# 4. My first AI week worksheet

**Start here:** Follow the complete practice below, compare the answer with its original notes, then fill one short card. Keep account settings in their separate record; never write passwords here.

After trying a request, keep the useful prompt and correction here. A sentence or two is enough. The account record is separate and never holds passwords or recovery codes.

**Use this when:** you try AI for a job and want to keep what helped. Start with one useful task. Use fictional examples while learning, then approved nonpersonal material for school work.

Copy this short card when you want to save an example:

```
The job I needed help with:
The facts or source I supplied:
My request and the follow-up that improved it:
The part I used, or why I discarded it:
What I checked before using it:
What I would change next time:
```

### Fill one card after trying the request

1. Open [the first-use walkthrough](https://cowanworks.com/aicourse/learn/course-1/lesson-1) beside this worksheet. Send its complete fictional notes.
2. Read the answer against the notes. Check the 2 PM quote deadline, tomorrow’s meeting and Friday’s typo deadline.
3. Return here and keep only what will help you repeat the task. A filled example is:

```example
Job: Make a usable Today/Later checklist.
Facts: Quote before 2 PM today; agenda for tomorrow’s meeting;
website typo by Friday. Today is Monday.
Request: Sort the notes without adding tasks or changing deadlines.
Follow-up: Keep agenda preparation under Today if time allows.
Used: The two-heading list. The AI did not do the tasks for me.
Checked: Quote deadline and meeting date against the original notes.
Next time: Add how much desk time I have before asking for a plan.
```

To try without the lesson, copy this complete request:

```
Sort these fictional notes into Today and Later without adding tasks:
Today is Monday. Review a quote before 2 PM today. Prepare the agenda
for tomorrow’s meeting, preferably today. Fix a website typo by Friday.
Keep deadlines and preferences distinct.
```

This is a place to keep a useful method, not homework you must submit.

Keep that prompt if it helps the next time the day gets crowded. You do not need five entries, a perfect week or a formal log to benefit. If you want to compare effort, the [optional time tracker](https://cowanworks.com/aicourse/templates/first-week?section=3) is available separately.

### Your account setup record: [Choose your tool and protect your account](https://cowanworks.com/aicourse/learn/course-1/lesson-3)

Use this to record what you checked, not to store sign-in secrets. Check settings in your own approved practice account; nothing in this worksheet gives an agent permission to change them.

```
Tool and account type: personal or school-managed:
Account owner and approved school use:
Two everyday tasks I will trial:
Plan selected and any spending approval needed:
Protected sign-in enabled: record status, never codes:
Recovery route checked: never record recovery secrets here:
Data-control name and setting I inspected:
Reopened and confirmed on:
School administrator question, if applicable:
Unneeded connections left off:
Private information I will keep out:
What limit would justify reconsidering the plan:
Next review:
```

If a setting is missing, record that and use the current official help or your administrator. Do not mark it checked because an AI described a menu. A model-improvement opt-out alone does not authorize confidential school records.

### Save a method you can find again

Keep one checked example, then change its facts for the next job. A busy-school-day plan can become a weekend plan; a meeting outline can become a volunteer agenda. Add the source or context the next conversation will need. Never store passwords or recovery codes in this worksheet.

### Try the same method on a busy weekend

Here is a complete fictional practice you can say or paste:

```
Help plan 90 minutes on Saturday. Packing needs 30 minutes,
grocery shopping 45 and folding laundry 20. These are active tasks
that cannot overlap. Packing and groceries matter most today.
Give me a realistic order and say what waits. Don't assume someone
else can do a task. Ask if a missing fact would change the plan.
```

Check the total yourself: all three need 95 minutes, so they do not fit. Packing and groceries take 75 minutes, leaving 15; folding needs 20. A useful plan leaves folding for later or asks whether you want to change the priorities. It must not claim all three fit.

Now say: “I only have 60 minutes. Packing must happen; ask me about the other priority before revising.” This is the same skill as the school-day example: explain the job, give constraints, let AI clarify, then check that the plan fits. The same method works in the different setting. Use your actual times and priorities when making your own plan.