The First Afternoon Kit

The whole build from Chapter 12 of Where AI Fits: Part 1, free, on one page. One afternoon, folders, text files, five habits, and you. No technical background required. Every prompt below is meant to be copied word for word, or bent until it sounds like you.

Step 1. Make the home (ten minutes)

In your documents area, create one folder to hold your whole system. Plain name. Inside it: Work and Personal. Inside those, one folder per real project. Start with three to five you actually care about. Inside each project folder, make the same numbered skeleton:

0 Instructions · 1 Sources · 2 Working · 3 Final · 4 Archive

Five minutes of clicking, and everything now has exactly one place it belongs.

Step 2. Give every project a memory (twenty minutes)

In each project's 0 Instructions folder, create a plain text file named context. Copy this template exactly:

WHAT THIS IS: One or two sentences. What is this project and what does done look like?
STATUS RIGHT NOW: Where things stand today, in plain words.
KEY FILES: The two or three files that matter most, and where they live.
RULES: Anything a helper must know or must not touch. Even one rule is fine.
NEXT ACTION: The single next step.
LOG: One dated line per work session. What changed, what's next.

Write it for a stranger. Future you is one, and so is every AI you'll ever use. A thin context file beats a blank folder forever.

Step 3. Build the Brain (fifteen minutes)

In the top-level folder, create a folder named 0 Brain so it sorts to the top. Inside it, one text file, master context: WHO THIS BELONGS TO, THE MAP (one line per project), HOUSE RULES, and CURRENT PRIORITIES. Start the house rules with these three:

1. Never overwrite. New versions get new files: v1, v2, v3, dated. Highest number is the truth.
2. Never delete. Move dead things to Archive and write down the move.
3. Private stays private. Folders marked private are off limits to any helper unless I say so, one request at a time.

Then teach your files to talk to each other. Wherever two projects touch, write the pointer into both context files, plain as a road sign. You are programming the Brain in plain English.

Step 4. Run your first real session (thirty minutes)

Open whatever AI you have access to. The brand doesn't matter; the habits do. If your tool offers a version that can see your files with permission, enable it. If you're using a free chat window, paste your context file into the chat instead. The method works either way. Then start with the single most useful prompt in the book:

"Here is the context file for one of my projects. Read it, then do three things. One, tell me what you understand this project to be, in your own words, so I can check you've got it. Two, ask me the three questions that would most improve your understanding. Three, suggest the next concrete step and wait for my go-ahead before doing anything."

Then just talk. Ramble, argue, change your mind. When something good surfaces, run the Execution loop:

"That last stretch of conversation had good ideas in it. Pull out the ones worth keeping as a list, then organize them into a short outline for [the thing you're making]. Then draft version one. Plain language. I'll edit from there."

Save the draft in 2 Working as ProjectName DocumentType v1 with today's date. When it changes meaningfully, save v2 next to it. Never over it.

Step 5. Close the loop (five minutes)

"Summarize this session in three lines for my project log: what we did, what we decided, and the next action."

Paste the answer into the LOG. Every session ends with the file, not the chat, holding the truth.

The starter kit: prompts you'll use forever

To learn anything at your own level: "Teach me [topic] like I'm a smart adult who's new to it. Use plain words and real examples from [your trade or your life]. Then check my understanding with three questions, and don't move on until I've got it."

To get a second opinion you can trust: "Here's a draft. Argue against it. What's weak, what's missing, what would a skeptic say? Don't be polite, be useful." Then remember the auditor's rule: verify facts that matter against the original.

To start a brand-new project in one move: "I'm starting a new project called [name]. Interview me: ask me one question at a time until you can write a complete context file using this template [paste the Step 2 template]. Then write it, and I'll save it."

To turn a mess into a plan: "Here's everything currently in my head about [situation], unsorted. [Ramble away.] Now sort it: what's urgent, what's important, what's noise, and what's the single next action?"

To keep the machine safe around what matters: "House rule: anything in a folder or file marked private is off limits. If a task seems to need it, stop and ask me first, every time, and prefer telling me what you'd need over opening it."

That's the whole build. This kit is free to share. The full story, and the method behind it, live in the book: Where AI Fits: Part 1, $9.99 on Amazon.