Part Two · The practice

Now make it useful.

You know what it is and where it breaks. Part Two is seven habits that turn it into real help, at your desk, tonight.

Seven short scenes. Each one is a habit you can use in under a minute.

Want this in your world? I am (optional, skip ahead anytime)

New here? Start with Part One, nine scenes on how it works and where it breaks.

Scene 1 of 7 · about 50 seconds

Garbage brief, garbage draft.

The same request, two briefs. Send both.

The lazy ask

The real brief

Pre-baked on your device, like everything on this site. Nothing you do here leaves the page.

You'd never tell a new intern "write a thank-you email" and walk away. Tell it who it's for, what happened, and how it should sound.

It can't read your mind. The quality of the answer is set before you hit send.

Try this tonight

One redo is all it takes to feel this one.

Take the last thing you asked an AI. Ask again with who it's for, what it should sound like, and how long it should be. Compare.

✓You just learned how to brief it.

Scene 2 of 7 · about 45 seconds

The first draft is a warm-up.

Asked: invite the team to a planning offsite

Dear team, I hope this message finds you well. I am writing to inform you that we will be holding a planning offsite in the coming weeks. Further details regarding the date, time, and location will be shared in due course. Your attendance would be greatly appreciated.

This is the most average possible answer. Now push.

It gave you the most average possible answer. The good one is two pushes away.

You don't accept a first draft from a person. Don't accept one from this.

Try this tonight

That one sentence is the whole habit.

Give me three very different versions.

✓You just learned to push back.

Scene 3 of 7 · about 1 minute

Let it interview you.

One sentence changes everything. Watch.

Plan my daughter's birthday party. Before you answer, ask me five questions.

You know things it needs. You don't know which things. So make it ask.

One sentence fixes the garbage-in problem: "Before you answer, ask me five questions."

Try this tonight

Add this to any real request and watch what it asks.

Before you answer, ask me five questions.

✓You just learned the one magic sentence.

Scene 4 of 7 · about 45 seconds

Don't describe the style. Show it.

Asked: reply to a customer who wants a refund

"Friendly but professional"

Same ask, plus one pasted example

Ten adjectives about your voice do less than one paragraph of your actual writing.

It's an imitation engine. Feed it the thing to imitate.

Try this tonight

Pick an email you're proud of and hand it over.

Match this voice from now on in this chat: [paste one email you like]

✓You just learned to show, not describe.

Scene 5 of 7 · about 40 seconds

Same facts, different reader.

One explanation, three audiences: why we back up our files

The words that convince a CFO put a 9-year-old to sleep, and the other way around.

"Explain it to X" is the cheapest quality upgrade there is.

Try this tonight

Take anything it already wrote for you, then add:

Now rewrite it for [the person who will actually read it].

✓You just learned the cheapest quality upgrade.

Scene 6 of 7 · about 50 seconds

Ask it to attack its own answer.

It gave you a confident recommendation. Now turn it on itself.

It agreed with you too easily in Part One. Use that same eagerness to poke holes instead.

It won't volunteer its own doubts. It will hand them to you the moment you ask.

Try this tonight

After any answer that matters:

What are the three strongest objections to what you just said?

✓You just learned to make it doubt itself.

Scene 7 of 7 · about 40 seconds

Some things stay on your desk.

Final numbers. Judgment calls. Anything you can't verify. Anything confidential. It drafts, you decide.

Flip any card to see why. No score, no wrong answers.

Hand it over

First draft of a speech

Drafting is its best job. You'll rewrite half of it, and that's the point.

A brainstorm list

Volume is free. Ask for thirty ideas and keep three.

Rewriting a stiff paragraph

It's an imitation engine. Style transfer is where it shines.

Explaining a confusing form

Patient, tireless, and happy to explain it five ways. Verify anything you'll sign.

Keep it

The final budget number

You can't verify what you didn't compute. Numbers that ship get checked by a human.

Your friend's medical question

It sounds like a doctor. It isn't one. Real stakes need a real human.

A confidential document

That box is not a diary. What goes in travels to a server.

The judgment call

It predicts words. You own outcomes. That trade never changes.

You are still the editor. Part One told you why. Now you know how.

The one-page cheat sheet Back to Part One