If you're new to AI, start with one task you repeat every week, not a list of prompts. Write down how you do that task step by step, give AI one of those steps, check and fix what comes back, and add the next step a week later.
If you're learning AI, you've probably saved a few “best prompts” lists. Maybe a folder of screenshots.
Then Monday comes, and your work looks exactly the same.
Yesterday I wrote about the hidden steps in a business process. Your own job has them too.
You're in good company. In Microsoft and LinkedIn's 2024 Work Trend Index, three in four knowledge workers said they already use AI at work. But only 39% of those users had received AI training from their company.
So most of us are working it out alone. And when you're alone, collecting prompts feels like progress.
A prompt answers “what do I type?”
The question that moves you forward is “what do I hand over first?”
Here's a next step that works:
- Pick one task you repeat every week. The boring one.
- Write down how you do it, step by step, as if you're showing a new colleague.
- Give AI one of those steps. Check what comes back. Fix it. Try again next week.
One task. One step. One week.
Once you can explain the task clearly, the prompt almost writes itself. And the judgment stays with you.
Hand the repetitive work to AI, so you can focus on the work that needs you.
What's the one task you'd hand over first?
Source: Microsoft and LinkedIn, 2024 Work Trend Index, published 8 May 2024: “Three in four knowledge workers (75%) now use AI at work” and “only 39% of users have received AI training from their company.” Read the Work Trend Index announcement ↗