Thursday, September 3rd, 2026
Happy Thursday!
Welcome back to HOW TO // AI. Quick confession. Three weeks ago I told you my most-used prompts are two words long. That's true. It's also not the whole story. The prompts that actually changed how I work aren't short at all. They're long, they're a little boring, and I paste them in without changing a word.
Here's what's in today's issue:
📋 The 3 Prompts I Actually Reuse (and why they're long on purpose)
🎯 Free Download: The Paste-In Prompt Pack
🧰 Two Things I Made, In Case You're New Here
🎯 Grab today's free download first: Copy all 3 prompts (free Notion page). Full length, copy-ready, with a one-line note on which one to use when.
Let's get into it!
📋 The 3 prompts I actually reuse (long on purpose)
The two-word prompts work because the AI already has context. You're mid-conversation. "Are you sure?" only makes sense after an answer.
These three are different. They start something. And when you're starting from nothing, the AI needs to know what a good answer looks like before it writes one. That's the whole trick: tell it the shape of the output, not just the topic. Most people describe the task and hope. These prompts describe the finish line.
I keep all three in a note on my phone. Paste, fill in the brackets, send. Here's how each one opens, and what it does.
1. The editor. For when you've written something and it's too long. I use this on every email over four sentences, on newsletter drafts, on the message I've rewritten three times. Of the three, it's the one I reach for most.
Edit this. Keep my meaning and my voice. Don't make it sound like you.
Cut it by about 30%. Remove any sentence that restates the one before it…The part people skip: the last line, which asks for a list of what it changed and why. Without it, the AI quietly changes your meaning and you never find out. With it, you get a change log, and you stay the author.
2. The extractor. For when someone sends you a wall of text. Long email threads. Meeting transcripts. A 40-page PDF someone "just wants your thoughts on." I don't read them first anymore. I paste them into this.
Read this and give me:
1. The 5 most important points, one line each.
2. Decisions that were made.
3. …Where it earns its keep: sections 4 and 5. What you owe people, and what looks wrong. Section 4 has saved me more than once. Section 5 catches the thing buried in paragraph six that everyone glossed over.
3. The explainer. For when you need to actually learn something. A new tool, a new acronym, a concept a client mentioned like it was obvious. This is the one I reach for when I'm supposed to already understand something and don't.
Explain [topic] to me. I'm smart, but new to this.
Start with why it matters, in two sentences. Then the three things I need to know…The part that makes it stick: the last line asks the AI for one question to test whether you got it. That turns a lecture into a lesson. Answer it and you'll know in ten seconds whether it landed.
When the two-word prompts still win: once the AI has context, because you've pasted the doc or explained the situation, go back to short. "Shorter." "Are you sure?" "What am I not asking?" Long prompts open the door. Short ones steer once you're inside. Using a long one mid-conversation is like re-introducing yourself to someone you've been talking to for an hour.
🎯 Free download: The Paste-In Prompt Pack
All three prompts, full length and copy-ready, plus a one-line note on which one to use when, in a single Notion page you can keep on your phone. Works with ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or whatever you use. Free, as always.
🧰 Two things I made, in case you're new here
A lot of you joined in the last few weeks, so here's the short tour of the shelf:
📕 Amplified is my book on getting real work out of AI without becoming a prompt engineer. Everything in this newsletter grew out of it. Get the book →
📱 HOW TO // AI — CERT is practice exams and an AI tutor for 11 AI certifications: AWS, Azure, Google, NVIDIA and more. 3,301 original questions, timed mocks, plain-English explanations. On the web, and as of last week, on your iPhone. Free to start. Take a free practice exam → · Get the iPhone app →
🎁 Share this newsletter, earn every kit I've made
Forward this to one coworker who'd use today's prompts and you're a third of the way to the first reward:
🎁 3 referrals → you unlock the Complete Kit Vault: every kit I've ever made (including today's), in one organized hub, with every future kit added automatically
📕 10 referrals → I send you my book, Amplified, in PDF and EPUB. The whole thing. Free.
Your unique link and progress tracker are right here:
🎯 Try this today: take the last long email you didn't fully read. Paste it into the extractor. Then reply and tell me what section 5 found. I read every email, and yes, I reply to all of them myself.
📬 In case you missed our last few issues
Pass your AI cert. First try.
3,301 practice questions. 11 AI certs. An AI tutor. On your phone, free to start.
I quit doing these 3 things
I handed them to AI completely. The exact prompts, plus a free AI Delegation Kit.
The $20 question
Free AI is better than you think. The 3 signals you've outgrown it, plus a free decision kit.
🤔 Got questions?
Have a question you want answered? What's the one prompt you keep retyping that you wish you'd saved? Email [email protected] and you just might be featured in an upcoming issue!
This newsletter is your starter kit for mastering AI with confidence. We keep things simple, show real examples, and focus on quick wins you can repeat.
Stay curious, stick with it, and watch your skills grow week by week!
Until next time :)
-David
P.S. If you tried the app last week and something felt off, hit reply. I fix what you find. 📱
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