Give AI the context it actually needs
https://patrickz.ai/learn/give-ai-useful-context/

OUTCOME
Create a small context pack that makes a weekly planning answer specific and checkable.

YOU NEED
A chat assistant, a notes document, and three invented diary entries. No coding or personal health data required.

1. Make a baseline
Ask for a weekly study plan without supplying context. Save the answer. Underline advice that assumes time, experience or equipment you do not have.

2. Separate four kinds of information
Create headings called Goal, Stable preferences, Recent events and Reference. Put “learn spreadsheet formulas” under Goal, “20 minutes after dinner” under preferences, yesterday’s exercise under events, and an official formula page under Reference.

3. Supply only what changes the decision
Paste the four sections and ask for three study sessions. Ask the assistant to identify which supplied fact supports each choice. A fact you never supplied should be marked as an assumption.

4. Update rather than accumulate
Change the available time to ten minutes and rerun. Remove an obsolete preference instead of leaving contradictory instructions. Save a dated context pack you can reuse next week.

PROMPT
Plan three study sessions using only this context. Goal: [goal]. Stable preferences: [preferences]. Recent events: [events]. Reference: [source excerpt]. For each session give an action, duration, and supporting fact. List missing information separately. Do not invent my history.

EXAMPLE / EXPERIMENT
If the pack says you have ten minutes and already know SUM, a useful answer might practice one IF example. A 90-minute beginner video on addition fails both constraints.

CHECK YOUR RESULT
[ ] Every session fits the available time.
[ ] Every personalized claim points to a supplied fact.
[ ] Changing the time changes the plan.

IF IT FAILS
If the answer remains generic, remove background biography and add one concrete recent result. If facts conflict, resolve the conflict yourself before rerunning.

MY RESULT / NEXT CHANGE