI at work for the tasks that eat your week. In 24 short sections it covers the three ways AI tools work, writing an instruction like a brief, checking and steering the reply, saving what works as a template, then real workflows for email, documents, spreadsheets, presentations and research, with privacy, agents and what to automate first.

It works with whichever assistant you have, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini or Copilot. The skills are the same: ask clearly, check the result, and turn anything you do twice into a reusable workflow.

What the course covers

Sections	Topic	What you do
1 to 3	What AI automation means, and three kinds of AI tool	Sort tasks by the kind of tool that suits them
4 to 7	Writing a brief, then checking and steering the reply	Label the parts of an instruction, then pick the follow-up that fixes a reply
8 to 9	Saving instructions as templates	Fill a reusable instruction with specific pieces
10 to 11	Email: sorting, summarising and drafting	Triage an inbox into urgent, needs a reply, or for information
12 to 13	Documents: summaries and action items	Pick the request that gets each job done
14 to 15	Spreadsheets in plain words	Work out what an AI formula should show, to check it
16 to 17	Presentations, outline first	Put the steps of an AI workflow in order
18 to 21	Research you can check, and keeping private data private	Spot the claim to check, then sort what is safe to paste
22 to 24	Agents, schedules and what to automate first	Place tasks on a grid by how often they come up and how much judgement they need

Asking and checking

An AI tool only knows what you tell it. The course teaches you to write a request like a brief, saying the task, the context, the format and any limits, then to treat the first reply as a draft: read it, spot what is missing or wrong, and send a specific follow-up instead of starting again.

Real workflows

Then it applies that to everyday work. Let AI label and summarise email and draft replies. Upload a long document and ask for the key figures and actions. Describe a spreadsheet task in plain words and check the formula it writes. Ask for a presentation outline first, fix it, then build the slides.

Choosing what to automate

Start with tasks that come up often and follow the same pattern: they save the most time for the least risk. Frequent tasks that need judgement are best drafted by AI and decided by you, and rare tasks that need care stay human.

Often and routine: automate first. Often with judgement: AI drafts, you decide. Rare and routine: later. Rare with judgement: keep it human.

Try a question from the course

When a reply misses, a precise follow-up beats starting again. If an AI summary of a meeting is a wall of text when you wanted actions, do not just say "better". Say what to change: "Rewrite this as a bulleted list of actions, each with the person responsible and the deadline."

Now pick the follow-up that fixes a reply, then press Mark to check your answer in the course.

Press Mark to have your answer marked in the Automate Your Life with AI course.

Who this course is for

Office workers drowning in email, reports, spreadsheets and slides.
Small business owners and freelancers who do their own admin.
Students who want to use AI well for organising, summarising and planning, without handing over their thinking.

What you need to know first

Nothing beyond having used an AI assistant at least once. The spreadsheet practice asks you to work out what a simple formula should show, so basic spreadsheet use helps.

How long it takes

There are 24 sections and most take a few minutes. Learners without a plan can open two sections of a course a day, in order, so the whole course takes 12 days. A plan removes the daily limit and lets you go straight to any workflow, such as spreadsheets.

Guided courseDeep Research with AIGet research reports you can trust: sharp questions, checked sources and honest charts.

Guided courseAI Prompt EngineeringGo deeper on prompts: structure, examples, output formats and agents.

Common questions

Is this course free?

You can take every section without paying, two sections a day, in order. A plan removes the daily limit and opens any section straight away. The AI tools you use may have their own costs.

How can I use AI to save time at work?

Start with tasks you do often in the same way, such as sorting email, summarising documents, writing formulas or outlining slides. Write a clear brief, check the reply, and save the instruction as a template so the next time takes seconds.

Which AI tool should I use for work?

The one your workplace allows. The skills in this course work with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Copilot and similar assistants, many of which now chat, work inside your apps and run tasks for you.

Is it safe to paste work documents into AI?

Check which tools your workplace approves first. Approved work accounts often have stronger privacy rules than personal ones. Never paste passwords or other people's personal details.

What tasks should I automate first?

Ones that come up often and follow the same pattern each time, such as inbox sorting or weekly reports. Tasks that need judgement are better drafted by AI and decided by you.

Can AI do whole tasks on its own?

Some assistants can act as agents, carrying out a whole workflow such as filling in a report and drafting an email, and some can run saved tasks on a schedule. You still check the results.

Revision cards

Say the answer first, then flip the card to check it.

Where to go next

Learn it
Automate Your Life with AI
Use AI tools to save time on everyday tasks, from emails to research
Start the course