Horse Blinders Helped Me Ignore 14,998 AI Tools
Why mastering two tools beats dabbling with twenty
Hey Adopter,
A subscriber reached out last week, completely overwhelmed. She's a consultant, smart as hell, but drowning in AI news cycles. "I don't know where to start," she said. "Every day there's another tool, another breakthrough. My clients are asking about AI, but I feel like I'm always behind."
Sound familiar? Here's what I told her:
Put on your strategic horseblinders.
The Horseblinders Approach That Actually Works
Back in late 2022, when ChatGPT hit mainstream and everyone was losing their minds, I had the same problem. New AI tools were launching daily. Every newsletter promised the next game-changer. The noise was deafening.
Instead of chasing everything, I put on horse blinders and focused on one specific goal: creating children's books.
Don’t believe me? I got the receipts 👇
Two tools. That's it. ChatGPT for stories, Midjourney for illustrations.
For weeks, I ignored every other AI announcement. While others were testing dozens of platforms, I was getting obsessively good at prompting these two. I learned ChatGPT's storytelling rhythms, how to guide narrative structure, how to maintain character consistency. I discovered Midjourney's sweet spots for children's illustration styles, learned to craft prompts that captured the right mood and aesthetic.
The result? Each book got better. My prompting skills sharpened. Most importantly, I understood how AI actually worked, not just what it claimed to do.
Those foundational skills transferred everywhere. When Claude launched, I could adapt quickly because I understood prompt engineering principles. When new image generators appeared, I grasped their logic because I'd mastered one deeply.
Strategic horseblinders gave me transferable expertise, not scattered familiarity.
Why Horseblinders Beat Headline-Chasing
There are over 15,000 AI tools available today. Your LinkedIn feed showcases a new "revolutionary" platform every morning. Meanwhile, 72% of companies using AI are still experimenting rather than systematically applying it.
The paradox is real: AI exists to help us work smarter, yet staying current with AI developments has become a full-time distraction.
Strategic horse blinders solve this by forcing focus on what matters: getting better at specific applications rather than staying aware of general possibilities.
When you master one tool deeply, you develop:
Pattern recognition that transfers to similar tools
Prompt engineering skills that work across platforms
Workflow integration knowledge that applies broadly
Confidence to experiment strategically, not randomly
Your Horseblinders Action Plan
Start exactly where my subscriber did: feeling overwhelmed and unsure where to begin.
Pick one work problem that eats your time. Not "AI strategy" but something specific. Email responses? Content creation? Data analysis? Client research? Choose one.
Choose two tools maximum. Find the most established, well-reviewed options for your specific use case. Ignore everything else for now.
Commit to 60 days of focused practice. Use only these tools. Learn their quirks, build better prompts, integrate them into actual workflows. Resist every shiny new announcement.
Master the fundamentals. Understand how these tools think, where they excel, where they fail. This knowledge transfers to future tools better than surface-level familiarity with dozens.
Then expand strategically. Once you've proven value and built confidence, identify your next specific use case and repeat the process
.
Why This Beats Every Other AI Strategy
While your competitors chase headlines, you're building systematic advantages. While they're overwhelmed by choice, you're delivering results.
My subscriber now focuses exclusively on research and presentation tools for her consulting work. Two platforms, deep expertise, measurable client value. She stopped reading most AI newsletters and started applying what actually matters.
The horse blinders approach isn't about missing opportunities. It's about maximizing the ones that directly serve your goals.
Strategic horse blinders transform AI from overwhelming noise into a focused signal.
The market will continue to produce new tools. The hype cycle will keep spinning. Your job isn't keeping up with everything. It's identifying what moves your work forward and ignoring the rest.
Put on your horseblinders. Pick your problem. Master your tools. Let everyone else chase the headlines.
Adapt & Create,
Kamil