AI Starter Checklist

Why your first week matters

Most people either use AI too cautiously (asking it to do only the most basic tasks) or too blindly (trusting outputs without checking them). The habits you build in the first week tend to stick. This checklist sets you up for the useful middle ground.

Set up and explore (Days 1-2)

• Pick one AI tool and stick to it for the first week. ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini are all fine. Don't try all three at once.
• Turn off training data sharing in settings if privacy matters to you (usually under Data or Privacy settings).
• Run one prompt on something low-stakes, like summarizing an article, brainstorming names, or drafting a short email. Just get a feel for how it responds.
• Notice what surprised you about the output. Too long, too formal, too generic? That is useful information for how to prompt it better.

Run your first real prompts (Days 3-4)

• Pick one actual work task and try using AI for it. Don't pick a high-stakes task. Pick something repeatable.
• Use the 7-ingredient structure: role, goal, audience, context, examples, constraints, format. Read How to Write a Useful Prompt if you haven't.
• Fact-check one specific claim in the AI's output. Get in the habit of doing this once per session.
• Save one prompt that worked well somewhere you'll find it again, such as a note, a doc, or a folder.

Build habits that last (Days 5-7)

• Identify the one task in your week that AI helps with most. That's your anchor use case.
• Decide what you'll never use AI for unsupervised: client-facing facts, legal or financial specifics, and anything you can't quickly verify.

Key takeaway

The goal of week one is not mastery. It is finding your anchor use case and building the habit of checking outputs. Everything else follows from there.