It’s Actually Pretty Easy to Get Ahead of 99% of People with AI

• Channel: Dan Martell (@danmartell)
• Video: Watch on YouTube
• Tags: dan-martell, ai-advantage, getting-ahead

Overview

Dan Martell on why winning with AI in 2026 is actually pretty easy — most people are thinking about it the wrong way. Instead of better prompting or better tools, the real edge comes from a completely different approach.

Key Takeaways

• Winning with ai in 2026 is actually pretty f***ing easy. most people are just thinking about it the wrong way. and i’m not gonna tell you how to get better at prompting or use this ai tool. that won’t get
• Problems. the person using it solves problems. ai just does stuff. for the longest time, winning has been man plus tool. man plus laptop, man plus bike. and it still is, man plus tool. so as long as that’s still
• Of people think, now that i’ve got ai, i should be rich. unfortunately, ai isn’t gonna make you rich. you being the person using it and the tool, that’s how you get rich. and the truth is, some tasks belong
• They’ll actually win. not the person who understands the tool the best. and to figure out what problems you should be solving with ai, i’ve come up with a simple framework. i call it the gain matrix. there’s four letters
• Get things done. and the easiest one to start with is give it to ai. this is easy for humans, but also incredibly easy for computers. think about all the stuff that you started using chadjbd for. things like synthesizing
• Working on a new proposal and i was like, bro, stop writing, just talk and give it to ai, it’ll analyze the financials, it’ll analyze your words and it’ll put it together and it’ll get us a table that gets
• Small, tedious task that ai can do and you just want to give it to it in automated. i’m talking about things like meeting notes, right? i use granola, it’s one of the best tools out there, but essentially every
• In one place so you can see if anything’s going off, follow the numbers or what you expect them and it’s just a really easy thing for you to do an automated. and then the third is to summarize your
• Your inbox and getting to inbox zero can feel awesome, but it’s still work and you don’t have to do it, let’s let ai do it. so for example this morning, i asked my agent to go check all of
• Say a matter of g. it told me that i needed a call to review the podcast that i’ll be doing on my san francisco trip and also said that team needed sign-off on a new feature that we’re adding
• Task belong in the g quadrant? i use what’s called the rule of ours. first, is it repetitive? is it something i have to do at least once a week? second, is it rules base? does the task have the
• 60 hours to build something that takes me less than two minutes a week to do. so if the answer is yes to all three, repetitive, roll base and gives me a return on my time, then i hand it

Transcript

Winning with AI in 2026 is actually pretty f***ing easy. Most people are just thinking about it the wrong way. And I’m not gonna tell you how to get better at prompting or use this AI tool. That won’t get you anywhere. Unless you use a simple framework. I’ve built and scaled several companies past a million dollars and under six months through Martell Ventures. And the most important thing to understand first and foremost is AI doesn’t actually solve problems. The person using it solves problems. AI just does stuff. For the longest time, winning has been man plus tool. Man plus laptop, man plus bike. And it still is, man plus tool. So as long as that’s still the equation, then your job is to be a better man that uses the tool. Like if I just gave you a computer and you didn’t know how to use it, it wouldn’t make you any money. And a lot of people think, now that I’ve got AI, I should be rich. Unfortunately, AI isn’t gonna make you rich. You being the person using it and the tool, that’s how you get rich. And the truth is, some tasks belong to you in some tasks belong to the AI. And if you’re stuck between both of them, you’ll just feel really busy, but you won’t be making progress. In this AI era, the person who understands the problem the best, they’ll actually win. Not the person who understands the tool the best. And to figure out what problems you should be solving with AI, I’ve come up with a simple framework. I call it the gain matrix. There’s four letters and four quadrants. The left side is easy for computers. The right side is hard for computers. The top is easy for humans. The bottom is hard for humans. Each quadrant will show you how to collaborate with AI to get things done. And the easiest one to start with is give it to AI. This is easy for humans, but also incredibly easy for computers. Think about all the stuff that you started using ChadJBD for. Things like synthesizing texts or looking over emails or updating your CRM or creating spreadsheets. Things that you could do, not hard, but the AI does it way better, way faster. You should have as working with my finance guy and he was working on a new proposal and I was like, bro, stop writing, just talk and give it to AI, it’ll analyze the financials, it’ll analyze your words and it’ll put it together and it’ll get us a table that gets us clear on the decisions we have to make to move it forward. Why are we trying to do stuff that’s so wildly easy for AI that takes our time just because we can do it? These are this a small, tedious task that AI can do and you just want to give it to it in automated. I’m talking about things like meeting notes, right? I use granola, it’s one of the best tools out there, but essentially every meeting is recorded, it summarized, it’s tagged, it’s added to notion, it is the easiest thing. The other one is pulling reports, okay? Think about the ability to have dashboards of all the data about your life and your business in one place so you can see if anything’s going off, follow the numbers or what you expect them and it’s just a really easy thing for you to do an automated. And then the third is to summarize your messages, okay? Think Slack, think email, think text messages, you can do a lot of stuff with AI that most people have no idea about. And these are just some examples. And I know the dopamine hit of clearing out your inbox and getting to inbox zero can feel awesome, but it’s still work and you don’t have to do it, let’s let AI do it. So for example this morning, I asked my agent to go check all of my messages, my email, my calendar, my Slack and tell me the top three things that I need to prioritize today based on my goals. So it told me how to YouTube shoot in a real shoot, so I gotta say a matter of G. It told me that I needed a call to review the podcast that I’ll be doing on my San Francisco trip and also said that team needed sign-off on a new feature that we’re adding to our apex voice system. Now I know exactly what I need to do today without scrolling through the countless messages without getting distracted, without doing stuff that I don’t need to do. So how do you know when a task belong in the G quadrant? I use what’s called the rule of ours. First, is it repetitive? Is it something I have to do at least once a week? Second, is it rules base? Does the task have the same inputs and outputs every single time? The third is does it generate a return? Does it take me more time to run this whole automation than just do it every time? The last thing I wanna do is spend 60 hours to build something that takes me less than two minutes a week to do. So if the answer is yes to all three, repetitive, roll base and gives me a return on my time, then I hand it to the AI today. And look, you can use a ton of different AI tools for this quadrant. Summersh, some are awesome. So to help you out, I put together my entire AI tech stack, every tool I use in every business that I own to run a super efficient business. It’s 100% free, just DM me the word YouTube stack on Instagram and I’ll send it right over to you. Now that’s the easy stuff and with it, you can probably free up a couple hours a week. Now we need to move on to the next quadrant where the real work happens. Quadrant number two, accelerate. I know my hand right, but it sucks, but just listen to my words, okay? Accelerate. Now this is where it’s hard for humans but easy for computers. Really complicated processes we’re trying to find a signal in the noise, AI drives out this thing. And the cool part is you can accelerate all that work with AI where AI buys you back days of work. So here are just a few things that you can use AI to accelerate with. First off is research. I use this probably the most every day. I have an idea, I go to my AI. I go, hey, do some research, find some people, tell me what you think. Hey, I found this link for this cool idea. Tell me based on what I’m using today, is it helpful should I add it? Do deep research project around strategic decisions? Look at my life, tell me is there anything I’m missing? The other one is data analysis. If you’re starting off as a business owner for data analysis, think about it. You have Facebook ads, you can get an analyze. You have social media data, get an analyze. You have contracts. Why don’t you ask it to go analyze all your legal contracts to see if you sign something, probably shouldn’t know. You shouldn’t be spending hours on spreadsheets, especially creating anything from scratch. That is where AI shines. Market breakdowns, like figure out what’s going on in your industry, what’s going on in the market? Every morning, I have multiple prompts that scan and research and figure out what’s new in the news. It tells me all the things I should be paying attention to as an innovator in my space. Your job as a leader is to be able to see around the corner. The news is out there, have the AI go analyze it. When you think of tasks in this quadrant, these are the three questions you get asked yourself. What? Is it looking for a pattern? Because AI can spot patterns faster than any human. Two, would it take you hours to do manually? Or would you normally hire a really expensive specialist to do this? Think about like visual designers, researchers, consultants. That. Most consultants just ask you to borrow your watch and tell you what time it is. These are the signs that you should accelerate that type of work where you’re processing it with AI. I see a lot of people not even accelerate because they’re like, I just don’t think the output is very good. And they’re like, fine, then use my 1080 10 rule. 10% ideation, the input, the prompt, the innovation, have it do the 80% research, have it go do some of the work. And then come in at the very end for the last 10%, where you give it the thing that makes it really awesome. At least the AI took 80% of the work off of your plate. 80% done by somebody else, or AI is 100% awesome. So so far, we’ve been giving AI just the easy stuff. This next quadrant is where we start adding the human element to the mix. Quadrant number three, integrate with AI. This is where it’s like, still hard for computers and hard for humans. AI can help you get some things done, but the human has to still be the director. And unfortunately, if you don’t have experience or taste, it’s actually really hard to get great work out of this. And the truth is, is the AI isn’t perfect. Did you know if you asked the AI that you were going to go wash your car, and the car washes 50 meters away from where you live, and you asked it, should you take your car or walk? It would actually say you should walk. So right off the bat, it can’t be left to do really important creative strategic work on its own. It doesn’t have the context. It doesn’t have the nuance. And this is where having it help you calibrate makes a lot of sense. AI can generate 2700 versions of anything, but it still takes a human to look at it and go, that feels right. That is the way I would do that. So here’s some things to integrate with AI. Number one is creative work. I really don’t know many people in today’s world. I don’t care if it’s media or ads or brain storming or design or brand, where they’re not using AI to come up with illustrations, examples, to help shape the idea, to give them something visual they can look at. Most music today uses AI in some aspect of the production of the beats of the sound. It still takes a human with an ear for what the world of the market or the culture wants to decide how you’re gonna finalize and shape a song. Next is digital products. This for me is like building out MVP’s. Think about the prototypes, think about the apps. If you haven’t tried building something like an app or an artifact or some kind of visualization, you’re missing the opportunity. That still requires taste. Still requires vision to direct it, but the AI can execute it, can write the code, it could publish it online, it’s kind of wild what it can do for you. And the third is strategy, strategy equals sequencing. AI can suggest options, but AI doesn’t know your personal preference, it doesn’t know other people’s psychology, it doesn’t understand the situation, the landscape of your world, so it can give you ideas, but you still have to make the decision. So partnering with AI to give you those options, huge opportunity. For example, when I wanted to create a workbook for

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