In the last 6 months, I've transitioned from the 16% of the population who were casual AI chatbot users to the top 0.04% who use AI to build full applications and automations. (We all saw that infographic with the green, yellow, and red dots).

In the beginning there were many wasted hours watching YouTube videos that were trying to get views more than teach, or asking Claude Cowork to do ridiculous tasks that maxed out my tokens on the first few days I was using it with terrible outputs.

If I were to do the last 6 months over again, here's where I would start to make the most of my time and learn and build with AI faster:

• Take Foundational Courses with Women Defining AI: The lessons break down the technical concepts into the most basic, essential building blocks and are communicated so effectively that I was able to connect more dots around AI in the couple weeks I sped through the courses compared to the previous 3 months.

• Sign up for Lenny Rachitsky's Insider Product Pass and Play with Different Tools: Definitely get the INSIDER Product Pass. I know it's an investment but it's totally worth it if you're committed to becoming a power user. You get access to some of the best AI tools at a fraction of the price. Play with as many as you can and as you use more and more tools, you start to develop an intuition of how the models and the tools work.

• Start Building Things You'll Use: Build a CRM, a task manager, a Second Brain, a content creator, etc. Build something that's helpful and continue working on improving it that it becomes so useful that you don't have to remind yourself to use it.

These 3 tips will accelerate your learning process.