Building an AI grimoire [part I]: a manual for AI magic & sorcery
Everyone says AI speeds up their work. Almost no one shows how. For 90 days, I will.
This is an update on my 90 day challenge: I am building an AI grimoire. Originally a grimoire is a handbook for magic and sorcery, and that is exactly what this becomes: a record of how I actually use AI. By the end there will be a complete manual that anyone can use. I document it as I build, with daily updates and a checkpoint every 30 days.
AI plays an ever larger role in our lives. And whether you are a fan or not, there is no escaping it anymore: it’s here to stay. But here is the thing: most people do not use it well. You see everyone shouting about what they do with AI and how it speeds everything up, and whether that is big talk or not, for me it always comes down to the same problem: nobody tells you how to use it properly.
Especially not on a personal level, applied to your own work. Because how do you get better at AI when the development move so fast that just keeping up is a full time job in itself, let alone building a healthy, workable workflow for yourself?
Like everyone else I use AI in my work, a lot and often. But do I always find it supportive? No. Do I use it well everywhere? Also no. Is it sometimes AI slop? Yes.
That is what I want to put a stop to. I no longer want to use AI casually, but professionally and workably, embedded in my daily workflow so that it actually supports and speeds me up. And to do that properly, I am going to do exactly what the rest does not: show how I apply it. Through a challenge.
The challenge
That is why I am challenging myself. 90 days, from 29 June to 27 September. Every day I post a note on Substack about what I did that day to build and professionalize my AI workflow: what I researched, built or learned.
I track my progress in a dashboard I built myself, based on my GitHub contributions and what I researched or learned:
One square a day, 90 days long. Every colored square is a day I recorded something; the darker it is, the more I did. Alongside the squares I track the numbers that matter: contributions, learnings, current streak, daily average and overall progress.
The rhythm is the same every day: I research, I build my workflow, and I document how I do it. That last part is the core, because it lays a foundation I can easily apply within my own work.
From ordinary AI user to someone who applies it professionally and methodically. A deadline forces me to take it seriously, instead of doing it casually on the side. Every day.
Why I am doing this
As a solo founder I switch between product, development, design and marketing all day, which means AI touches everything I do. Building one workflow that holds up across all of it is exactly the problem worth solving in the open, and exactly what I want to show instead of explain.
Because unlike all those people shouting about how AI improves their workflow, I do not believe in shouting, but in showing. Telling people how good you are at something is easy; actually doing it is something else entirely. That is why I am not building my AI workflow quietly for myself, but recording all of it: what works, what does not, and how I approach it.
This challenge keeps me sharp. By having to post every day, I make sure that by the end I have actually done what I set out to do, and I always need that kind of pressure to discipline myself. And if someone else wrestling with the same question, how do I really get better at AI, gets something out of it, that is a welcome bonus.
The grimoire: the manual for AI magic and sorcery
All those daily pieces need to come together somewhere, otherwise they evaporate. That is why I am setting up a living website: grimoire.esmeepeters.com. There I collect everything I learn about my AI workflow during this challenge, in one place.
The grimoire is my manual for how I apply AI in my workflow. The name is a metaphor: a grimoire is originally a book full of magic and spells. And with the right AI workflow it can sometimes feel like you are moving your work forward by magic: you type a few words and something happens that would have taken hours before. But there is no magic involved. These are just actions you can learn, repeat and pass on.
Over the 90 days I keep adding to it. It is not a finished product I reveal at the end, but a document that grows with me: the further I get, the more complete it becomes. It does not stop after the challenge either, because a workflow is never done.
Everything that ends up in it is yours to use and copy. You can take the whole grimoire at once, or pull out only the principles you can apply to your own way of working. No paywall, no conditions. What works for me might just work for you.
It will not be perfect, but that is better than making and sharing nothing at all. Hopefully we learn from each other, and I get feedback on what could be better or more efficient. Because if nobody shares how they do it, we never learn.
Finally
Over the next 90 days I work on the grimoire, with a daily update through notes and a more detailed checkpoint every 30 days: what was built, what worked and what did not. That follows in a part II, III and IV.
Want to follow along? Then follow me through this challenge. And feel free to check in on grimoire.esmeepeters.com while it grows. I hope others get something out of it, and in return I would love to hear what I can do better.
