Tier 1 · The Path
Prompting
Same AI, same question, wildly different results. The difference is never luck — it’s how you ask. This tier turns “meh, it’s okay I guess” into “how did it just do that?”
Who this tier is for
You use AI, but the answers are often generic, wrong-ish, or just… flat. You suspect it can do better. You’re right — and the fix takes about a week. (New to AI entirely? Start at Tier 0.)
You use AI, but the answers are often generic, wrong-ish, or just… flat. You suspect it can do better. You’re right — and the fix takes about a week. (New to AI entirely? Start at Tier 0.)
By the end of this tier
You’ll write prompts that get usable results on the first or second try, know how to steer a long conversation instead of restarting it, and own a personal prompt library — ten prompts you’ve tested, refined, and actually reuse every week. That library is your Tier 1 artifact, and it’ll serve you in every tier above this one.
The lessons
Anatomy of a Prompt That Works: The 4 Bones
Context, task, format, example — the four-bone skeleton behind almost every great result, shown in one before/after.
Read lesson 1.0 →
Context, task, format, example — the four-bone skeleton behind almost every great result, shown in one before/after.
Read lesson 1.0 →
Prompt Iteration: The 4 Pushes That Fix Any AI Answer
First answers are averages. The four pushes — narrow, redirect, critique, variants — that find the good stuff underneath.
Read lesson 1.1 →
First answers are averages. The four pushes — narrow, redirect, critique, variants — that find the good stuff underneath.
Read lesson 1.1 →
AI Personas: One Intern, Three Hats — and a Debate It Lost
Casting beats begging: three roles that summon honesty, better thinking, and pre-mortems — plus where personas backfire.
Read lesson 1.2 →
Casting beats begging: three roles that summon honesty, better thinking, and pre-mortems — plus where personas backfire.
Read lesson 1.2 →
Multi-Turn Conversations: The Long Game That Beats Perfect Prompts
Context accumulates, context rots, and the carry-over move that makes fresh starts free. The physics of long sessions.
Read lesson 1.3 →
Context accumulates, context rots, and the carry-over move that makes fresh starts free. The physics of long sessions.
Read lesson 1.3 →
Thinking vs Producing Prompts: The Two Modes of Asking AI
One prompt doing two jobs does both badly. The two-step — think first, lock the spec, then produce — that fixes generic forever.
Read lesson 1.4 →
One prompt doing two jobs does both badly. The two-step — think first, lock the spec, then produce — that fixes generic forever.
Read lesson 1.4 →
AI Modalities Field Guide: Beyond Text to Image, Video & Voice
Images, voice, music, video — the terrain map, the honest limits, and the one law: generation is cheap, taste is scarce.
Read lesson 1.5 →
Images, voice, music, video — the terrain map, the honest limits, and the one law: generation is cheap, taste is scarce.
Read lesson 1.5 →
✶ Your Tier 1 Quest
Build your prompt library: ten prompts you’ve personally tested and refined — ones you’ll genuinely reuse. The lessons hand you six; your week of real use supplies the rest. Quality bar: each prompt has survived at least three real uses.
When your library hits ten, you’ve graduated. Most people finish this tier in about a week.
Build your prompt library: ten prompts you’ve personally tested and refined — ones you’ll genuinely reuse. The lessons hand you six; your week of real use supplies the rest. Quality bar: each prompt has survived at least three real uses.
When your library hits ten, you’ve graduated. Most people finish this tier in about a week.