Circular grid, circular guides - how to?

>...this is what this person would of done first?

Yes. It's drawing software. In principle, you set up initial construction using temporary paths and/or guides, much as you would set up temporary construction marks using straightedges and curve or ellipse templates when drawing with a pencil.

Two common misconceptions among newcomers to drawing software:

First, the assumption that every mark (path) you make must be permanent. Especially with anything of a geometric nature, it's perfectly normal to build all kinds of temporary construction and delete it after it's served its purpose. There's no reason to fear or hesitate doing that. In software, your "eraser" (the delete key) erases perfectly, leaving no unwanted trace. And you don't really have to always literally create temporary construction paths, convert them to guides, then trace over them, then delete them. The paths of your initial construction can become your final paths by just cutting away the unwanted "deadwood", leaving just the "keeper" portions, joining them together and styling them as desired.

Second, the assumption that there must be some specific command for whatever kind of thing you happen to have in mind; or if not, there surely must be some "clever trick" to cause it to happen automagically. Forget that. Just draw paths, cut them, join them, combine them, stack them , arrange them to build what you have in mind. Do all of that as economically as you practically can (ending up with the the fewest and tidiest well-formed paths--with the minimum anchorPoints required to define the shapes).

Use all the existing drawing tools to advantage. To learn how to do that, start by reading and working through the program's documentation. There is no shortcut to that. Don't try to "get clever" until you understand what the tools do. Don't look for instant-gratification whizbang shortcuts (and online "tutorials") for every little thing you need to draw.

JET