Two Years with AI: From Dabbling to Daily Thinking Partner
I use AI as a thinking partner — part strategist, part magician, part systems architect. If you’re only using it like Google, you’re missing the magic.
I opened ChatGPT for the first time on April 15, 2023. My first conversations were about remote viewingand Lee Berger’s discoveries about the Homo naledi species.
In the beginning, ChatGPT was basically Google with better bedside manner — an amped-up search bar that acted like a personal concierge. I’d ask a question, get a decent answer, maybe copy-paste a line, and move on. Clever, yes. Life-changing, no.
Two years later, I’m using ChatGPT and Claude every single day. Not dabbling, but working with AI tools as thinking partners and collaborators.
Initially, my commitment was to find daily uses for ChatGPT to learn how to use AI and practice. Several months ago, I began learning how to ask better questions and engineer better prompts. I started building systems, prompts, and workflows that help me think.
Here’s how that’s changed my work (and life).
1. Master Prompts Changed Everything
I built master prompts — reusable, pre-engineered instructions you give to AI that lock in structure, tone, and expectations — so you get consistent, high-quality outputs every time without reinventing the wheel. This saves me a ton of time and energy, because I no longer have to explain the same thing over and over.
Examples from my own vault:
Policy Creator Prompt: Ensures every draft includes: Purpose, Scope, Roles, Procedures, and References.
My Signature Tone Prompt: Trains AI to write in my voice: bold, professional, direct, with a little edge and zero fluff.
Content Harvest + Organize Prompt: Takes raw notes, brainstorms, or transcripts and structures them into key insights, action steps, and reusable content for my vault.
💡 Pro tip: Your first master prompt will feel clunky. That’s okay. Refine it through iteration until it produces results that feel like you.
2. Roles, Not Random Questions
Weak prompt: “What’s the best way to write a policy?”
Strong prompt:
“You are a nonprofit policy advisor. Draft a policy on [topic] with sections for Purpose, Scope, Roles, Procedures, and References.”
That one change — assigning a role — instantly upgrades your results.
3. Systems Thinking > Snippets
AI isn’t just for spitting out text. It’s a safe place to prototype systems.
Example:
“Design a policy management system according to best practice for [enter your industry or business type) with categories, lifecycle stages, owners, and review reminders. Then tell me where the potential pitfalls are.”
That’s not just a search result. That’s a blueprint.
4. Iteration is Non-Negotiable
If you accept the first draft, you’re doing it wrong. The point isn’t to get perfection in one shot — the point is to dialogue until it’s usable.
“Make this shorter.”
“Rewrite for a manager who only has 30 seconds.”
“Make it warmer, but keep it firm.”
Iteration is where the generic becomes gold.
5. Harvest Knowledge, Don’t Just Consume It
Most people think of AI as a place to get information. I use it to harvest what I already know.
Example: after a two-day training, I dropped my notes into ChatGPT and asked for:
A decision log
A leadership escalation list
A staff-facing summary
Three polished deliverables. Same raw material. Hours saved.
6. Locking in a Signature Tone
Here’s the part most people miss: tone is everything.
Generic AI outputs sound… generic. But once you train it on your style, AI becomes a voice amplifier.
I asked ChatGPT to help me find my signature tone, capture my style, and create a reusable master prompt that makes everything I write sound like me.
Here’s the template if you’d like to try it:
“Create Your Signature Tone” Master Prompt
Copy and paste the entire code block below into ChatGPT:
Help me create my Signature Tone Master Prompt. First, ask me these 5 questions one at a time:
1. How do I want people to feel when they read my words?
2. What 3–5 adjectives describe my voice?
3. Who is my audience, and what relationship do I want with them?
4. Do I have any favorite phrases, metaphors, or examples I use often?
5. What tones or styles do I want to avoid?
After I answer, summarize my answers into a Tone Profile with: * Core Feelings * Voice Qualities * Audience Relationship * Signature Phrases/Metaphors * Do Not Use
Then, write me a Signature Tone Master Prompt in this format that I can copy and reuse: "You are my writing partner. Adopt my Signature Tone for all outputs: * Core Feelings: [fill in from profile] * Voice Qualities: [fill in from profile] * Audience Relationship: [fill in from profile] * Signature Phrases/Metaphors: [fill in from profile] * Do Not Use: [fill in from profile]
When I give you content to draft, revise, or polish, always rewrite it in this tone while keeping clarity, confidence, and impact."
Once you’ve generated your Signature Tone Master Prompt, when starting future conversations with ChatGPT, ask it to “write this [content] or return results using my signature tone.”
7. Work + Life = Same Tool
At this point, I’m using AI for everything, both personal and professional. It gives excellent advice, especially after it gets to know you better. One of my favorite unconventional uses is to ask ChatGPT to turn something into a Dr. Suess-style poem. This one never disappoints.
Why This Matters (in my corner of the world)
Here in the Central Valley (Modesto, CA), we’re usually a few beats behind on adopting new tech (in my experience). But this isn’t about chasing trends. It’s about leverage.
We’re running leaner teams, tighter budgets, and wearing too many hats. AI doesn’t replace the work. It lightens the load so we can focus on the parts that actually require human judgment, creativity, and connection.
Regardless of all the philosophical reasons and fears I hear from people about using AI, it has answeredfor me how to remain relevant in the workplace as I age.
I’m 45, I’m single parenting two neurodivergent children, I’m a professional solver of other people’s problems at work, and I’m tired.
Increasing and honing my use of AI helps me triple my productivity and quality of output (if I’m feeling ambitious) and gives my brain a lighter cognitive load when I need it (and I need that, what feels like, most of the time). It’s helping me think smarter and faster.
Starter Prompts You Can Steal
If you want to move beyond “search engine mode,” here are some you can copy-paste today:
🔮 1. “Synthesize My Chaos” Prompt
Purpose: Turns a messy dump of notes, thoughts, or ideas into a clean summary, insight cluster, or next steps.
Use it when: You’ve brain-dumped into Craft, ChatGPT, your Notes app, or Slack with yourself.
Template:
"Here’s a rough collection of thoughts I’ve written. Sift through it like a gold miner with ADHD and extract the gems. Give me: a one-sentence summary, 3-5 key ideas, themes/tags, and what to do next."
🛠️ 2. “Make Me a System” Prompt
Purpose: You’re brilliant at frameworks—this one builds repeatable systems for workflows, rituals, or deliverables.
Use it when: You want to turn an idea into a reusable system or template.
Template:
"Turn this idea/process into a system I can reuse. Include steps, checkpoints, tools/templates I can create, and ways to scale it."
What Now?
👉🏽 Pick one task you do every single week. Build a master prompt for it. Use it three times. Refine your prompt if needed.
That’s how you move from curiosity to collaboration. That’s how you lock in your voice, scale your work, and stop sounding like everyone else on the internet.
Because if you’re still only using AI like a glorified search bar, you’re missing the real magic.
✨🔮 And speaking of magic... one of my favorite creative uses of AI is creating radical, witchy rituals and prayers for my grimoire. Perhaps one of my future articles will be on that.
