Is AI Too Difficult to Learn?

How to stop avoiding AI and start exactly where you are - a gentle first step for women who've been feeling overwhelmed by artificial inteligence.

The email sat in her inbox for three weeks.

 It was a newsletter about AI, sent by a friend who thought she might find it interesting. Every few days, Clara would see it there, unopened, and feel a small pang of something she couldn't quite name. Guilt? Shame? Exhaustion?

Finally, she deleted it. "I'll get to it when things calm down," she told herself. "It just feels... difficult. Too much. Maybe later."

If this story feels familiar, you're in good company. Clara is one of you. She's a mom, a partner, someone with a full life and a full mind. And she's not alone in this quiet little ritual of avoidance.

The "it's too difficult" excuse is the most polite, most socially acceptable reason we give for not doing something. It sounds reasonable. It sounds responsible, even. I'm just being realistic about my bandwidth.

If there is one thing I've learned from Wayne Dyer, this would be it: difficulty is not a fact. It's a thought. And thoughts can be questioned.

Who Was Wayne Dyer?

Dr. Wayne W. Dyer (1940–2015) was an American psychologist, author, and motivational speaker who became one of the most influential voices in the self-help movement.

After earning his doctorate in counselling from Wayne State University, Dyer worked as a high school guidance counsellor and later as a professor at St. John's University in New York. His first book, Your Erroneous Zones (1976), became one of the best-selling books of all time, with over 35 million copies sold worldwide.

Over his career, Dyer wrote more than 40 books. His work evolved from psychological themes like motivation and self-actualization to deeper spiritual teachings influenced by thinkers such as Abraham Maslow, Lao Tzu, and Swami Muktananda.

This blog post is a part of a series based on Dyer’s book “Excuses Begone! How to Change Lifelong, Self-Defeating Thinking Habits”, which was published in 2009 by Hay House.

Dyer's gentle, compassionate approach reminds us that we're capable of far more than our excuses would have us believe: a perfect starting point for our conversation about AI and staying human.

Where This Excuse Hides

For Elena, it shows up as "learning AI is too hard, I don't even know where to start."

For Nora, it's "I don't have the mental space for one more hard thing."

For Patricia, it's "technology has always been difficult for me. Why would this be different?"

For Clara, it's that unopened email.

The excuse wears different clothes, but underneath it's the same story: This is beyond me. I'm not cut out for this. Someone else can handle it.

But honestly, when has something that mattered ever been truly easy?

Learning to drive was hard. So was learning to cook, to parent, to navigate a new job, to build a friendship that lasts. You did those things not because they were easy, but because they mattered.

And understanding the world your kids, your grandkids, your career, and your own mind are living in? That matters too.

Dyer's Antidote

Wayne Dyer offered this affirmation for the "it's too difficult" excuse:

"I have the ability to accomplish any task I set my mind to with ease and comfort."

Notice he didn't say "with no effort." He said "with ease and comfort." There's a difference. Effort is real. Struggle is optional.

When you tell yourself something is difficult, your body believes you. Your shoulders tense. Your brain looks for escape routes. You become, literally, less capable of doing the thing you're afraid of.

But when you tell yourself "I can do this with ease," something shifts. Not because the task magically becomes simpler. But because you show up differently. You're relaxed. You're curious. You're open.

And from that state, you can learn anything.

One Small Thing You Can Do Today

Here's a practice I've borrowed from my own notebooks. I call it the "One Thing" rule. You don't need to understand AI. You don't need to master it. You don't even need to like it.

You just need to learn one small thing about it this week.

 That's it. One thing.

• What does "AI" actually stand for? (Artificial Intelligence, but you knew that.)

•  What's one way people are using AI to save time?

•  What's one question you've been afraid to ask?

Write it down somewhere. A scrap of paper. The notes app on your phone. A journal, if you keep one.

The act of writing matters. It moves the thought from floating around in your head to sitting still on paper. It becomes real. Manageable. Yours.

Next week, learn one more thing. That's the whole method. Small steps, taken with ease, add up to a journey you barely noticed you were on.

A Gentle Invitation

I keep a journal on my desk for exactly these moments. Nothing fancy. Just pages where I can write down the one thing I learned, the one question I still have, the one fear I'm ready to name.

If you're someone who finds clarity on paper, I make journals for women like you. They're just a little room to breathe. A place to prove to yourself, one small entry at a time, that difficult things become simple when you give yourself permission to start small.

But even a napkin works. The important thing is to begin.

The Truth About Difficulty

Here's what Clara eventually learned, after she finally opened that email (and the next one, and the one after that):

• It wasn't difficult. It was just new.

• And new and difficult are not the same thing.

• New is unfamiliar. New is unknown. New asks you to stretch, just a little, just for a moment.

But new is not impossible. New is just... new.

And you've done new before. Hundreds of times. Thousands. You can do new again.

Come back soon. There's more to talk about.

Warm greetings

Maria