AI in 60 Minutes — Your First Real Workflow · Lesson 3 of 6

Lesson 3 — The first prompt that pays off

15 minutes. You're going to write one prompt and use it on real data from your week.

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The shape of a prompt that works

Most people type into an AI tool like they'd type into Google. That's why their results are mediocre.

A good prompt has four pieces:

  • Role — "You're a customer service rep at a small HVAC company."
  • Task — "I'm going to paste a customer email. Write a friendly reply that..."
  • Constraints — "Keep it under 100 words. Don't promise specific pricing."
  • Input — the actual thing you want it to work with.

Skipping any of these gives you a worse answer.

Pick your real-world task

Pick one of these. Don't agonize.

A. Reply to a customer email. Paste an email you got this week that needs a thoughtful reply.

B. Summarize a meeting. Paste meeting notes (or even rambling notes you took) and get back a clean summary.

C. Draft a follow-up email. Paste the context from a recent customer interaction and get a follow-up draft.

D. Read a contract. Paste a few paragraphs from a vendor agreement or NDA and ask "what should I be worried about?"

E. Explain something to a customer. Paste a technical piece of your product or service and get a customer-friendly version.

The template

Copy this exactly. Replace the bold parts.

> You are an experienced [your role — e.g., HVAC office manager / dental practice owner / law firm assistant] at a [size — e.g., 4-person / 12-person / solo] company in [industry — e.g., residential heating / family law / cosmetic dentistry]. > > I need you to [task — e.g., write a reply to this customer email / summarize this meeting / draft a follow-up]. > > Constraints: > - Keep it under [length — e.g., 150 words] > - Tone: [e.g., warm but professional / direct and brief / formal] > - Don't [guardrail — e.g., promise specific pricing / make up details I haven't given you / use industry jargon] > - [Any other rule] > > Here's the input: > > [paste the email / notes / contract / whatever]

Try it now

Open your AI tool. Type or paste the template. Replace the bold parts. Hit send.

Read the response. Was it good? If yes — you have your first working prompt. Save it somewhere (a Note in your phone, a doc, an email to yourself).

If it wasn't great, you have one of three problems:

  • You skipped the role or constraints. Add them. The role makes the tool act like a person who knows your business. The constraints stop it from being weird.
  • The input wasn't enough context. AI doesn't know your customers, your prices, or what you said last Tuesday. Add the context.
  • The task was too vague. "Help with this email" is too vague. "Reply with three sentences offering to set up a 15-minute call this week" is specific.

Refine. Try again. You should hit something usable in 2-3 tries.

The save

When you have a prompt that works, save it. Somewhere you'll find it tomorrow. The whole point of this lesson is that you have a *reusable* tool — not a one-time chat session.

I keep mine in Apple Notes, in a note called "Prompts that work." Yours might be in Notion, OneNote, a Google Doc, or the back of an envelope. Doesn't matter — just save it.

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Next lesson is where this turns into a workflow. You have a prompt. Now we figure out exactly when you'll use it, what triggers it, and how it fits into your day.

→ Lesson 4 — Build a daily-use workflow

Previous: Lesson 2 — Pick your tool · Next: Lesson 4 — Build a daily-use workflow