patrickzMake your first useful AI prompt
Turn a short note into an accurate action list you can verify.
10 min · Beginner
Optional background: How AI actually answers (and why it sounds sure when it’s wrong) · 8 min read
START HERE / NO CODING REQUIRED
Your first useful
hour with AI.
Start with one small task. You don’t need to understand every model or buy a stack of tools.
Try the 10-minute lesson ↗
What you need: a chat assistant you can access and a place to save your notes. Use the fictional examples provided. Need help getting set up? Step 1 of that guide is all you need. Prefer to read first? Follow the 15-idea field-note path ↗
Three lessons to get going
The first three take about 50 minutes. Leave ten minutes to repeat your favorite exercise.
Check an AI answer for made-up facts in 15 minutes
See why a fluent answer can still be wrong, then check an AI’s claims outside the chat.
15 min · Beginner
Write an AI context pack so answers fit your situation
Create a small context pack that makes a weekly planning answer specific and checkable.
25 min · Beginner
Optional background: Give AI the context it actually needs · 8 min read
Then build your judgment
Come back for a second session. Choose the right task, compare answers, and keep practicing.
Ask why before asking AI to build
Write a one-page problem brief with an explicit finish line.
15 min · Beginner
Optional background: Ask why before you ask how · 7 min read
Compare AI tools on your own tasks with a simple scorecard
Build a small comparison sheet based on work you can judge.
35 min · Beginner
Optional background: Stop asking which AI is best. Test it on your own work · 8 min read
Improve a prompt in five attempts, one change at a time
Run five controlled attempts at one small task, in one sitting or one a day, and keep evidence of improvement.
30 min, or 15 min a day · Beginner
Optional background: AI does the work faster. Judging it is still your job · 7 min read