Best AI tool of 2025 : Is Your Brain

TL;DR , Most people fail with AI because they chase tools without clarity. My friend spent a month jumping between Gamma, Claude, Canva, and Sora — and burnt out. When we slowed down, built a system using ChatGPT Projects, and clarified the outcome, everything changed.

The best AI tool of 2025 isn’t an app. It’s your brain — when you use it with clarity and structure.

A month ago, my friend Rohan, a business analyst in Mumbai, messaged me.

: "I'm feeling so stupid. This is all bullshit."

He'd just spent four weeks trying to build a client review presentation using AI. He'd tried Gamma for slides, Claude for content, Canva for visuals, even Sora for video clips.

"I tried using these tools," he said. "Initially, when I used Gamma, my eyes lit up. But when I went deep, I just wasted my time. This is useless."

My first reaction: "What the hell—why did you even think of adding a video clip?" Ha ha.

Anyway, I understood what had gone wrong. That's when I said, "Bud, you know what? The best AI tool of 2025 is your brain."

After four weeks of frustration, he wasn't ready to listen to me. He had the work pressure of delivering the client review presentation the next Monday, so he'd prepared to slog through the weekend. More than that, he was feeling lonely.

So I decided to spend a Saturday with him—just to see if I could help him out in any way. By the end of this post, you'll know if we succeeded or not. Read on, its a long post , but I assure its worth it , so try to binge reading.

So here is what happened..

He'd seen the reels. Varun Mayya or another influencer saying you can make a presentation in 10 minutes. The promise was seductive: AI will do everything. So he started with Gamma. The first output looked decent—professional slides, clean layout.

He felt confident.Then he read the content. Generic. Flat. Nothing a client would care about.

So he switched to Claude to rewrite it. Better copy, but now the slides didn't match.

Back to Gamma. Then to Canva for better visuals. Then to ChatGPT for sharper analysis. Then back to Gamma because the flow felt off.

Fifteen tabs open. Three half-finished decks. No clarity.

By week four, he was emotionally exhausted. Not just tired—defeated. Like he'd tried to learn a new language by downloading ten apps and never opening any of them.

That's what I call emotional exhaustion in the age of AI. It's not that the tools don't work. It's that chasing tools without clarity is like being in ten relationships at once—you burn out before anything meaningful happens.

This has happened to all of us ?

I felt bad for him. Not because he failed, but because he was carrying the pressure of "using AI" without understanding how to set himself up for success.

So we sat down. Three to four hours. One tool only: ChatGPT.

I asked him: "What's the actual challenge here? Why couldn't you build this presentation?"

He said, "I don't know. I thought if I used the right tools, it would just work."

That's when I realized—he was treating AI like auto-tune. It gave him the false impression he could perform without understanding what he was performing for.

Here's what he was doing wrong:

He saw Gamma's first output and thought, "This is it. AI will handle the rest."

He didn't realize ChatGPT doesn't know his client's priorities, doesn't remember what he told it three prompts ago, doesn't understand the difference between impressive and useful.

He was using famous prompt frameworks—Act as a..., Context is..., Output should be...—but he had no system. No structure. No clarity on the outcome.

So I walked him through a different approach. Step by step. No shortcuts.

This is how we approached - Applied System thinking

So we sat down. My first fundamental question to him was about the why and what of this presentation review."Why do you do this quarterly review?" I asked. "And what outcome are you actually expecting?"

He paused. "To show the client we're delivering. To get budget approval for next quarter."

"Okay. And what do you usually show them?"

"Performance metrics, wins, challenges we solved, the roadmap ahead."

Then I asked him "Why are using AI to build this?" and he chuckled and said "what a stupid question , of course to build it faster and with less effort"

That's when it clicked : "He'd Fallen for the trap" That's what happens when influencers say "make a presentation in 10 minutes" or "learn to make videos in 2 minutes" or "build a $1 million company as a solo founder." People start thinking AI is about speed and shortcuts.

But he wasn't thinking about using AI the right way. According to me, he should use AI to think better, not just work faster. To build clarity before building slides. To develop sharper analysis, not just prettier outputs. AI shouldn't replace thinking—it should amplify it.

That's when I realized: if he understood how to use ChatGPT's Projects feature properly, it wouldn't just make this presentation easier. It would change how he approaches every piece of strategic work from now on.

"Let me show you something," I said. "We're going to set up a system. Not for speed—for depth."

Here's how we approached it.

Step 1: We created a ChatGPT Project

Not a single chat. A Project—ChatGPT's feature that lets you build persistent context across multiple conversations.

We named it: "Q4 Client Review - [Client Name]"

Why a Project? Because every time you start a new chat in ChatGPT, it forgets everything. Projects solve that. They keep your context alive.

Here's what most people don't realize: ChatGPT has a context window—a limit to how much it can "remember" in one conversation. When you start a new chat, it forgets everything from your previous conversation.

Projects solve this by creating persistent memory. Every file you upload, every conversation you have inside that Project—ChatGPT can reference it. It's not starting from zero every time.

This is how you get depth. This is how AI stops being generic and starts being useful.

Step 2: We added Project Files

This is where most people skip ahead. They think, "I'll just tell ChatGPT what I need." That doesn't work.

We uploaded:

• Client profile document (their industry, pain points, past feedback)

• Previous quarter's performance report (what worked, what didn't)

• Project scope document (objectives for this review, key deliverables)

• Internal notes (his rough observations from client calls)

ChatGPT now had context. Not generic "act as a consultant" prompts—real, specific background.

"Why does this matter? ChatGPT doesn't know your client. It predicts from patterns, not facts. When you upload your client profile and past reports, you're giving it YOUR data to reason from—not generalities.

Step 3: We clarified the process

I asked him: "What's the purpose of this review?"

He said, "To show progress and get approval for next quarter's budget."

Good. Now we had a goal.

Then I pushed: "What does 'show progress' mean? What will make them say yes to the budget?"

He thought for a moment. "They need to see we've hit targets, solved their pain points, and have a clear plan forward." Now we had outcome clarity.

Step 4: We defined the KPIs

I said, "If this presentation works, what are the measurable outcomes?"

He wrote:

1. Client approves Q1 budget (primary KPI)

2. Review meeting ends with clear next steps, not follow-up questions (efficiency KPI)

3. Client references specific insights from our analysis (engagement KPI)

4. No major revisions needed after first draft (quality KPI)

This changed everything. Now we weren't just making slides. We were building toward specific, measurable success.

Step 5: We built the structure inside the Project

Inside the ChatGPT Project, we created sub-conversations:

• Chat window 1: Performance analysis (What were the key wins? What data backs it up?)

• Chat window 2: Problem-solving narrative (What challenges did we solve? How did we solve them?)

• Chat window 3: Forward plan (What's next quarter's roadmap? Why does it need this budget?)

  
  

Each sub-project had its own thread. Each built on the context we'd uploaded.

For the performance analysis, he started by asking ChatGPT:

"Based on the client profile and last quarter's report, identify the top 3 performance metrics they care about. Then help me structure a narrative around those metrics."

ChatGPT didn't just spit out generic suggestions. It referenced the uploaded files. It pulled specific pain points from the client profile. It connected dots.

He refined it. Asked follow-ups. "Make this sharper. Focus on cost savings, not just delivery speed."

ChatGPT adjusted. They iterated. The analysis got clearer.

Step 6: We used ChatGPT as the central command

Once the analysis was sharp, he asked ChatGPT:

"Now write a 2-sentence prompt I can use in Canva to generate a visual showing our delivery improvement."

ChatGPT gave him a tight, specific prompt. He used it in Canva Got a clean visual.

It took him a week to ten days. Not to finish the presentation—to set up the system. The Projects. The context. The sub-structures.

But once the system was in place? He built that client deck in two days. Sharp. Specific. The client liked the sharper analysis and the budget got approved in matter of couple of days, which could take a couple of weeks before.

The Lesson: You Can't Run a Marathon on Day One

Here's what most people miss: AI isn't plug-and-play. It's set-up-and-iterate.

It's like coding. You don't just open a text editor and start writing Python. You set up your IDE. You configure your environment. You build the scaffolding.

Same with AI.

You can't jump into Gamma and expect magic. You need to set up your system first:

• What's the outcome you're building toward?

• What context does the AI need to be useful?

• How will you structure the work so it's manageable, not chaotic?

• 
  

Recent research backs this up. A growing body of work—including studies from MIT and other institutions—points to the same conclusion: stop fantasizing about tools. Focus on clarity of outcome and design of process.

The people who succeed with AI aren't the ones who know 20 tools. They're the ones who think clearly, set up systems, and treat AI as a collaborator—not a shortcut.

Where My Friend Is Now

A month later, I checked in with him.

He's not just using ChatGPT anymore—he's teaching his team how to use it. He's built a system of projects and sub-projects so organized that his context is always there, always sharp.

He doesn't chase fancy prompts anymore. He doesn't tool-hop. He doesn't panic when a new app launches. He's focused on one thing: System thinking.

He knows how to translate his thinking into ChatGPT Projects. How to build deep, broad context. How to break complex work into manageable pieces. How to collaborate with AI instead of asking it to do magic.

That's the shift.

What You Can Do This Week

If you're feeling the same exhaustion my friend felt—bouncing between tools, not sure what's working—try this: Stop adding tools. Start building your system.

Pick one task you need to complete this week. A report, a deck, an email campaign—anything.

Before you open any AI tool, spend 10 minutes writing down:

• What's the outcome I need?

• Who's this for, and what decision do they need to make?

• What's the simplest version of this that would work?

Then open ChatGPT (or whatever tool you prefer). Set up a Project. Give it context—upload past work, add notes, structure your thinking.

Don't expect the first output to be final. Iterate. Refine. Build on it.

Treat it like you're setting up an environment, not looking for instant results.

Do this once. See what happens.

Because the best AI tool for 2025 isn't the newest app. It's your brain—when you use it to think clearly, structure smartly, and build systems that last.

------

This is part of my ongoing work helping managers build an AI mindset—practical ways to think, decide, and work in the age of AI. It's not about mastering tools, but understanding how to work intelligently with intelligence.