“Hi friend… I finally have my Copilot license!”

That’s the message I received this week. And honestly, it reminded me of the very first episode of Friends. The cast is there, the coffee is brewing, the theme song is stuck in your head… but you don’t yet know how iconic it’s going to become.

Getting your Copilot license feels exactly like that moment. Exciting, fun, a little overwhelming. But here’s the thing: just having a license doesn’t mean you’re already creating value. The real shift comes when you start to build new habits.

Welcome to Week 1 of the Friends Copilot Starter Kit: The One Where You Begin.

Why habits matter more than features

I see this all the time. Organizations roll out Copilot and expect fireworks. Leaders think: we’ve bought the licenses, now productivity will skyrocket. Employees think: I’ll ask one question and Copilot will do my work.

Reality check: it doesn’t work like that.

Copilot isn’t a magic wand. It’s not about hacks or shortcuts. It’s about a new way of working. It requires you to build trust, to experiment, to know when to use it and when not.

Think about Friends. Each character on their own is quirky and funny. But the real magic happens when you see them together, bouncing off each other, becoming part of your weekly rhythm. Copilot works the same way.

So let’s start with three small but powerful habits.

☕ Habit 1: Turn on meeting transcripts

This is your goldmine.

Not just for the quick summary, but for everything that comes after.

With Copilot, your transcript doesn’t stay locked inside Teams. You can pull it into Word, PowerPoint, or even Chat to dig deeper, create new content, or connect it with other work.

And here’s the catch: if you only hit the Summarize button, you’ll lose a lot of value. It gives you a neat recap.. but it flattens the richness of the conversation.

💡 Instead, try this:
Type /meeting in Copilot Chat (or simply ask: “Retrieve the transcript from my last meeting”). Then use it as your raw material.

  • Turn questions into follow-up actions.
  • Pull examples into a client proposal.
  • Extract lessons learned for your team.

A transcript is not just a record of what was said. It’s the foundation you can build on and it keeps you closer to the nuance than a summary ever will.

📖 Habit 2: Choose your model wisely

When you open Copilot Chat, you can switch between GPT-4 and GPT-5.

Most people immediately click GPT-5. And yes, that’s often the smart move. But the real smart move? Knowing when to pick which.

💡 GPT-4 is your reliable baseline. Stable, predictable, and fast for simple tasks: draft an email, summarise a document, rephrase a text.
💡 GPT-5 is your advanced partner. Great for complexity: breaking down multi-step tasks, connecting the dots, and working with Agents like the Researcher and Analyst.

My tip: take one prompt and run it in both. Compare. You’ll see the difference and you’ll start training yourself to choose the right model.

🎤 Habit 3: Use your voice

Try speaking instead of typing.

Ask one question out loud.
Notice how Copilot responds.
See how natural it feels.

It might seem small, but it changes everything. Voice makes Copilot less like “a tool” and more like a partner you can think out loud with. Easy to use on your phone with the M365 Copilot app and in different applications on your device when you have Copilot license.

🎉 What’s next?

Congratulations.. you’ve just finished your pilot episode.

With three simple habits, you’ve already shifted. You’re no longer just someone holding a license. You’re starting to design a new way of working.

And next week? That’s when we meet Ross — your Researcher Agent. Always digging deep. Sometimes too much. But always valuable.