Thursday, August 20th, 2026
Happy Thursday!
Welcome back to HOW TO // AI. Quick confession about last week: I asked you to run the ceiling test and reply with your results. My inbox was quieter than my ego would like. One of you did write in, asking about the book instead (hi, you know who you are, keep reading, there's something for you below). So the assignment stands. But this week, I'm going first with a confession of my own.
Here's what's in today's issue:
🤖 The 3 Things I Quit Doing Myself
🎯 Free Download: The AI Delegation Kit
🎁 Share This Newsletter, Earn Every Kit I've Made
🎯 Grab today's free download first: The AI Delegation Kit. The quit-or-keep decision tree, plus the 3 handover prompts I use every single week.
Let's get into it!
🤖 I quit doing these 3 things (AI does them now)
There's a difference between using AI to help with a task and quitting the task. Quitting means it leaves your plate entirely. You stop being the writer and become the editor, and you keep only the checkpoint. Here's what I actually quit, with the honest fine print on each.
1. I quit writing first drafts. Newsletter sections, video scripts, outlines. Every single one starts as an AI draft now, from a template that includes my voice rules and a sample of my writing. The prompt is in today's kit word for word.
The guardrail: I do the final voice pass myself, and I read everything aloud before it ships with my name on it. The draft is delegated. The judgment never is.
The honest miss rate: some drafts get heavily rewritten. A few get thrown out completely. It's still hours faster every week, because editing is faster than staring at a blank page.
2. I quit doing research legwork. Gathering, comparing, checking. Last week's issue is the live example: I had AI verify every pricing table against the official pages, because half the articles out there are quoting 2024 numbers with a 2026 date on top.
The guardrail: it's built into the prompt. A source link for every claim, "I couldn't verify this" is an acceptable answer, and I spot-check the numbers that matter before they reach you.
3. I quit reformatting my own content. One finished piece becomes the X post, the LinkedIn post, and the caption drafts. AI does the reshaping. I do the choosing.
The guardrail: nothing posts unread. Every version gets my eyes before it gets an audience.
What I never delegate: final decisions, anything I'd have to apologize for if it went out unreviewed, and replies to you. When you email [email protected], that's me, every time.
The pattern across all three: delegate the doing, keep the judging. If checking the result is faster than doing the task, the task is a candidate. That's the whole test, and the kit below walks you through it for your own week.
🎯 Free download: The AI Delegation Kit
Everything from today's issue, ready to run on your own week: the quit-or-keep decision tree (4 questions that tell you if a task is ready to hand over), all 3 delegation prompt templates with the guardrails built in, the honest miss-rate log, and the Friday 10-minute delegation review. Works with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or whatever you use. Free, as always.
🎁 Share this newsletter, earn every kit I've made
In case you missed it last week: HOW TO // AI now has a referral program, built after five of you forwarded this newsletter to coworkers in a single afternoon without being asked.
🎁 3 referrals → you unlock the Complete Kit Vault: every kit I've ever made (including today's), in one organized hub, with every future kit added automatically
📕 10 referrals → I send you my book, Amplified, in PDF and EPUB. The whole thing. Free.
Your unique link and progress tracker are right here:
🎯 Try this today: pick one task you do every week and run it through the kit's quit-or-keep decision tree. Then reply and tell me what you quit. I read every email, and yes, I reply to all of them myself. See point 3.
📬 In case you missed our last few issues
Get AI certified (or don't)
All 11 AI certifications ranked, the 3 traps that waste money, and free practice questions to find yours.
I stopped typing
Why talking to your AI gets you 3x the context and better answers. Free Talk-to-AI Kit included.
Write better emails with AI in 5 minutes
The Context → Task → Tone formula that stops AI sounding like a robot. Free 5-Minute Email Toolkit included.
🤔 Got questions?
Have a question you want answered? What's the one task you wish you could hand to AI but haven't figured out how? Email [email protected] and you just might be featured in an upcoming issue!
This newsletter is your starter kit for mastering AI with confidence. We keep things simple, show real examples, and focus on quick wins you can repeat.
Stay curious, stick with it, and watch your skills grow week by week!
Until next time :)
-David
P.S. Something new lands next Thursday. It lives on your phone. 📱
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