CEO plays outside while computer works using Copilot

How to Use Copilot Like a CEO (Video)

What would you do if you had 1 more hour in your work day? Not by getting up earlier or by working later, but one more magical hour to get *stuff done.

Would you use it in the morning before your day gets taken up by the madness of running a business?

Would you save it for the end to let yourself look back, dream big, and plan ahead?

Would you combine it into one big weekly chunk (or two) and do the deep work you never seem to get around to?

There’s no wrong answer here.

The only problem is if you’re not taking advantage of this time right now. And we’re going to show you how to change that.

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How to Use Copilot AI to Save 5 Hours a Week (or More)

If you read our previous article, Copilot for Microsoft 365: The Built-in A.I. for Your Business, then you already know the basics of what Copilot can do to save you time. Go ahead and click on that link to refresh yourself. You can also watch this 96-second video from Microsoft about it.

Microsoft 365 Copilot intro videoWhat we’re going to focus on here are some more specific examples. These are use cases from our CEO and team that go beyond using Copilot to draft emails and summarize Teams meetings. Those can be huge timesavers and will certainly help add up to the 5 hours a week (or more) that you can free yourself up, so if you’re not implementing them yet, please give them a try.

But the goal here is to get you thinking more specifically and strategically about what you spend time on (or keep putting off) and show how you can use Copilot to speed up parts of it. Ideally, each of these examples will resonate with you or spark a new idea.

A caveat to always keep in mind is that you still need to do your own due diligence. No AI can replace your intelligence, experience, and judgment. It won’t be responsible for your choices, either. You will be.

  • Read your AI-written emails and reports before sending.
  • Double check the data that was analyzed and how calculations were made.
  • Get legal advice before signing contracts or launching new products.

 

Use Cases for Microsoft 365 Copilot

Once you’ve gotten used to using Copilot in all the ways the other article talks about, let’s imagine how else it can help. Do you feel stuck brainstorming? Need faster analysis? Have to manage a team and want to keep them on track? These examples should help you use Copilot like a boss.

  • Turn any goal into a SMART goal. Whether it’s for yourself, your department, or someone on your team, take the starting target or idea you have and let Copilot turn it into a SMART goal. Once you have the SMART goal, you can then have Copilot draft appropriate milestones to stay on track and reach it.
  • Similarly, you can use Copilot to help you plan out your projects. Whether you want to base your project on an existing project’s schedule, or you want to have it create deadlines based on best practices or other criteria, let Copilot give you a starting point that you can adjust.
  • Finally get all your plans and policies down on paper. If you’ve been delaying writing your business’s disaster recovery plan, incident response plan, personal device policy, or any number of other documents, let Copilot do it. Save your department heads the time of having to start from scratch. Alternatively, have Copilot create the framework and questions each department needs to address and send them that. You’ll all save time and can still ensure you’re creating your own custom document.
  • Analyze your data. Have Copilot find the patterns, trends, and forecasting for you. You can also have it create formulas for you. You describe ‘what’ you’re trying to get to and Copilot can figure out the ‘how.’ One example of this is in the video below. Another could be asking Copilot to analyze your Sales and Marketing teams’ data and calculating their individual conversion rates. Then have it look at those conversion rates over time to see if performance has been improving or not. Now you have trend data and an opportunity to discuss in your next group or 1-on-1 meeting.
  • Let Copilot search through a document and pull out the specific, relevant information you need rather than you searching for various terms. Need to find out which resumés have a certification you listed in the job description? Have Copilot go through them. Forgot how long your contract is with a certain vendor? Ask Copilot.
  • Never know what to do for employee events? Rather than taking up 6 team members’ time with meetings and other time spent researching, ask Copilot to come up with some ideas. Be specific about your group size, interests, and the geographical area or budget you’re willing to consider. Copilot can provide team building ideas for the next month/quarter/year and estimate costs. Then have it set up a poll to let the team pick the winner or to select the best day for everyone.
  • Run an initial SWOT analysis or run one after your own to see what areas overlap and what could be a different perspective to add.
  • Ask Copilot to analyze your calendar for ways to make it more efficient. This will give different results based on how you prefer to handle your calendar – for meetings only, for to do reminders, for blocks, etc. But it can pull out those appointments with the same or similar attendees for you to look over. You can also ask it to create an agenda for you (since every meeting should have one). And as you probably already know, you can ask it to help you prepare for meetings by looking through your emails, chats, and even the web for relevant information.
  • Compare vendor proposals. Let Copilot sift through it all to find which offerings are similar and where they’re different. And let Copilot pull together brand reputation and reviews on those vendors without spending your own time digging through various online reviews and rating sites.
  • Self-improvement. If you’ve struggled to find time to read more, learn more, or get more industry insights (or if you want to make sure you exceed that goal in 2025), AI can be your free online trainer. Use the prompt, “Let’s talk about [title].” Copilot can obviously give you a summary of the key points, but then you can ask follow-up questions: “Tell me more about [that part].” “How would I apply these lessons to my life?” “What are some of the challenges people face with this concept?” “Can we explore some strategies to be successful?” And so on. You can be as specific as you like or use the follow-up prompts provided (see below). You can upload a complex whitepaper or article and interact this way. And you can talk through operating systems and training methodologies, too. Curious about the 12 Week Year? Or want to start EOS in your company? Granted, typing with AI is never going to be as rich or immersive as reading a whole book or joining a peer group. It doesn’t replace in-person workshops or a 1-on-1 mentor. But from The Art of War to Atomic Habits, it can give you actionable insights much faster than ‘waiting until you have time.’

These are not the only ways to use Copilot by far, but hopefully they will give you fresh motivation to try it and save yourself some time. Just keep in mind that Copilot can help you get started or get unstuck, but it’s ultimately your name, business, and reputation on the line.

 

How Our CEO Uses Copilot (Video)

 

A Few Final Thoughts

Remember that Copilot works best with give and take. The more specific you are about where you’re coming from and what your goal is, the more targeted Copilot’s responses can be. And then you can refine further. You don’t have to accept Copilot’s first response. You can ask for 5 or 10 or 25 more. You can tell it to make its responses more specific to your industry or role or geography or style or even mood.

Pro Tip:

Look for and use the automatically generated follow-up prompts. See example in the image below and click to enlarge it.

After Copilot gives a response, you should see follow up questions that are clickable for you to enter into the chat. Don’t use them if they’re going in the wrong direction, but let them help you explore more if they look useful.

You can also click on View Prompts at any time to access the library of prompts from the Copilot Lab.

Example of follow up prompts when using Copilot

Microsoft 365 Copilot can be the most valuable and least expensive tool you get for yourself at work this year. There are security concerns you’ll want to address, and we’re happy to help answer any other questions you may have. Call (912) 629-2426 or click the green button in the top right corner for us to contact you.

 

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