What Using AI Intentionally Looks Like in Practice

In my last piece, I shared an observation that feels increasingly clear to me: the most interesting thing about AI right now isn’t the technology itself, but how we choose to use it.

This article continues the conversation, moving away from tools and capability exploring the question: 

What does intentional use actually look like when it shows up in real work?

Repetition Is a Sign, Not a Problem

For a long time, I noticed a pattern in my own business.

Across content, planning, and client work, I was repeating myself. Re-explaining context. Rebuilding structure. Recreating decisions that had already been made before, just in slightly different ways.

Nothing was broken and the work was getting done. But it just felt heavier and a bit more time consuming than it needed to (which quietly killed me btw). 

For me, that sense of friction became a sign.

Not that I was doing too much, but that I hadn’t yet stepped back to design how the work flowed. I was optimising tasks rather than questioning the system underneath them.

Shifting From Tasks to Structure

The real change came when I stopped thinking in terms of how I can use these tools to complete individual tasks more efficiently and started asking a different question.

What keeps repeating here, and why?

That shift moved my attention away from outputs and toward structure. So, instead of focusing on single pieces of work, I began thinking in terms of frameworks, patterns, and continuity.

AI became part of that process, but not as the driver. It supported the thinking, my thinking. I used it to hold the structure and it reduced the need to remake decisions each time something new needed to be created.

I’m a big believer when structure comes first, execution becomes lighter. Not because less care is taken, but because clarity already exists.

When Structure Is in Place, Work Compounds

One of the most tangible changes I noticed was in content creation.

Previously, even with AI support, content still required a lot of mental setup. Each piece needed context. Each platform needed consideration. Each decision was made again, etc etc..

Once I stepped back and designed the system instead, long-form thinking became the anchor. From there, ideas could be expressed consistently across formats without losing intent or voice.

The value was not speed. It was continuity.

Thinking done once could now be carried forward, rather than dissipating after each output.

How This Thinking Shows Up in Client Work

I see the same pattern when working with clients.

One example is an e-commerce founder whose business did not fit neatly into traditional content models. Standard content pillars felt misaligned with how her business actually operated.

Her work revolved around collections and launches. Campaigns, not categories.

Once that was acknowledged, the strategy shifted. Instead of forcing a generic framework, we designed a narrative structure that matched the rhythm of her business. Content became sequential rather than scattered. Each channel supported the next.

AI played a role in supporting that structure, but the real work happened earlier. In deciding what the system needed to hold. In mapping the story arc. In creating a blueprint that could be reused rather than rebuilt.

What changed was not just efficiency, but experience. The work became clearer, calmer, and more aligned with how the business actually functioned.

The Pattern Beneath Both

Whether in my own work or in client projects, the same pattern keeps emerging.

When AI is used tactically, it helps with tasks.
When AI is used intentionally, it supports systems.

The difference matters.

Systems reduce cognitive load. They preserve clarity. They allow thinking to compound over time rather than reset with every new piece of work.

AI does not make work easier by doing it for you. It makes work easier by holding the structure around it.

Beyond Efficiency: Creating Space for What Matters

This way of working is not about squeezing more output from the same amount of time.

It is about creating space.

Space to think more clearly.
Space to lead rather than react.
Space to focus on the parts of the business that actually require human judgement, perspective, and presence.

Marketing becomes one supported part of the business, not the centre everything else revolves around.

A Thoughtful Way Forward

Using AI intentionally is not about being faster to adopt or adding more to the noise.

It is about noticing where work feels unnecessarily heavy. Where repetition is creeping in. Where structure could replace effort.

The tools will continue to evolve. That is inevitable.

What will matter more is whether we take the time to design how they fit into our work, rather than letting them dictate it.

That choice, more than any feature or update, is what makes the difference.

If you’re curious to learn more and are using AI platforms like ChatGPT come along to my workshop next month:

ChatGPT for Marketing Workshop

On Saturday, 28 March 9am-12pm I’ll be running a live virtual workshop with Byron Community College and you’re welcome to join us.