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Week 1 · Guide 3 of 7

Prompting

From Brain Dump to Action Plan

Field Guide

  • 25 minGuided walkthrough

Your head is full after a meeting, a busy day or a conversation that keeps coming back to you. You need to work out what matters before deciding what to do. A brain dump gets those thoughts out while they’re fresh. You’ll talk or type them into your agent, check that it understood you and turn them into a plan, comparison or summary you can use.

You’ll leave with

A saved result made from your own thoughts, with the important details and open questions intact. You’ll choose what to do next, which can include keeping the result for later.

What You Need for This Guide

  • Something on your mind to type or dictate into your approved AI tool.
  • Your or the Project/Notebook you saved it in.
  • Your notes app for keeping the result.

Create your Agent Profile

Choose the tool you’re allowed to use

Your approved tool

The tool your company approved.

Pick your approved tool above to see the steps and screenshots for it.

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6 steps · At your own pace
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Standard Data rules for AI at work

Data Rules

Data rules for AI at work

Check with your IT Team before you paste any work data into an AI tool. Avoid names, account numbers, customer data, or anything sensitive without explicit permission from IT. If you aren't sure, redact anything sensitive and replace it with generic information. AI makes mistakes, make sure to fact check your agents outputs even if they sound right.

Before you start

  • Check with your IT teamAsk what your company allows before you put anything from work into an AI tool. Your company policy is the one that counts, and it is the one this library cannot see.
  • Use the tool your company approvedChatGPT, Claude, Microsoft 365 Copilot Chat and Gemini Enterprise are all covered here. Use the one your company approved, not the one you like best.
  • Sign in with your work accountA work account keeps your chats inside the agreement your company signed. A personal account in the same product sits outside it.
  • No approved account yetFollow the steps with made-up example text, or on paper, until IT gives you one.

Never put this into an AI tool

  • Customer or personal detailsNo names, email addresses, phone numbers, home addresses or account numbers. That covers colleagues as well as customers.
  • Regulated recordsHealth, financial, HR and legal records stay in the systems built to hold them, unless IT has told you in writing that this tool may see them.
  • Passwords, keys and access codesNo credentials of any kind, yours or anyone else’s, and nothing that grants access to a system.
  • Anything under an NDA or not yet publicUnreleased plans, contracts, pricing and source code need clearance before they go near a chat window.
  • Anything your company policy prohibitsYour company’s rules win over anything in this library. If policy keeps something out of AI tools, it stays out, whatever a guide suggests.

Do this instead

  • Swap real details for placeholdersWrite “Customer A”, “[client name]”, “$X”. You get the same quality of answer, and you put the real details back yourself.
  • Describe the situation rather than pasting the documentMost of what an agent needs is the shape of the problem, not the file it arrived in.
  • Trim a file before you upload or paste itTake out the identifying columns and pages first, or work from a short extract.

Check the answer before you use it

  • Read it as if a colleague had drafted itAn agent states wrong things with complete confidence. Your name goes on the work, so the check is yours.
  • Say where the agent helpedFollow your company rule on disclosing AI assistance, especially in client-facing or formal work.

When you are not sure

  • Ask before you paste or upload, not afterA question to your IT team takes a minute. Cleaning up after a data incident takes a great deal longer.
  • When in doubt, leave it outIf you would not put it in an email to someone outside the company, keep it out of the chat.
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Step

Talk through what's on your mind

Use dictation for this first pass if you can. Speaking lets you follow a thought without polishing it as you go. Pick a meeting you keep replaying, a decision with competing options, a tangled project or the loose ends of your day. You don't need an outline.

  1. Start a new chat in the Project/Notebook where you saved your , or attach your Profile to a chat in your approved AI tool. Include today’s facts in your brain dump.

    Copy the prompt below into the message box. Delete [speak or type your thoughts here] and leave your cursor there. Keep the message unsent while you add your thoughts.

    Make sense of my brain dump
    Download
    Help me make sense of this brain dump.

Group related thoughts into themes and give me a clear summary of what seems important. Preserve meaningful details, reasons, dates and commitments. Keep facts I reported, tentative ideas, concerns and open questions distinct. Don't invent missing details or turn a possibility into a decision.

Finish with up to three questions whose answers would materially improve your understanding, if any are needed. Hold off on advice or an action plan until I choose what to make from this.

My brain dump:
[speak or type your thoughts here]

  2. Start dictation in the message box or through your device's keyboard, using an option that produces editable text. Talk as though you're bringing someone up to speed: what happened, what matters, what you're considering and what keeps coming back to you. Follow the connections, even if you repeat yourself or change direction.

    Say when you're unsure and include dates or promises. Start with a few minutes. If speaking isn't practical, type with the same freedom to be rough.

  3. Stop dictation and check the text for misheard words, dates or important omissions. Keep the rough order, ready for the agent to help make sense of it.

Step

See what your thoughts add up to

  1. Send the message. Expect related themes, a summary and useful questions. Read it for meaning: does this sound like what you were trying to say?

  2. Compare it with your brain dump. Check that important details survived and that possibilities, worries and commitments are still distinct. A neat summary can miss what mattered most.

Step

Clarify what you meant

  1. Answer questions that would help the agent understand what happened or what matters in this situation, using dictation again if you like. Add a missing fact or correct a mistaken emphasis. Say when you don't know an answer. If the summary already captures your meaning, continue without a correction.

  2. Ask the agent to update its summary after any additions or corrections, then recheck the changed parts. You can continue with open questions as long as they stay visible.

Step

Choose what would be useful now

Now give those thoughts a purpose. Choose something that would help you use them:

  • For a project, a short plan with priorities and open questions.
  • For a decision, a comparison of options against what matters to you.
  • For a problem, a clear summary of what is happening and what needs investigating.
  • After a busy day, a recap with follow-ups and ideas to revisit.

  1. Copy this prompt into the same chat and replace both bracketed fields with what you want and how you'll use it. If you're unsure what to make, ask the agent to suggest two useful formats and choose one.

    Turn my thoughts into something useful
    Download
    Using the brain dump and the corrections in this conversation, create [the result you want].

I want to use it to [what this result should help you do].

Choose a structure that serves that purpose. Preserve the important context, reasons, existing commitments and deadlines. Keep unanswered questions visible. Label any new suggestions as suggestions, and explain what in my account they respond to. Don't invent facts, choices I have made or commitments. If an essential detail is missing, ask me rather than assuming it. Otherwise, draft the result for my review.

  2. Read the result with its purpose in mind. Is there enough detail to use it? Check important claims against your thoughts and corrections. If it misses the point, ask for a specific change and check again. Keep new suggestions separate from things you already know or decided.

Step

Choose your next move

  1. Copy the final prompt into the same chat and replace the bracketed field with the time and energy you have now, plus any fixed deadlines. Your next move might be a first task, a conversation or checking a fact. If you only wanted to capture and understand something, save it for later and skip this prompt.

    Find a useful next move
    Download
    Based on the result we reviewed in this conversation, suggest up to three useful next moves.

My available time, energy and fixed deadlines:
[your current constraints]

Make each suggestion small enough to start and explain how it would help with my situation. If a decision needs more information, include a way to get it. Keep suggestions separate from commitments I already made, preserve their deadlines and flag anything that won't fit. Don't turn every thought into a task or invent facts. I will choose what to do, including keeping this for later if that is appropriate.

  2. Choose what you can usefully do next, asking for a smaller starting point if needed. If nothing fits, decide when to revisit it. Keep deadlines visible and address any conflict with the person waiting.

Step

Save what you want to use

  1. Copy the plan, comparison, summary or recap you want to keep into a note in your notes app. Give it a topic and date, and keep any open questions or chosen next move with it. Open the saved note once to check it copied correctly.

  2. When you return to this subject, open your note and paste it into the chat before adding more thoughts. Start a fresh chat for a new subject.

From Brain Dump to Action Plan

Confirm your result

Confirm the outcomes below to finish this guide.

Final checks

You have saved a plan, comparison, problem summary or recap that helps with something from your own brain dump.

The result reflects what you meant, with your commitments, tentative ideas and unanswered questions still distinct.

You have chosen a next move that fits your situation, or decided to keep the result for later. Existing deadlines remain visible.

Provide Feedback

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Next in Week 1

Learning with Your Agent

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From Brain Dump to Action Plan · Guide Library