I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard someone say they should try Notion. I’ve said it myself — more than once. I’d read so many glowing reviews: how it wasn’t just a note-taking app but an all-in-one solution for organising work, tracking goals, and managing life. So one day, I gave it a go. I signed up, clicked around… and immediately felt lost. It was a blank canvas with buttons, blocks and pop-ups everywhere. I closed the tab, thinking, “I’d need a full training course just to use this thing.”

But a few weeks later, while working on my personal sewing blog project, I had a brainwave: what if I used one AI tool to help me get to grips with another? I opened ChatGPT and said, “Help me create a Notion workspace for managing blog content.” Half an hour later, I had a tailored setup with a mood board page, a running list of ideas, and a publishing schedule that felt clear and manageable. It was fun. Genuinely fun. I couldn’t believe how easy it became once I had the right kind of help. I used the free version of Notion and it did everything I needed. AI didn’t just make it doable — it made it enjoyable.

That experience completely shifted how I thought about AI. It wasn’t cold or confusing. It wasn’t about learning a whole new language. It was just a helpful way to get unstuck and move forward — and I started to realise how powerful that could be for anyone in a support or coordination role.

That realisation made me rethink who AI is really for. It’s not just for programmers, tech leads or Silicon Valley types. The image of AI as this mysterious, highly technical thing is everywhere, so it's no wonder some people in admin, operations or project management roles feel like it’s not for them.

But the truth? AI is already helping people like us every day — quietly, practically and without the drama. No jargon, no code, no complicated setups. Just tools that make work a little bit smoother.

In fact, you’re probably already using it.

If you’ve used Gmail’s predictive text, clicked “schedule send” in Outlook, or watched Google Calendar fill in meeting details automatically, you’ve used AI. Maybe without even realising it.

That’s how accessible this stuff has become. AI has quietly worked its way into the tools you already use. And, when you know what to look for, you can use it more intentionally to get real, useful results.

AI isn’t about replacing your job. It’s about making your job easier, quicker, less repetitive — and even more fun. Here’s how everyday professionals are already using it in ways that feel practical, not futuristic.

Claire works in admin support for a university research centre. One of her least favourite jobs? Chasing people for overdue documents. “I always worried about sounding too harsh or too vague,” she says. “I’d rewrite the same email three times.”

Now she drafts the key points and pastes them into ChatGPT, asking it to “make this sound professional but firm, with a friendly tone.” What she gets back is polished, clear, and hits the right note. “It saves me so much time,” she says. “And it’s given me confidence — I don’t second-guess myself anymore.”

Dev is a project coordinator in a not-for-profit that runs multiple programs across regional sites. Every Monday, he used to spend nearly an hour writing up notes from the team meeting — distilling what happened, pulling out action items, and sending follow-ups.

Now he records the meeting with Otter.ai, which transcribes the audio. Then he copies that transcript into Claude and asks it to summarise the key decisions and next steps. “It takes 10 minutes, max,” he says. “I still read through it and tweak a few things, but it’s honestly better than what I used to write from scratch.”

Maria manages logistics for a growing creative agency. A few months ago, she was asked to plan out a cross-team campaign with six moving parts, multiple deadlines, and three departments. “I didn’t even know where to start,” she admits. “I had a messy whiteboard and a half-baked spreadsheet.”

Out of curiosity, she opened ChatGPT and typed: “Help me break down a project plan for a campaign with design, marketing and operations.” Within seconds, she had a rough structure, suggested timeline, and a few tasks she’d forgotten to consider. “It wasn’t perfect,” she says. “But it got me unstuck. It was like having someone in the room to bounce ideas with.”

This one’s personal. When I started designing visual content for AI Sally, I assumed I’d need Photoshop or Illustrator again — but it quickly became obvious those tools weren’t right for what I needed. I ended up trying Canva’s AI-assisted design features. I’d type in a rough prompt, get a few suggestions, tweak what I liked, and delete what I didn’t.

I didn’t use it to generate full images (I found that hit-and-miss), but I did use it to speed up layout decisions, headlines, and formatting. It turned into a great hybrid approach: I stayed in control, but the AI sped up the annoying bits.

One of the most common misconceptions I hear is: “I’ll need to learn so much just to get started.”

Nope.

You don’t need to understand how ChatGPT works under the hood. You don’t need to know what a neural net is. You don’t even need to explore every feature of the tools you use.

You just need to pick a single task you already do and try using AI to help with it.

Start with something small: an email, a rough plan, a summary, a bit of brainstorming. Ask the tool to help. If the result is useful, great. If it’s not, tweak the prompt or move on.

This isn’t a test. It’s a toolkit.

Here’s a simple experiment: take something you’ve already written — a calendar invite, a meeting summary, or a progress report — and ask ChatGPT or Claude to reword it to suit a different audience or tone. Try “make this more concise,” or “rewrite this to sound more upbeat.”

Or ask it: “What are five ways I could use AI to help in my job as a [your role]?”

You don’t need to commit to anything. Just see what happens.

Admins and project managers are already natural problem-solvers. You’re planners, troubleshooters, context-switchers. You deal with ambiguity every day. Those are the same traits that make AI useful — and make you excellent at using it well.

AI isn’t about being technical. It’s about being curious. Being willing to try. Being open to doing something a little faster, a little better, or with a little less stress.

You’ve got this — and AI Sally’s here to back you every step of the way.

I’d love to hear from you — have you tried using AI in your role yet? What’s worked (or flopped) for you?