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Turn a messy to-do dump into a five-item Monday checklist

  • For Small business owners
  • You practice Setting limits and rules
  • Time about 5 minutes
  • Level Beginner

About this exercise

You manage a small print shop and have only 3 hours Monday morning. Make a checklist of exactly the tasks that fit, in order of what happens first, in plain text. Each line starts with [ ] then the task and its minutes in parentheses. The total must be 180 minutes or less, and the last line states the total as: Total: N minutes. Leave off anything that does not fit and name the one you dropped in a final line starting Dropped:.

Common mistakes when you ask AI for this

  • Wrong order. The AI sorts by importance and puts the 9 am call anywhere. Try: Say: "Order by time: the supplier call before 9 goes first."
  • Including a finished task. The AI lists the printer jam fix that is already done. Try: Say: "The jam is already fixed; leave it out."
  • Not adding up. The AI includes everything and the total passes 180. Try: Say: "Total must be 180 minutes or less; show it as Total: N minutes."
  • Markdown checkboxes. The AI uses '- [ ]' bullets and bold. Try: Say: "Plain text; each line starts with [ ]."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it. Try: Cap each task: "each task under 8 words."
  • Trusting the AI to count words. AI is bad at counting. Ask for a total word limit and it often lands over it. Try: Cap each part instead, for example: "each line under 12 words."

What a strong prompt includes

  • Specifies the checkbox format
  • Asks for minutes
  • States the time cap
  • Asks for dropped and total lines
  • Plain text

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