How to use this handout

The three moves,
every single week

One prompt with all six basics in it — and the habit of fixing it in the same chat instead of starting over.

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I'm a parent in Winnipeg planning a weekend getaway for my family of four, two adults and two kids ages 7 and 10. We want a destination within a three hour drive of Winnipeg, with a total budget of $800 for two nights, covering lodging, gas, and food. We own camping gear, so a campground option works, but I'd also like one non-camping option in case the weather turns. Give me three specific destination options. For each one, tell me exactly where to stay, one free or low cost activity, and one paid activity under $30. Present each option as its own short section, not one long paragraph, and flag anything you're not fully certain about, like exact prices or operating hours, so I know what to verify myself before we commit.

THEN FIX IT

AI does not know local peak-season rates. If the cottage backup blows the budget, do not start over — say so in one line, same chat:

The cottage option for destination two is over budget once I looked it up, closer to $275 a night in July. Can you swap destination two for something with a cheaper non-camping backup, or suggest we just camp there instead and skip the cottage idea.

Pointing the same three steps at something ongoing in your week, not a one-time event.

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I'm planning weeknight dinners for a busy household this summer, and nobody has much energy to cook after 6pm. One person in the house has a tree nut allergy, so nothing can contain nuts or carry an obvious cross-contamination risk. Give me five weeknight dinner ideas, each takeable in 30 minutes or less, and keep them kid-friendly. Present each one as its own short section with the main ingredients listed, then give me one consolidated shopping list at the bottom, organized by grocery aisle. Flag anything you're not fully certain about, like whether a specific product is genuinely nut-free, so I know what to double check myself.

THEN FIX IT

Watch the shopping list. Packaged and pre-made items are where cross-contamination risk hides, and AI cannot read a label.

Before I shop, can you go through this list and flag anything that is likely to be packaged or pre-made rather than fresh, so I know exactly what to double check for cross-contamination given the tree nut allergy in the house.

Turning a messy thread into a list of what actually needs to happen, and who owns it.

RUN THIS

THEN FIX IT

The thread never settles 10am or 11am. AI smooths that over and picks one, because it is built to sound complete.

The summary picked 10am as the meeting time, but the thread never actually settles that, Mark thought it was 11. Can you flag that as unresolved instead of choosing one.

Getting a beginner's version of anything — and catching an answer that is correct but still wrong for you.

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I'm planning a trip to Quebec in the next few weeks and want to be able to get by in French, but I'm a complete beginner with almost no French. Give me practical, everyday phrases I could actually use, organized into three sections: greetings and small talk, ordering food at a restaurant or cafe, and asking for directions. For each phrase, write it out in French, then include a simple pronunciation guide underneath it since I can't read French confidently yet. Keep the tone casual and conversational, the way people actually talk day to day, not formal textbook French. Flag anything you're not fully certain about, and let me know if any of these phrases would sound unusual or out of place somewhere outside Quebec.

THEN FIX IT

AI defaults to France French even when you say Quebec. Nobody in Quebec says faire du shopping — they say magasiner, and a corner store is a dépanneur, a word nobody in France would use at all.

This sounds like France French, can you redo this specifically in Québécois French, the way people actually talk day to day in Quebec, not textbook French.

Real numbers, rounded. And a reminder that iteration is not only for fixing mistakes — sometimes you change your mind once you see it laid out.

Money week rule. Round income and expenses to the nearest hundred. No account numbers, no institution names, no exact balances. AI only needs the shape of your budget.

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I want to build a simple monthly budget. My take-home pay is about $4,200 a month. My essential expenses, rent, utilities, groceries, and transportation, add up to roughly $2,600 a month. I want to save $500 a month toward an emergency fund, and the rest can go toward discretionary spending. Break this down into three categories, essentials, savings, and discretionary, showing the dollar amount and percentage for each. Then tell me if $500 a month is a reasonable savings goal given the numbers I've given you, or if it seems too ambitious or too conservative. Keep all figures rounded and general, and don't ask me for anything like account numbers or exact banking details, I'm only looking for the shape of my budget, not my actual account information.

THEN ADJUST IT

The math comes back fine — $2,600, $500, about $1,100 left over. Seeing it is what changes your mind. No new prompt needed.

Upon seeing this, I'd like to add $250 a month toward an RRSP as well. Can you rework the breakdown to include that as a fourth category, and show me what it does to my discretionary spending.

Images work the same way as words. You cannot predict the first draft — and the first draft is often what gives you the better idea.

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I want to create a fun, custom birthday card image for a friend who loves camping and the outdoors. Make it a warm, celebratory illustration, bright colours, birthday themed, with a small tent and a campfire in the background. Include the text 'Happy Birthday!' somewhere in the image, in a playful, hand-lettered style. Keep it colourful and cartoonish rather than realistic, since this is going on a fun card, not anything formal. Make it a square image so it works well shared on a phone. Let me know if there's anything about this that might be hard to get exactly right, like the text or specific details.

THEN PUSH IT FURTHER

Nothing is wrong with the image. You just want night instead of day. Keep what worked — the style and the text — and change one thing.

Actually, let's make this a nighttime scene instead. Campfire glowing, stars in the sky, everything lit by the fire. Keep the same cartoon style and the birthday text, just shift the whole scene to night.

AI can hand you a finished file, not just advice. Which means the logic inside it is yours to check.

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My family and two other families are splitting costs for a shared cottage trip this summer. Build me a downloadable Excel spreadsheet that tracks everything. Here's what we need to split: the cottage rental is $2,400 total, and my family is staying 6 nights, Family B is staying 4 nights, and Family C is staying 3 nights, so that cost should be split based on nights stayed. We're also splitting $450 in shared groceries and $180 in gas for a group supply run, both of which should be split evenly across all three families since everyone shares those regardless of how many nights they're there. There's also a $300 cleaning and damage deposit that should also be split evenly. Build the spreadsheet so each cost category is broken out clearly, show how much each family owes for each category, and give me a final total per family at the bottom. Use Family A, Family B, and Family C instead of real names. Flag anything you're not sure about, especially how you handled the different splitting logic for each category.

THEN FIX IT

AI grabs the first splitting rule it sees and applies it everywhere. Corrected totals should land near $1,418, $1,048 and $864.

Groceries and gas need to be split evenly across all three families, not by nights stayed. Only the cottage rental should use the nights based split. Can you fix the spreadsheet so each category uses the right logic.

The last card is not a new prompt. It is a cheat sheet for future you.

PROMPT CARD 8

The six basics, in your own words. Not copied from any issue — write out context, task, constraints, format, uncertainty and privacy the way you would actually explain them to someone else.

Your favourite prompt from the summer, and why. Look back through Cards 1 to 7 and pick the one you have actually used again, or the one you are most likely to. One line on why it stuck.

Eight weeks, eight cards. Every one of them written by you, tested on your own life, and sitting in one document you can find again. That is the whole point of the boot camp — not learning about AI, but building something with it that you keep.

Practical AI for everyday Canadians  ·  theaieh.ca  ·  Subscribe free