The Trap Everyone Falls Into When Using AI

My first months with ChatGPT felt amazing, until I realised I was stockpiling outputs like a digital hoarder and producing nothing.

I’ve always had a million ideas floating in my head. Not that long ago, I’d try to see how many I could execute at once instead of focusing on the ones that mattered most.

When I discovered AI, it felt like finding a buddy who could help me work on all my ideas at the same time. Blog posts, marketing plans, customer email sequences. I could generate them in minutes.

The result? Reams of information. Piles of drafts. And no clear strategy for what to do next. It was like having too many browser tabs open on a laptop with limited RAM. I was stuck.

The truth is, AI won’t save you from overwhelm unless you use it strategically.

Here are three things you must do so you don’t get lost in the noise:

1. Treat AI as your second employee. Give it defined roles and tasks that support your delivery not just random prompts. Think: scheduling and creating content, drafting emails, preparing reports, or generating ideas for client pitches.
2. Have a clear plan of what you want to produce and why. Before opening ChatGPT, decide your end goal. Is it a blog series? A product launch plan? A customer onboarding sequence? Without clarity, you’ll waste hours chasing “interesting” outputs that lead nowhere.
3. Execute, don’t just collect. It’s easy to fall into the trap of stockpiling AI-generated ideas “for later.” Set deadlines and push your projects out the door. Done and live beats perfect and never published.

Sidebar: In its simplest form, AI can…

• Generate written content such as blog posts, social media captions, emails, and reports.
• Summarise large amounts of text or data so you can act faster.
• Draft plans and outlines for projects, events, or campaigns.
• Suggest creative ideas and problem-solving approaches.
• Provide quick answers and explanations so you don’t waste time researching.

With a clear strategy, AI stops being just a clever tool it becomes the extra set of hands you didn’t know you needed.