Chapter 2: Fifty Practical AI Tasks to Try Today
⚡ FAST TRACK
How to use this chapter
This chapter is designed to produce a simple reaction: “I could use that.”
Many people abandon AI tools after a week simply because they run out of practical ideas. After asking for a poem and an explanation of quantum physics, they feel mildly impressed, close the tab, and never find a reason to return.
So here are fifty practical tasks, organized into five areas of life. Each one includes a starter prompt you can adapt in about ten seconds.
Three instructions for using this list:
Skim, don’t study. You are looking for the four or five that make you stop, not memorizing all fifty.
Replace the brackets with real details. The prompts here are skeletons. [your specific situation] means your actual situation, described in a sentence or two. The difference in output quality is not subtle.
Start with something low-stakes: a grocery list, a thank-you note, or any task you would not mind redoing. Save the client proposal for later.
A note on the prompts themselves: they are deliberately plain. You will learn to build much better ones. These are meant to get you moving today.
Writing and Communication (1–10)
1. Draft an email you have been avoiding. The blank-page problem is the one AI solves most completely. > I need to email [who] about [what]. Here’s the situation: [context]. I want to sound [tone]. Keep it under [length]. Draft it.
2. Make writing shorter without losing meaning. > Cut this to [word count] words. Keep every substantive point. Remove hedging and repetition. [paste text]
3. Adjust tone without rewriting from scratch. > Rewrite this to be warmer but still professional. Don’t add new information. [paste text]
4. Reply to a difficult message. > I received this message. I feel [reaction], but I want to respond in a way that [goal]. Draft two options: one direct, one diplomatic. [paste message]
5. Write a thank-you note that doesn’t sound generic. > Write a short thank-you note to [person] for [specific thing]. Here’s one detail that made it meaningful: [detail]. Warm, not effusive, under 100 words.
6. Turn messy notes into clean prose. > Here are my rough notes from [meeting/event]. Turn them into clear paragraphs. Don’t add anything I didn’t write. [paste notes]
7. Fix grammar and clarity while keeping your voice. > Correct errors and improve clarity in this text. Preserve my voice and word choices wherever possible. Show me what you changed.
8. Write the difficult paragraph. The bad-news paragraph, the boundary-setting paragraph, the one you have rewritten six times. > I need to tell [who] that [what]. I want to be honest without being harsh. Draft the key paragraph three different ways.
9. Prepare talking points for a conversation you’re dreading. > I need to discuss [topic] with [person]. My goals are [goals]. Their likely concerns are [concerns]. Give me talking points and how to handle the three hardest objections.
10. Write a bio or introduction of yourself. Almost nobody can write about themselves well. > Here are the facts about my background: [facts]. Write a [length] professional bio for [context]. Confident but not boastful.
Understanding and Learning (11–20)
11. Have anything explained at your level. > Explain [topic] to me. I already understand [what you know]. I get lost at [where you lose it]. Use an analogy.
12. Understand a document before you sign it. > Summarize this document in plain English. Then list anything that seems unusual, one-sided, or worth asking about. [paste text] > Verify anything important with a professional. This gets you to the right questions, not to the answer.
13. Decode jargon in your own field or someone else’s. > In the context of [industry], what do these terms mean, and why do they matter? [list]
14. Get the argument on both sides of an issue. > Give me the strongest honest case for [position], then the strongest honest case against. Don’t tell me which is right.
15. Study for an exam with active recall. > Quiz me on [topic] one question at a time. Wait for my answer before revealing yours. Tell me what I got wrong and why.
16. Understand a technical error message. > I got this error: [error]. I’m using [system]. Explain what it means in plain language and what to check first.
17. Get a reading path into a new subject. > I want to understand [subject]. I have [time available] and no background. Give me a learning sequence, from foundations up. > Verify that recommended books and papers actually exist. Invented books and papers are common enough to justify the check.
18. Summarize a long article or report. > Summarize this in [length]. Then list the three claims that most affect the conclusion. [paste text]
19. Practice a language conversationally. > Let’s have a conversation in [language] at [level]. Correct my mistakes gently as we go, then move on.
20. Understand your medical, legal, or financial paperwork. > Explain what this document is saying in plain English, and list the questions I should ask my [doctor/lawyer/accountant]. > This prepares you for the professional conversation. It does not replace it.
Work and Productivity (21–30)
21. Turn a meeting into an action list. > Here are my meeting notes. Extract every decision, every action item with an owner, and every open question. [paste notes]
22. Build the first draft of a plan. > I need to [goal] by [date]. Constraints: [constraints]. Give me a phased plan with milestones and the three biggest risks.
23. Prepare for a difficult meeting. > I’m meeting [who] about [what]. Their priorities are [priorities]. Mine are [priorities]. What will they push back on, and how should I prepare?
24. Write a job description or a job application. > Here’s the role: [details]. Write a job posting that’s specific rather than generic. > Or, from the other side: > Here’s the job posting and here’s my background. Draft a cover letter that connects specific experience to specific requirements. No filler.
25. Create a checklist for a recurring process. > I do [process] every [frequency]. Here’s roughly how it goes: [description]. Turn it into a checklist someone else could follow.
26. Analyze a spreadsheet you don’t want to analyze. > Here’s my data. Tell me what patterns you see, what looks anomalous, and what I should look at more closely. > The later file-and-data guidance explains how to check the arithmetic.
27. Write the formula you can’t remember. > In [Excel/Google Sheets], I need a formula that [does what]. My data is laid out like this: [layout]. Explain what the formula does.
28. Prepare interview questions, for either chair. > I’m interviewing candidates for [role]. Give me questions that reveal actual ability rather than rehearsed answers.
29. Draft a policy or procedure document. > Draft a [type] policy for a [size] organization in [industry]. Cover [topics]. Plain language, not legalese. > Have a professional review anything with legal consequence.
30. Get a second opinion on your own reasoning. > Here’s my reasoning about [decision]. Argue against it as strongly as you honestly can. What am I not seeing? > This is one of the most underused things on this list.
Home and Personal Life (31–40)
31. Plan meals around what you already have. > I have [ingredients]. I need [number] dinners this week. [Dietary constraints]. Give me meals and a short shopping list for what’s missing.
32. Build a realistic travel itinerary. > [Number] days in [place], traveling with [who]. We like [interests], we don’t like [dislikes]. Build a day-by-day plan with realistic timing. > Verify opening hours and current prices before booking.
33. Get a workout or training plan. > I want to [goal]. Current fitness: [honest description]. I have [time] and [equipment]. Build me a weekly plan. > Check with a doctor if you have any medical condition.
34. Write the difficult personal message. > I need to tell a friend [something hard]. Our relationship is [context]. Help me find words that are honest and kind.
35. Understand a bill, statement, or notice. > Explain this bill line by line. What am I actually being charged for, and does anything look unusual?
36. Plan an event. > I’m hosting [event] for [number] people on [date]. Budget [amount]. Give me a timeline working backward from the day.
37. Compare options you’re stuck between. > I’m choosing between [A] and [B]. What matters to me: [priorities]. Build a comparison and tell me which questions would settle it.
38. Get help with a home or car problem. > [Describe the symptom in detail.] What are the likely causes, from most to least common, and which ones can I check myself?
39. Write a letter you’ve been putting off. > Help me write to [who] about [what]. I want to say [the real thing]. I keep getting stuck because [why].
40. Draft a complaint that works. > Here’s what happened: [account]. Write a complaint to [company] that’s factual, specific, and states a clear remedy. Firm, not hostile.
Creative and Exploratory (41–50)
41. Break through a blank page. > I’m trying to write [what] and I’m stuck. Here’s what I have so far: [fragment]. Give me five different directions I could take it.
42. Generate names, titles, and headlines. > Give me 20 options for [what it is]. It should feel [qualities]. Vary the style: don’t give me 20 versions of the same idea.
43. Write a story with a child. > We’re writing a story together about [child’s idea]. Write one paragraph, then stop and ask what should happen next. > When children use AI, supervision and privacy deserve particular care.
44. Get feedback on creative work. > Here’s my [work]. Tell me what’s working, what isn’t, and what a skeptical reader would say. Be specific and don’t flatter me.
45. Design something you’ll build by hand. > I want to build [project]. My space is [dimensions], my skill level is [level], my budget is [amount]. Give me a design and a materials list.
46. Explore a hypothetical seriously. > What would actually happen if [scenario]? Reason through the consequences step by step, and tell me where you’re uncertain.
47. Learn an instrument, craft, or skill. > I want to learn [skill]. I have [time per week]. Design a 90-day practice plan with weekly goals I can measure.
48. Turn a hobby into an organized system. > I collect/track [thing] and it’s a mess. Design a simple system for organizing it that I’ll actually maintain.
49. Make images. > Most major tools now generate images from a description. > Create an image of [subject], in [style], with [mood]. [Composition details]. > The later discussion of images addresses common failures and unresolved rights questions.
50. Ask it to teach you what you don’t know to ask. > I’m a [role] doing [work]. What are five things AI could help me with that most people in my position never think to try?
This last one is the closest thing to a magic trick in this book, and it works because the model has seen an enormous number of descriptions of how people in your position work. Run it whenever you feel like you have run out of uses.
What to notice
Look back at the fifty and you will see they fall into a small number of shapes.
Most of them are transformation: something existed and you wanted it in a different form. Most of the rest are generation of options or explanation. Very few of them are “tell me a fact,” and that is deliberate, because that is the use where these tools are least reliable and where Part II will slow you down considerably.
You will also notice that nearly every prompt on this list contains three things: what you want, the context around it, and the constraints. That is not accidental. That instinct will become a method later in the book.
Exercise 2.1: Pick three and do them today
Choose three items from the list: one from work, one from personal life, one you would call frivolous. Do all three in the next twenty-four hours.
For each, write down one sentence: what I asked, what I got, and whether it was useful.
Exercise 2.2: Run number 50
Ask an AI tool the fiftieth prompt, describing your actual role and actual work.
Circle the suggestions that surprise you. Those are your best candidates for the projects in Chapter 22, and they tend to be more valuable than anything on my list, because my list was written for everyone, and that answer was written for you.
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