The fastest way to learn AI is the slowest
Forget the nine-prompt playbooks. Here's the only approach that sticks.
Most AI training aimed at lawyers is shiny-object stuff. That’s exactly why none of it sticks.
You’ve seen the headlines. “Nine prompts that’ll change everything.” “The ultimate AI playbook for your firm.” It might capture attention, but the promise is empty. You wind up wasting time adapting someone else’s prompt to your situation, getting frustrated, and learning nothing.
My old golf instructor figured this out decades ago, before AI existed.
The best teacher I ever had
His name was Jimmy Self. The other instructors at the range had video cameras and fancy gear, so that’s where I went first. My score didn’t budge.
Jimmy used none of that. He’d stand behind you, grab the club, and move your whole body through the swing. Back and forth. Back and forth — until the motion sank in. Then he’d put a ball in front of you and say, “Hit it.” And it would go straight.
My score dropped quickly, which was nice but then...
I got restless
I could hit the ball straight and that made playing golf more enjoyable, but it wasn’t enough. I’d read a Jack Nicklaus book about the importance of shaping your shots, so I asked Jimmy if I should start putting a draw on the ball — going right to left, like Nicklaus suggested.
He looked at me like I was speaking childish gibberish. Then he snatched the club out of my hand, hit a string of dead-straight shots, handed it back, and said, “That’s what you want. Any more questions?”
I didn’t have any.
One skill, not ten
I thought about Jimmy this week while helping a lawyer learn Claude. She showed up with a long list of things she wanted to fix — the natural instinct, and the fastest way to chase shiny objects and get nowhere.
So we did the opposite. We took one thing she already did every day, writing emails, and built it into a simple, reusable skill. It just told the chatbot to ask one question before drafting: who are you writing to? A close friend, a colleague, a court clerk? Then it could match the tone.
Nothing you could sell as a secret template. Anyone can set it up.
Why this feels too slow
Here’s what nobody tells you: the thing holding you back isn’t failing to try new stuff. It’s trying to do too much, too fast.
Focusing on one skill feels hokey — the same way it felt hokey that Jimmy wouldn’t talk about my swing and just forced my body through the motion. But that’s the point. Repetition is what turns a skill into something you don’t have to think about.
How to start
Pick one thing you already do all the time and want AI to help with.
Make it work once.
Then use it again, and again.
Refine it each time so it gets a little better.
Don’t hoard prompts. Don’t buy some expert’s playbook. And don’t beat yourself up for being slow.
That’s the whole secret. Yes, it’s slow. Yes, it’s boring. But it’s the only thing that works.
;-)
Ernie
*P.S. In the Inner Circle, we build these one-skill-at-a-time wins together — with other sensible lawyers who’d rather get good than get hyped.
→ https://ernietheattorney.net*