"Practicing" AI
"Drill. Combine. Integrate." ~Shan @ JazzSkills
I’ve been taking jazz piano lessons and the teacher1 has this thing. “Drill, combine, integrate.” You’re not allowed to use something in a real song until you’ve practiced it enough that you don’t think about it. It “belongs to you.”
Most people hear about a new tool and immediately try it on real work. It’s weird. They don’t like it, they move on. That’s not learning. That’s poking at it.
And the other thing is people think “learning AI” is this big separate project they need to sit down and do. It’s not. Saving articles, messing with a new tool on a Saturday morning, that IS the learning. There’s nothing to finish.
Here’s what works for me.
1. Motivation
This one is easy for me. I have developed ZERO tolerance for friction since AI leveled up. If it can be automated, I will almost always spend the time making it easier for myself. I also LOVE technology and I feel like a golden god using this stuff.
2. Process
During the week: stay light.
Save links when you see them. If something takes 2 minutes to read and keeps you interested, cool. Don’t try to go deep between meetings. You won’t remember any of it.
Tool Examples: Readwise Reader2 | Raindrop.io | Instapaper | Reeder | Browser Reading List
Block off actual time.
I do AI Fridays. Just a few hours to open all my saved tabs with tea and read. Weekend mornings work too. The point is you need a real window, not stolen minutes.
NOTE: If something is REALLY exciting, check it out. See motivation ⬆️.
You just need a rhythm. That’s it.
Drill.
This is the part nobody does. Pick something small. Run it a bunch of times. Get a feel for where it’s good and where it falls apart. Don’t use it on anything real until you own it.
Then things light up.
You drill one thing enough and suddenly you see how it connects to 3 other things you already know. Shan says “the keys start to light up” and that’s exactly what happens with AI tools too.
Combine (w/AI as guide)
You have your drills down. Now it’s time to combine.
Open an AI chat next to whatever you’ve been drilling. Ask it why that worked. Ask it what else you could use it for. You have the reps from drilling and it has the knowledge. That conversation is where things start to click.
Integrate (real example)
I’m going to give you my real world example while I was writing this post.
I wanted to pull in what I've been reading and use it in this post.
Drill - Readwise has an MCP. I use some MCPs, I read about them a lot, but I need practice installing them.
Combine - “Claude, remind me how to install an MCP into Claude Desktop". Installed. Tried. Didn’t read my articles, just my highlights. Wait! They have a 2nd MCP that connects to Reader, too. Install that.
Integrate - We’re here!
Installed the MCP to figure out what I’ve been saving the last month related to AI.
AI coding agent teams/swarms and workflows - how people are actually using them day to day
Skills, MCP, and plugins - how agents connect to tools and data
AI fatigue and sustainability - the burnout from trying to keep up with everything
Integrate → Again
At this point, I now “own” the skill3 of knowing MCP as a concept AND application. I’m comfortable adding it into future workflows.
Shan @ Jazzskills.com
My current go-to