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Test version · build of 28.10.26 · prototypes · direction note

Tested on 28.10.26

The 6 habits to pick up from day one

You opened an AI and wonder what it can do for you day to day? Six habits, 15 minutes, and its answers become useful.

When you finishA briefing you can reuse, settings that stop you repeating yourself, answers you check, and a rule for what you hand over and what you keep.

Let’s go
What you need (2)
  • Claude, ChatGPT or another AI. The free version is enough.
  • Nothing to install.
  • Level 1 · What’s it good for?
  • 15 min
  • Free: Yes
  • 3 steps
My mascot ticking the sixth box of its list

Chapter 01 / 06 · 3 min

Write a real briefing

A vague request gets a vague answer. I force myself to answer four questions before I hit send: who it should be, what the context is, what I want at the end, and in what form.

  • Role: who it plays (a proofreader, a coach, an accountant).
  • Context: what it needs to know, and what it must not touch.
  • Goal: the result you want to see at the end.
  • Format: a table, five lines, an email ready to send.
Weak

Make me a table of my customers.

Better

You are my admin assistant. Here is my customer file (paste it). I want to see the customers who haven't paid, sorted by how late they are, in a table with three columns: name, amount, days late. Don't modify the original file.

Everyday uses to practice today: rewrite a tricky email, summarize a ten-page document, prepare questions before a meeting, compare two quotes, turn notes into a task list.

Chapter 02 / 06 · 3 min

Ask for proof, and the date

"It's done" proves nothing. An AI can tell you a job is finished when it isn't, with the same confidence as when it's right.

Weak

Does it work?

Better

Don't tell me it works. Run it and paste me the result.

Same for things that move fast: menus, prices, quotas. An AI can describe a setting that no longer exists. Before a technical step, make it read today's official documentation.

A sentence to make it remember
Before any technical change, read the most recent official documentation online, and tell me the date of what you read.

Chapter 03 / 06 · 3 min

Set it once and for all

Fixing the same thing every week? Stop. There are two places for that, and they do two different jobs.

  • Instructions: what you want every time (tone, language, format). In Claude: Settings > Your Claude, Instructions section. In ChatGPT: Settings > Personalization > Custom Instructions.
  • Memory: what the AI keeps from your chats. In Claude: Settings > Your Claude, "Manage" next to Your memory. You read what it kept there, and you fix it.
Weak

Stop putting emojis everywhere.

Better

Remember this for next time: no emojis in what I publish.

Chapter 04 / 06 · 2 min

Work with a backup

Before letting an AI change your files, keep a copy. If it breaks, you go back.

Weak

Something's broken, fix it.

Better

Show me all the files you changed, then put them back the way they were.

Chapter 05 / 06 · 2 min

Keep your secrets

Password, card code, API key: none of that in the chat. The AI can tell you where to type it. You're the one who types it.

  1. Step 5.1: Pasted a key by mistake? Go to the service that gave it to you.
  2. Step 5.2: Revoke the old key.
  3. Step 5.3: Create a new one, and keep it out of the chat.

Chapter 06 / 06 · 3 min

Keep some friction

This one goes against the grain: don't hand everything over. If the AI does it all, you lose your grip bit by bit, and one day you can't judge what it gives back. So I keep some effort for myself on purpose.

My sorting rule: Back / Front. Back is what nobody sees: the AI sorts, searches, structures. Front is what people read with my name on it: I decide, I sign.

  • Back: my morning brief. It gathers the info, files it, builds me the table. If it gets a line wrong, I see it and fix it.
  • Front: my Insta captions. I write them myself. It's my voice, and if I hand it to the AI, it ends up sounding like everyone else's.

The cheat sheet

The whole guide in 6 lines

Copy it into your notes.

Cheat sheet · The 6 habits to pick up from day one
1. Briefing: Role, Context, Goal, Format.
2. Ask for proof, not a promise, and today's official docs for technical settings.
3. A correction that keeps coming back? Put it in instructions or memory.
4. A copy, or Git, before letting it change your files.
5. Passwords and keys: never in the chat.
6. Back: it sorts. Front: you decide and sign. Keep some friction.
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