Lesson 1 of 4 · 10 min

Lesson 1: Pick Your First Automation Target (The "Easy Win" Exercise)

Estimated Time: 12 minutes

Learning Objectives:

Understand why most people fail at AI automation (they start too big)
Learn the "easy win" criteria for choosing your first workflow
Identify and document one specific task you'll automate
Measure your current baseline so you can prove the time savings later

The mistake everyone makes

You've used ChatGPT a few times. Maybe you wrote an email, brainstormed some ideas, or asked it to explain something. And you thought, "This is cool, but how do I actually USE this?"

So you tried to think big. "I'll automate my whole inbox!" or "I'll use AI for all my content!" or "I'll build a system for everything!"

And then... nothing happened. Because that's too big, too vague, and too overwhelming.

Here's what actually works: Pick one small, annoying task you do over and over. Build a system for just that. Get really good at it. Then move to the next one.

People who succeed with AI don't try to change everything at once. They start with one thing, prove it works, and build from there.

This lesson is about finding your one thing.

The "easy win" checklist

Your first automation target should check three boxes:

1. You do it frequently

At least once a day, ideally more. Why? Because the more you use it, the faster you'll see results and the more you'll refine it.

Bad first target: "Write my annual performance review" (you do that once a year).

Good first target: "Respond to customer questions" (you do that 10 times a day).

2. It's annoying

If you groan every time you have to do it, that's a good sign. Boring, repetitive tasks are perfect for automation.

Think: status updates, meeting follow-ups, scheduling emails, routine responses.

3. It follows a formula

This is the key. If you can describe the steps you take every time, AI can learn to do it.

For example, here's the formula for responding to a customer inquiry email:

Read the question
Check if we've answered it before
Write a friendly response with the answer
Add a "let me know if you need anything else" closer
Send it

That's a formula. AI can handle that.

Compare that to "come up with a creative campaign idea" - that's not a formula. That's hard to automate. Save that for later.

Real examples of great first targets

Let's look at five tasks that real people automated with AI. Notice how specific they are.

Example 1: Customer support emails

The task: Responding to the same 10-15 questions customers ask every week (shipping times, return policy, product availability).

Why it works:

Frequent: 20+ emails per day
Annoying: Same questions over and over
Formulaic: Each question type has a standard answer, just needs personalization

Time saved: 10 minutes per email → 2 minutes = 8 min × 20 emails = 160 min/day (2.6 hours)

Example 2: Meeting prep summaries

The task: Before a client call, reviewing their account notes and creating a 1-page summary of key points to discuss.

Why it works:

Frequent: 3-5 meetings per day
Annoying: Digging through notes and emails
Formulaic: Same structure every time (recent activity, open issues, goals for this call)

Time saved: 15 minutes → 3 minutes = 12 min × 4 meetings = 48 min/day

Example 3: LinkedIn connection messages

The task: Sending a personalized message when someone connects with you on LinkedIn.

Why it works:

Frequent: 5-10 new connections per week
Annoying: Feels rude to ignore, but writing custom messages takes time
Formulaic: Thank them, mention something from their profile, offer value

Time saved: 5 minutes → 1 minute = 4 min × 8 connections = 32 min/week

Example 4: Weekly status updates

The task: Writing a summary email to your boss or team about what you did this week.

Why it works:

Frequent: Every Friday
Annoying: You know what you did, you just hate writing it down
Formulaic: Accomplishments, blockers, next week's plan

Time saved: 20 minutes → 5 minutes = 15 min/week (that's 13 hours a year)

Example 5: Appointment confirmation emails

The task: Sending a confirmation with details when someone books a time with you.

Why it works:

Frequent: 10-15 bookings per week
Annoying: Same info, different person each time
Formulaic: Date, time, video link, what to prepare, cancellation policy

Time saved: 3 minutes → 30 seconds = 2.5 min × 12 bookings = 30 min/week

Notice the pattern? These are all small, specific, repeatable tasks. Not "automate my marketing" or "make me more productive." Concrete things you can describe in 2-3 sentences.

Your turn: The documentation exercise

Here's how to pick your target and document your baseline.

Step 1: List 5 tasks you do repeatedly

Don't overthink it. Just write down five things you find yourself doing over and over this week.

Examples:

Responding to inquiry emails
Scheduling meetings
Writing project status updates
Prepping for sales calls
Summarizing meeting notes

Step 2: Pick the one that scores highest on the "easy win" checklist

For each task, rate it 1-5 on:

Frequency (how often you do it)
Annoyance (how much you dislike doing it)
Formula (how repeatable the steps are)

The one with the highest total score? That's your target.

Step 3: Document your current process

Write down exactly what you do right now, step by step. Be specific.

Example for "Responding to customer inquiry emails":

Read the email
Check our FAQ doc to find the answer
Copy the relevant info
Paste it into a reply
Rewrite it to sound friendly and personal
Add their name and a closer
Proofread
Send

Step 4: Time yourself doing it three times

Seriously. Set a timer. Do the task three times and write down how long each one takes.

Why three times? Because one might be unusually fast or slow. Three gives you a real average.

Example:

Email 1: 9 minutes
Email 2: 11 minutes
Email 3: 8 minutes
Average: 9.3 minutes

Write that number down. You'll need it in Lesson 4 when you measure your time saved.

Why this matters

Most people skip this step. They just dive into "asking AI to help" without defining exactly what they're automating or measuring where they're starting from.

Then three weeks later, they have no idea if it's actually saving them time or just adding complexity.

You're not doing that. You're treating this like a real project with a real goal: save measurable time on a specific task.

When you can say, "I used to spend 9 minutes per email and now I spend 2 minutes, and I do this 15 times a week, so I'm saving 105 minutes every week," that's powerful.

That's 91 hours a year. More than two full work weeks. From one small workflow.

That's why we start small. Because small wins compound.

What you just learned

The secret to AI automation: start with one small, specific task, not everything at once
The "easy win" criteria: frequent, annoying, and formulaic
How to document your current process (before you automate it)
Why measuring your baseline time matters (so you can prove the savings later)

You've now got your target task identified and your baseline time documented. You're ready to build.

Try It Challenge

Do this before moving to Lesson 2:

Write down your chosen task in one sentence
List the steps you currently take to do it (your manual process)
Time yourself doing it three times and calculate the average
Save these notes somewhere (Notes app, Google Doc, wherever)

This is your baseline. In Lesson 4, you'll compare it to your new automated process and calculate exactly how much time you saved.

Quiz

Q1: Which of these is the BEST first automation target?

A) "Use AI for all my marketing"

B) "Write better emails"

C) "Respond to the 5 most common customer questions we get every day"

D) "Get more creative with AI"

Answer: C

Option C is specific, measurable, and formulaic. You can describe exactly what happens every time. Options A and D are too vague. Option B is closer but still not specific enough (what kind of emails? for what purpose?). The more specific you are, the easier it is to automate.

Q2: Why do you need to time yourself doing the task before automating it?

A) To make yourself feel bad about how long it takes

B) To prove to your boss you need help

C) To measure your time savings later and know if the automation actually worked

D) You don't, it's a waste of time

Answer: C

Without a baseline measurement, you have no idea if your workflow is actually saving time or just adding steps. Measuring before and after is how you prove the value of what you're building. It's also incredibly motivating when you see the real numbers.

Next lesson: You'll build your first AI workflow using a simple prompt template. We'll use email responses as the example, and by the end, you'll have a working system you can use today.

Build ItNext