Your Monthly AI Check-In

Learning Objectives Have a concrete monthly routine for staying current with AI Know exactly what to do during each monthly check-in Build a compounding knowledge advantage over time Why Monthly Matters Daily newsletters keep you aware. Weekly deep reads keep you informed. But the monthly check-in is where you actually apply what you are learning. It is the difference between knowing that a new AI tool launched and having tried it yourself. A monthly cadence works because it is frequent enough to catch important developments but infrequent enough to be sustainable. Block 90 minutes on one day per month — the same way you might schedule a monthly financial review or a car maintenance check. The Monthly Check-In Routine Part 1: Try One New Thing (30 Minutes) This is the most valuable part of the check-in. Pick one: Option A: Try a new AI tool. Choose a tool that caught your attention in the past month's news Sign up for the free tier Use it for a real task (not a toy example) Compare it to your current approach Verdict: add to toolkit, bookmark for later, or skip Option B: Try a new technique with an existing tool. Use a prompting technique you have not tried (chain-of-thought, role-playing, structured output) Try a feature of your current tool you have been ignoring Apply AI to a task you have been doing manually Time the comparison Option C: Attend a learning event. Watch a 30-minute conference talk or webinar recording Take a…