Top Shelf Retreat · Austin

Get Your Time Back: Your Take-Home Kit

Everything from today's session in one place, in the order we go through it. Copy any prompt into whatever AI tool you use, fill in the blanks, and go. Your answers save right here in your browser, so you can pick up where you left off.

The idea in one line:

Set AI up the way you'd set up a great new hire. Review her first drafts, hand her a folder for the work you repeat, and once she knows the basics, ask what she thinks.

Presented by Joanna Ericta, Co-Founder of The Assist

Start here

Start here

The question for today

Every time something takes too long, ask yourself: if this were a new hire, what would I set up for her?

One to use on Monday

Anytime AI hands you something with numbers or facts in it, ask this before you use it:

Prompt
Before I use this, tell me the one thing in here you're least sure about.

AI Fix #1

The Redline

Review the first draft like a good manager would, so it comes back closer to done and you stop rewriting what AI hands you.

BRIEF: how you hand AI the work

B

Background

the stuff only you know. What's going on, the history, the constraint nobody else knows about.

R

Role

who it should be. You, your boss, a skeptical CFO.

I

Instruction

the actual ask. Be specific.

E

Example

what good looks like. The finished deck, or the email that got you a fast yes.

F

Format

the shape of what comes back.

Only remember two? Background and Example do most of the work.

Move 1: Questions first

Add this right after your brief, before it writes anything.

Prompt
Before you write anything, ask me the questions you'd need answered to write that . One at a time, stop at five.

Move 2: Plan before the draft

Prompt
Don't write it yet. Give me your outline and list what you're assuming, then wait for my go.

The assumptions list is where the mistakes hide. Fixing a bad guess while it's one line in a list beats digging it out of every section later.

Move 3: Have it grade itself first

Prompt
Check this against . Tell me where it falls short before you fix anything.

Write your rules here

The rule

Numbers, dates, quotes and sources always get checked. If it's doing math, ask it to show the math.

Pro tip: a second opinion from a fresh chat

Copy your draft into a brand-new chat, then paste this. The new chat has no idea it wrote it, so it reads it cold.

Prompt
A colleague wrote this for her team. What would they find unclear or missing? Be specific.

AI Fix #2

The Handoff

Set up the work you repeat once, so recurring work takes one line.

Chat, folder or share?

  • Will I do this again? No? Just chat.
  • Same background and examples every time? Give it a folder.
  • Will someone else need it too? Share it.

Jot down 2 or 3 things you do on repeat, and mark each one.

Your three lines, written once

This is the half of every brief that's about you, and it never changes. Fill it in, then copy all four lines (including the one at the bottom) into your settings.

Template
I'm a at a . Most of my time goes to . My cares most about and pushes back on . Write like . Never use . If you're not sure, or it's not in what I gave you, say so instead of guessing.

Filled-in example

I'm an account executive at a B2B software company, mostly account research and call prep. My director cares most about pipeline and pushes back on anything that sounds like a pitch. Short and warm. Never "circling back."

Where it goes (in your settings, not your prompt)

ChatGPT

Settings > Personalization > Custom instructions

Claude

Settings > Account > Instructions for Claude

Copilot

Settings and more > Chat settings > Personalization > Custom instructions

Something else?

Look for the word "instructions" or "personalization"

Build a folder for the work you repeat

Step 1: Let AI write the setup. Hit the mic and talk instead of typing.

Tip: I use Wispr Flow so I can talk instead of type in any app, including my AI tools.

Prompt
I'm gonna talk through how we . Turn it into a How We Do This doc a new teammate could follow. Then ask me what a new person would need to know that I skipped.

That last line finds the steps that only live in your head, like who makes the final call when people disagree. Before you rely on the doc, give it one real job and see if what comes back sounds like your team.

Step 2: Make four docs. A regular folder in your drive works. Copy each template into its own doc.

Paste in what the setup interview wrote, or fill this in

Template
00 How We Do This: What it is: How often: Who it's for: What kicks it off: What I need before I start: Steps: 1. 2. 3. Who makes the final call: What done looks like:

Everything sorts into three piles

Upload once

What doesn't change. 00 How We Do This, 01 Project Brief, 02 What Good Looks Like.

Attach fresh each time

What's still changing. 03 Decision Log, this week's notes, the latest numbers.

In your project instructions

The two lines below.

The two lines for your project instructions

Prompt
If anything conflicts, go with whatever's newest. If it's not in here, say so instead of guessing.

The rule

If it changes, don't upload it. An uploaded file is a snapshot, so AI keeps reading the old version and won't tell you it's out of date.

Where the folder lives in your tool

Copilot

Your OneDrive, attached to a new chat (or a Notebook, with Microsoft 365 Copilot)

ChatGPT

A Project (instructions + files)

Gemini

A Notebook (instructions + files)

Claude

A Project (instructions + files)

No projects or uploads?

Keep your brief in a regular doc, and paste it at the top of a new chat, plus what's changed.

Pro tip

If you've been doing this work in one long chat, ask that chat:

Prompt
Based on everything in this chat, write the instructions for a project so I don't have to explain this again.

The Next Level

An SOP that runs itself

That folder is an SOP. An automation is just an SOP that runs itself.

The four levels of using AI at work

1

Prompting

you ask, it answers, you close the tab.

2

Templates

same setup, new inputs. Faster, but you still start it every time.

3

Automated

something triggers it and it runs without you. Best for sorting and routing.

4

Human in the loop

it runs without you, then hands you a draft to approve. The sweet spot.

Your number

Pick the thing you marked "folder" earlier.

0

hours a year

Example: a 45-minute weekly status update × 50 weeks ≈ 37 hours a year.

Your TRACE

Every automation has the same five parts. You don't need the whole thing mapped. If you can answer the first, second and last, you've got the start of the SOP.

My TRACE

Example: The weekly status report. Every Friday at 4pm → your notes from the week → AI drafts progress, blockers and next steps → a draft report → your drafts folder, ready to review and send.

Steal ours: the out-of-office rule

No AI needed to run it. One Outlook rule (in Gmail it's called a filter): if an email matches the keyword list, it moves to an out-of-office folder that clears itself every 30 days. AI just writes the list:

Prompt
Give me a list of every way someone might phrase an out-of-office or automatic reply in an email subject line or the first line of the body, like "out of office," "OOO," "away until," and "limited access to email." One phrase per line, no explanations, so I can paste them into an email rule.

AI Fix #3

The Pressure Test

Prep the big conversations faster, and make sure the time you save gets noticed.

The three chairs

Have AI read your plan as up to three people who weigh in. The line about what each one cares about is what gets you a real question back instead of "they may have concerns about the timeline."

Need ideas?

The promotion ask:

your manager (what she's measured on), her boss (the bigger plan), HR (how it fits the career ladder).

The renewal call:

your champion (looking good internally), the budget owner (cost vs. results), procurement (terms).

Pitching a change:

the decider (her goals), the team that builds it (their time), the team it touches (what changes).

Prompt
Here's my plan: . Read it as , who cares most about . For each person, what's their first question, and what would they push back on?

Rehearse it out loud

Turn on voice mode, the one that talks back, and say:

Prompt
You're , who cares most about . I'm going to make my case for . Push back the way they really would, one objection at a time, and wait for my answer. After three rounds, tell me which of my answers was weakest.

Your Weekly Wins doc

One running doc, just for you. Think of it as your brag book. Each Friday's wins go at the top: what you finished, what changed because of it, and any numbers. Your boss can't promote effort. She can only promote evidence.

Five minutes, every Friday:

Prompt
Here's what I remember from this week: . Interview me about it, one question at a time, stop at five. Then turn it into up to five bullets for my Weekly Wins doc, fewer if it was a slow week, don't pad it. For each one: what I did, what changed because of it, and the number if there is one. If there's no number, say so instead of making one up.

Tip: Talking it through is faster than typing it. I use Wispr Flow for this every Friday.

This doc keeps changing, so don't upload it to a project. Attach it fresh when you need it. And every couple of weeks, send your manager your top three.

Off the Clock

Off the Clock

The same three fixes work outside of work. Use a personal account for anything about your own health or money.

Redline

A trip

Prompt
I'm planning : . Don't plan it yet. Give me your outline and list what you're assuming, then wait for my go.
Redline

Meal planning

Prompt
Before you write a meal plan, ask me the questions you'd need answered to plan weeknight dinners that fit my life, like what I don't eat, my goals, and how much time I have on weeknights. One at a time, stop at five.
Handoff

The sitter

Make a folder with house rules, the schedule and where things live, and share the link.

Handoff

The plants

Take a photo of each plant, attach them all, and paste:

Prompt
These are my plants. Identify each one, then give me a simple watering schedule and a numbered diagram I can print for the fridge, so whoever's watering them while I'm gone knows which is which.
Pressure test

A big purchase

Prompt
Here's what I'm thinking of buying: . Read it as three people: my partner, who cares most about , my budget, which cares about , and me a year from now. For each one, what's their first question, and what would they push back on?
Pressure test

Open enrollment

Paste in or attach the plan options first, before you tell it which one you're leaning toward.

Prompt
Here are my benefit plan options. Compare them for someone who . Tell me which one you'd pick and why, and what I should check before I decide.

Then compare its pick with yours.

Your checklist

What to try Monday

Tools

Tools I actually use

Wispr Flow

Talk instead of type, in any app. It's how I do every 'hit the mic' step in this kit, from the setup interview to my Friday wins.

Try Wispr Flow

Granola

Takes my meeting notes for me, so the decisions go straight into my Decision Log instead of getting lost in a doc.

Try Granola

These are partner links, so The Assist may earn a little if you sign up. I only share tools I use every week.

Want to keep going?

Join me for a free virtual session next Thursday

The Explain-It-Once Method: 3 Simple AI Fixes to Cut Busywork and Get Paid More

Thursday, October 22 · 9am PT · Free and online

We go deeper on the folder setup with a full walkthrough, and you can bring your questions from today. If you can't make it live, registering gets you the replay.

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