AI Path

Today’s Practice Pick a real multi-step task you have on hand, and hold a conversation with AI for at least 15 turns (one question + one answer = one turn). Example tasks: “Help me plan a family trip (destination, itinerary, budget, packing list)” “Help me set up a personal blog from scratch (pick a platform, choose a theme, write the first post)” “Help me analyze a career decision (take stock of where I am, pros and cons, action plan)” Don’t try to steer the conversation deliberately — let it unfold naturally. When the conversation reaches around turn 10, pause and send this message: ...

📖 This is Part 3 of 5 in the “AI Path L0→L1 Upgrade Guide” series. Part 1: Understanding Your Tools · Part 2: From Vague Questions to Precise Instructions · Part 3: Turning AI Into Your Collaboration Partner · Part 4: Building Your Personal System (coming soon) · Part 5: Graduation & Next Steps (coming soon) TL;DR: Three core skills — follow-up iteration (the first answer is almost never the best), context management (periodic summaries, start fresh after ~20 turns, split complex tasks), and role-playing (assigning a role changes output depth). This week’s practice focus: deliberately run a 15+ turn long conversation and proactively do a progress summary. ...

Tip Card: Format Constraints Cheat Sheet Spend 10 seconds specifying a format in your prompt, save 10 minutes of reformatting afterward. Here are 6 of the most useful format constraints, each with a prompt template you can use right away. 1. Markdown Table Best for: structured information that needs comparison or summarization. “Output as a Markdown table with the following columns: Name, Description, Use Case, Notes” 2. Numbered List Best for: steps, key points, quick scanning. ...

Tip Card: When Should You Ask AI to “Think Step by Step”? Adding “please reason step by step” at the end of your prompt — that’s Chain-of-Thought (CoT). Deceptively simple, yet remarkably effective in the right situations. The question is: when should you add it? The answer is straightforward. Watch for three signals. If any apply, add it. Signal 1: The Problem Requires Multi-Step Reasoning “If I save 30% of my monthly income at 4% annual interest, compounded, how much will I have after 10 years?” ...

We covered the RBGO (Role-Background-Goal-Output) framework in the previous post. But there’s a gap between knowing the framework and actually using it: how do you translate “I want…” into those four elements? Below are 5 common everyday scenarios. Each one starts with the vague version (what most people actually write), followed by the RBGO rewrite, and finally a breakdown of what changed and why. Scenario 1: Writing a Work Email Vague version: ...

Today’s Practice Recall the first question you asked AI today (or recently) — the more casual, the better. Don’t cherry-pick. Ask it again exactly as-is. Save the answer. Now rewrite the same question using the RBGO framework: R (Role): Who should AI play — “senior ops manager”, “strict tech reviewer”, “patient teacher” B (Background): Your specific situation — target users, budget, timeline G (Goal): What you want — a strategy, a troubleshooting approach, an email draft O (Output): What format — 3 recommendations, table format, under 300 words Save the rewritten answer too. Put both side by side. ...

📖 This is Part 2 of 5 in the “AI Path L0→L1 Upgrade Guide” series. Part 1: Understanding Your Tools · Part 2: From Vague Questions to Precise Instructions · Part 3: Turning AI Into Your Collaboration Partner (coming soon) · Part 4: Building Your Personal System (coming soon) · Part 5: Graduation & Next Steps (coming soon) In the last part we covered how LLMs actually work, how their memory operates, and the key differences between major platforms. Starting this week, we move into practice — how to turn what you want to say into instructions that AI can understand precisely. ...

Tried ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, DeepSeek… and still can’t decide which one to stick with? Here’s the thing: that’s the wrong question. There is no universally best AI — only the one that fits what you’re doing right now. What’s your scenario? “I want a general-purpose assistant for everything” → ChatGPT. As of May 2026 the default is GPT-5.5 — well-rounded, with the richest plugin ecosystem. If you pick just one, this is a solid choice. ...

Ever notice your AI suddenly ignoring something you said ten minutes ago? Or opened a fresh chat and had to explain your entire project from scratch? Here’s why. Your AI actually has two kinds of memory, and understanding both changes how you work with it. The Desk: Working Memory Working memory is everything inside your current conversation. Think of it as a desk — limited surface area. A few documents fit comfortably. Stack too many, and older pages slide right off the edge. ...

Last time we covered a foundational idea: LLMs generate probabilistically. They don’t look up answers — they think them through fresh each time. That means response variance is normal, and you need to verify. Easy to understand. Harder to act on. The habit is sticky: open ChatGPT, type a phrase, grab the answer, close the tab. This post isn’t a tutorial. I picked three real scenarios to show what actually changes when you use AI differently. ...