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The One AI Prompt That Can Turn 30 Minutes A Night Into Real Skills At Work

Tony Wood |

Why Am I Writing This Blog Post

Why am I writing this blog post? Because almost every smart, busy person I talk to says the same thing in different words: “I know I need to get better with AI, but I have no idea where to start or how to fit it into my day.”

So when we are working, um, how do we start and improve our AI skills?

You are already juggling meetings, email, family, and a long to‑do list. You do not have time for a 20‑hour course or another “AI for everything” book that sits on the shelf.

What you need is:

  • One tool to start with.
  • One prompt that sets up your learning for you.
  • One realistic habit, 30 minutes a night, that you can actually stick to.

That is what this blog is for. It is not about turning you into an AI engineer. It is about helping you move forward with what you are doing, using AI as a practical assistant in your real life and work.

For leaders, there is a second reason. If you want AI to add value across your organisation, you need a simple way for people to begin, without waiting for a huge training programme. A single, clear starting prompt that anyone can use on their own is a low‑friction way to get things moving.

The Problem: AI Feels Overwhelming When You Are Busy Working

AI news moves fast. New tools launch, features change, and your feed is full of “10x your productivity” claims.

At the same time, your actual workday looks like this:

  • Back‑to‑back calls.
  • Slack or Teams messages.
  • Documents and decks to write.
  • Family or caring responsibilities around all of that.

No wonder AI feels like “one more thing”.

The real problem is not lack of intelligence or motivation. It is overload and fragmentation.

As one practitioner put it, "A single source of truth is essential. Without it, employees waste countless hours searching across multiple platforms and repositories, leading to lost productivity and onboarding frustration."

That is exactly how many people feel about AI learning. There are too many tabs open, too many “maybe later” resources, and no single place to start.

Your brain does something sensible in response: it freezes.

So the question becomes simple: how do we remove friction, reduce decisions, and give you one reliable route into AI that respects your time?

Step 1: Pick One AI Tool That Fits You

First, stop trying to evaluate every AI tool under the sun.

Get yourself, um, Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, doesn't matter. Whatever tool that you want to use.

If you already have one in your organisation, start there. If not, ChatGPT, Gemini, or Claude are all strong options. For many people, ChatGPT is a good default because it is widely used, easy to find help for, and works across web and mobile.

Personally, I prefer to use ChatGPT. Very because I like the voice interface.

That matters more than you think. If you enjoy speaking more than typing, pick a tool with a good voice mode. If you like to keep things quiet and text‑based, choose the one whose interface feels clean and friendly to you.

If you want a clear walkthrough on using ChatGPT as a beginner, there is a practical guide that covers:

  • How to sign up and choose between free and paid options.
  • Basic prompting tips.
  • Simple ways to use it for work tasks and daily learning in short bursts.

Use that kind of resource to get comfortable with the basics, then come back to the prompt in this blog to build your learning plan.

A quick note on leaders

If you are a manager or director, the tool choice question shows up at team level too. Your job is not to pick the “perfect” platform alone. It is to:

  • Set a small list of approved tools.
  • Make it easy and safe for people to choose one.
  • Clarify what is allowed in terms of data and confidentiality.

Then encourage everyone to commit to that one tool for a month, rather than bouncing between options.

Step 2: Commit To 30 Minutes A Night

Next, we need to make this sustainable.

Most people aim too high at the start:

  • “I’ll do a full AI course at the weekend.”
  • “I’ll spend two hours on this every night once things calm down.”

Things do not calm down. And two hours is unrealistic when you are already tired.

Thirty minutes is different:

  • Short enough to fit after dinner or between kids’ bedtime and your own.
  • Long enough to do one focused activity, not “AI dabbling”.
  • Easy to schedule and defend in your calendar.

Block this time in your diary like any other meeting. Treat it as professional development.

If you need support with habit‑building, there are helpful prompts and routines already out there that show how AI can act as a study coach, helping you:

  • Break skills into small pieces.
  • Build a weekly plan.
  • Adjust based on how much time you really have.

Use those ideas as inspiration, but keep your own rule simple: 30 minutes, most nights, for the next two weeks. That is all you are committing to at the start.

A quick note on leaders

From a leadership perspective, ring‑fencing 30 minutes a day for AI learning can be a small but powerful cultural signal.

You might:

  • Agree that each team member gets three 30‑minute slots per week during work hours.
  • Ask them to focus those slots on improving how they use AI to deliver existing work, not “extra projects”.
  • Invite a short weekly update: one thing they learned, one thing they built, one thing that did not work.

This keeps AI learning grounded in real outcomes, not abstract experimentation.

Step 3: Use This One Prompt To Build Your AI Learning Plan

Now to the heart of the blog: the master prompt.

Remember, you do not need to design your own curriculum. That is the AI’s job.

The first question I'm going to do is,

hi, I want to learn how to use AI.

Can you ask me 30 questions or 10 questions? Or as many questions as you need to understand my current skill level.

And then create a plan where I'm working, I'm learning 30 minutes per night. Um, and guide me through it.

Below is a ready‑to‑use prompt you can copy into your AI tool of choice.

Paste it in, then answer the questions as honestly as you can.

Master prompt (copy and paste into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini):

I want you to act as my AI learning coach.

First, ask me between 10 and 30 questions to understand:

  • My current AI skill level.
  • The tools I already use at work and at home (for example, email, documents, spreadsheets, project tools, calendars).
  • The type of work I do and the tasks that take most of my time.
  • What I find frustrating or slow in my day.
  • My goals for using AI in my personal life and professional life.

Once you have my answers:

  1. Summarise my starting point in plain language.
  2. Design a personalised AI learning plan that fits into 30 minutes per night for the next 14 days.
  3. Structure each 30-minute session with:
    • A clear objective for that session.
    • A short explanation or example.
    • One or two practical exercises using my own work or personal tasks.
    • A quick reflection question at the end.

Please focus the plan on:

  • Using AI to complete real tasks I already have, not made-up examples.
  • Helping me learn how to:
    • Use projects or areas of learning (if my AI platform supports them).
    • Customise the AI (for example, by creating custom GPTs or similar features).
    • Connect the AI to tools I already use (calendars, email, documents, task managers) where that is safe and practical.
  • Making me more productive in both my personal and professional life, step by step.

Accountability:

  • At the end of each session, remind me what I will do tomorrow.
  • Ask me to rate how the session went on a scale of 1 to 5.
  • If I say I missed a session, help me adjust the plan without guilt and keep going.
  • Suggest practical ideas for using reminders or calendar events so that I keep my 30-minute habit.

Please confirm you understand this request, then start by asking your first set of questions.

This is the blog that I want. So I'm thinking in this blog, we'll have like a prompt or a couple of prompts...that will just get them on that journey.

That prompt does most of the heavy lifting for you. You do not need to guess what to learn next or design clever exercises. You rely on the AI’s ability to adapt to your answers.

If you want another example of how people are using ChatGPT to structure learning plans and study habits, there are current blogs that share concrete prompts and routines. These show how you can ask AI to quiz you, explain concepts, and build a schedule. The master prompt above is aligned with those ideas but tailored specifically to AI skills and workplace productivity.

Step 4: What To Learn Next (Projects, Custom GPTs, Connecting Tools)

Once your AI has built your 14‑day, 30‑minutes‑a‑night plan, you will notice it tends to cover a few key themes.

You can steer it more explicitly with a simple phrase:

I want to learn about how to use projects or um, areas of learning, if you're using GPT.

I want to learn about how to customise GPT.

And ultimately, um, I want to get my goal, be now to use it productively in my personal and professional life.

Let us break those areas down into leadership‑friendly language.

Projects and “areas” of learning

Many AI tools let you group conversations by topic or project. It sounds small, but it turns chaos into order.

You can:

  • Create one space for “Team updates and email drafts”.
  • Another for “Personal productivity and life admin”.
  • Another for “Learning AI and experiments”.

Treat these like folders for your AI work. Over time, they become a living notebook of what you have tried and learnt.

Custom GPTs and similar features

Most leading tools now let you build simple custom versions of the AI without writing code.

If you are using ChatGPT, the official guidance on “creating a GPT” gives you step‑by‑step instructions on how to:

  • Define a role for your GPT, such as “Meeting Note Summariser” or “Lesson Planner”.
  • Add instructions and, where appropriate, example files.
  • Share it with colleagues or keep it private.

You do not need to start there on day one. But by week two or three, it is a smart next step. Your 30‑minute sessions might include:

  • Turning a repeated task you do with AI into a custom GPT.
  • Testing it on three real examples.
  • Tweaking its instructions based on what works.

This is where AI moves from “chat” to part of your actual workflow.

Connecting tools (like calendars)

The final layer is connecting your AI to the tools you already live in.

For example, there are up‑to‑date guides that show how to connect ChatGPT to Google Calendar so you can:

  • Turn natural language plans into calendar events.
  • Ask the AI to schedule your 30‑minute learning sessions at realistic times.
  • Review your week and spot where AI could help with meetings or deadlines.

These integrations are not essential for getting started. But they are powerful once you have a basic habit in place.

A quick note on leaders

From an L&D perspective, these three layers (projects, custom GPTs, and integrations) map neatly onto a simple skills curve:

  • Level 1: Individuals using AI to draft, summarise, and brainstorm.
  • Level 2: Individuals and teams creating custom GPTs or equivalent for repeated tasks.
  • Level 3: Teams connecting AI into calendars, task management, and information systems in safe, governed ways.

Your job is to make sure each level is supported with basic guardrails and a place for people to share what they build, not to control every prompt.

Keeping Yourself On Track

Even with a good plan, life will interrupt your best intentions.

Here are practical ways to stay on track.

Use the AI as your accountability partner

Ask your AI to:

  • Begin each session by reminding you what you did last time.
  • End each session by asking what you will do tomorrow.
  • Suggest ways to reduce friction, like preparing links or files in advance.

You can also have the AI:

  • Draft calendar invites for your 30‑minute slots.
  • Generate a weekly summary of what you learnt, ready to share with your manager or team.

Over time, these check‑ins matter more than the complexity of what you learn.

Build a simple reporting rhythm for leaders

If you lead a team, keep AI learning accountability light and positive.

You might ask each person, once a week, to share:

  • One task they used AI for.
  • One small improvement they made to a prompt or a process.
  • One frustration or blocker they hit.

This keeps attention on practical application, not theory.

It also aligns with a wider truth from the automation world: "While humans frequently adapt, ignore, or reinterpret rules under pressure, automated systems follow rigid logic, leading to consistent but inflexible outcomes."

Your processes, habits, and documentation need to be clear enough that both humans and AI can follow them. The weekly rhythm of “what worked, what broke” is how you improve that clarity together.

Final Encouragement And Next Steps

Let us bring this back to something simple you can act on today.

You do not need another big strategy deck. You need one tool, one prompt, and one habit.

Here is your checklist:

  • Choose your AI tool: ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, or whatever your organisation supports.
  • Commit to 30 minutes a night (or three times a week if that is more realistic).
  • Paste the master prompt from this blog into your AI.
  • Answer the questions honestly, even if your answer is “I have no idea what that means yet”.
  • Let the AI build your 14‑day plan.
  • Put those 30‑minute sessions in your calendar for the next two weeks.
  • After two weeks, review: what is easier now, where are you saving time, what do you want to learn next?

For leaders, your version is similar:

  • Pick an approved tool.
  • Give people time to learn, not just permission.
  • Encourage them to use one smart prompt to drive their own plan.
  • Ask for simple, practical updates that feed into your wider AI strategy.

You do not need to know everything before you start. The best way is to begin, answer honestly, and let the AI guide you.

It is just about helping people, um, move forward with what they're doing.

If you open your AI tool today and paste that prompt, you will be on that path within the next five minutes.

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