Most professionals today are “AI Literate”—they pay for tools and know basic prompting—but few have reached the “AI Native” level. Being AI Native means redesigning workflows to assume an AI collaborator exists at every step. This summary outlines three specific habits to help you bridge the gap between simply using AI tools and integrating them deeply into your professional life.
Habit 1: Leave AI Breadcrumbs
Instead of treating AI conversations as disposable interactions that get lost in a chronological history, you should organize them by context. This involves creating hyperlinks to your specific AI chat threads and pasting them directly into the document where you are using the output (e.g., a Google Doc or Notion page).
- The Logic: Organize information by where you will use it, not where you found it.
- The Benefit: Allows you to instantly pick up where you left off on a specific task without searching through weeks of chat history.
- Pro Tip: Add a brief context note next to the link explaining the chat’s purpose (e.g., “Brainstorming outline” vs. “Refining tone”).
Habit 2: Build an AI Swipe File System
To avoid generic AI outputs, stop using basic prompts like “write a proposal.” Instead, curate a “swipe file” of excellent work—such as high-quality slide decks, successful emails, or strong reports. When starting a new task, upload these examples to the AI first.
- The Process: Ask the AI to analyze the uploaded examples to identify patterns in structure, tone, and logic. Then, instruct it to apply those specific patterns to your new content.
- The Result: The AI produces a draft that mimics high-level professional standards rather than generic filler.
- Organization: Start narrow with 2-3 common use cases and organize folders by the type of work (e.g., “Presentations”), not by the source.
Habit 3: AI-First Task Planning
This is the most impactful habit: planning your AI usage before executing the work. Rather than jumping straight into a task, take a few minutes to break a complex project down into micro-tasks.
- The Workflow: List every step required to complete the project. Tag each step as either “Manual” (requiring your unique context or point of view) or “AI.”
- Tool Selection: For AI tasks, assign the specific model best suited for the job (e.g., NotebookLM for fact-checking to reduce hallucinations, versus Gemini or ChatGPT for creative writing).
- The Benefit: Reduces decision fatigue and prevents context switching, ensuring you use the right tool for the right job.
Bonus: Maintain a Prompts Database
Avoid the frustration of trying to recreate a successful prompt from memory. Create a central library of battle-tested prompts organized by use case. This allows you to reuse and refine your best instructions, ensuring consistent quality across repetitive tasks.
Mentoring question
If you broke down your biggest project for this week into micro-tasks, which specific steps could you assign to an AI tool to free up your mental energy for high-level strategy?
Source: https://youtube.com/watch?v=E7YiKBeOneo&is=vKyXreKSSkUF50cI