Guide P07 of 10  ·  AI Prompt Series  ·  April 2026

AI Prompts: Personal Productivity

Practical prompt patterns for real work, print-friendly.

⏱ Quick read + reusable patterns 🧩 Use in ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, etc. 🆓 Free download (IWAB)

Overview

Use AI to break down work, build checklists, and rehearse hard conversations—not to avoid calendar discipline. The prompts favour small next actions, time-boxing, and explicit ‘definition of done’ so your week stays tractable. Pair with a real system: calendar, task list, and review habit.

Prompt building blocks

Copy the skeleton, fill the bracketed context, add your guardrails

1. Role + audience

“You are [role]. The reader is [audience and literacy level]. Tone: [formal|direct|supportive].”

2. Task + output shape

“Task: [one sentence]. Return: [bullets|table|email|checklist] with [max words].”

3. Context pack

“Context (facts only): [paste data]. Constraints: [brand/legal/time]. Unknowns: [say what is missing].”

4. Review pass

“List assumptions, then propose 3 risks and how to verify each before sending.”

✅ Pro tips
Start narrow: one audience, one action, one format—then generalise after it works.
Never paste secrets or personal data; summarise or redact in the “context pack.”
Compare two temperatures: a strict “policy mode” and a creative “diverge mode” for headlines.
End with: “If anything is uncertain, list questions before answering.”

This document is a free educational handout from IWAB (April 2026). Double-check any figures, legal text, or compliance claims with qualified professionals. Generative tools change; always verify in your live environment before production use.