How do I help others with AI without draining myself dry?

You learned this before most people around you. Now they come to you — with questions, half-finished prompts, the vague request to 'just show me what you do.' You say yes because you can, and because being needed feels good. But every hour spent explaining is an hour not spent building. The skill that made you valuable was never knowing AI. It was the work you produced with it. Let the teaching swallow the doing, and you become the person who used to be good at this. You are not required to carry everyone. Decide now what you will teach, how, and how often — before someone else decides it for you.

◆ How this problem reads on the two dials

GuidanceKnowledge

More coaching

A little to learn

1:1 with AureliusWith others (a Pod)

Mostly you & the coach

A little with peers

The person already has the AI skill; what they lack is a system for protecting it, so this leans toward guidance over teaching.

How the two dials adapt to you →

What’s really going on

You do not owe everyone your time. Choose what you teach, choose who you teach, and choose when to say no. Guard the hours you spend building — that is what made you valuable, not the explaining. Teach once, in public. Do not repeat yourself in private, forever.

🔒 What you’ll build togetherUnlock by starting

A moveBlock two hours a week for teaching others. Not more, unless you choose it.

A moveWrite your process down once — a short guide or recording — and send people to it instead of repeating yourself.

A moveWhen someone asks for help, ask first what they have already tried.

A moveSay no to the meeting that could have been a document.

A moveProtect one project each week that is yours alone — no explaining, no demonstrating, just building.

What changes unlock by starting

You spend less time repeating yourself and more time producing work.
People stop treating you as a walk-up help desk.
Your reputation grows from what you build, not just what you explain.
You keep the edge that made you useful in the first place.

One object, two jobs: a public answer to a real problem, and — the moment you start the chat — Aurelius’s live plan for your version of it.