Try it: two exercises
Put the guide into practice with your own AI, with a worked example for each.
Two short exercises, one for each part of the guide. You'll need an AI chat app; if you don't have one, pick one in two minutes.
Check what your organisation allows before pasting work documents into an AI, and leave out anything personal or confidential.
1. Set up one project folder
About 20 minutes to sort, longer to file. Pick one real piece of work you have on now, with some documents and some things to do.
- Describe it out loud. Press the microphone button and tell your AI what the work is, what papers you have and what needs doing. Don't tidy; say a lot.
- Ask for the office. "Using this picture: folders for things we keep, post-its for things to do, and a pointer when something lives somewhere else. Sort what I just told you into those. Show me the folder, the list of post-its and any pointers."
- Check it. Is anything a post-it that should be kept, or the other way round? Is anything kept in two places? Push back until it's right.
- Make it real. Create the folder and put the papers in it. Put the to-dos wherever you keep tasks; if that's somewhere else, it gets a pointer.
- Test it. Ask your AI to write a one-page note for the folder: what this is, where things live, and the next step. Start a new chat, paste in only that note, and ask: "What is this project, and what's next?" If it can answer, your folder works: a fresh AI only knows what it can read.
Worked example
Sam is organising the summer retreat. They say to their AI: "I'm running a three-day retreat in June. I've got a plan in a Google Doc, three venue quotes in my email, a budget spreadsheet Alex keeps, and I need to book a venue, send invites and sort food."
The AI sorts it:
- Folder, Summer retreat: the plan; the three venue quotes, saved from email into the folder; a pointer: "Budget: Alex's spreadsheet, link here".
- Post-its: Book venue (pick from the three quotes); Send invites (after the venue is booked); Sort food.
- Spotted: the quotes won't change, so a copy is fine. The budget is Alex's and keeps changing, so keep a pointer, not a copy, or the two will drift.
Sam files the quotes, adds the pointer and the three tasks, and asks for the one-page note. Next morning a new chat, given only that note, says: "This is the June retreat. Next: choose a venue from the three quotes; invites wait on that."
2. Run one day through your AI
One working day. No time for a full day? Do steps 1, 2 and 4 in one sitting.
- Morning, ask what's on. Press the microphone button and talk: read out your meetings for the day and what's on your mind. Then ask: "What's the one thing I should do if I did nothing else? Give me a plan for the hours I actually have, as a simple timetable."
- Push back once. Tell it what it missed ("the call at three runs long", "the report matters more than the email") and let it redo the plan.
- Work, and keep this one chat open all day. A chat app doesn't remember other conversations. When something gets done or decided, say so in a sentence there.
- Land the plane. At the end of the day: "Write a short note: what got done, what didn't and why, and where I start tomorrow." Save the note somewhere you'll find it, such as the project's folder.
- Next morning, start from the note. Open a new chat, paste in yesterday's note, then ask what's on. Notice that it picks up where you left off, without you having to remember.
Worked example
Priya runs events for a small charity. At 9am she says: "I've got a funder call at 11 and a team meeting at 3. On my mind: the venue for the autumn gathering isn't booked, the newsletter is due Friday, and I owe Dan a reply about the budget." Her AI replies with a timetable: the Dan reply is a two-line email, so do it first; venue from 9:15 to 10:45, because it blocks the invites; newsletter draft in the gap after lunch. Priya pushes back: the funder call needs prep. The AI moves the venue to after the call.
At two she says: "Venue's booked, Hilltop Farm. Dan's done. Newsletter's half drafted." At five she says: "Write a short note: what got done, what didn't, and where I start tomorrow." The AI writes: "Done: venue booked (Hilltop Farm), Dan answered. Not done: newsletter, half drafted. Tomorrow: finish the newsletter first; invites can now go out." Next morning she pastes that note into a new chat and asks what's on. The plan starts with the newsletter.