Tips & Tricks - Small moves, real wins.
Each card is one idea you can try. Save the ones that click. Ignore the rest.
Email Drafts
Create a google document with a few copies (student info removed) of emails you’ve written that you feel best reflect your voice. Whenever you’re having gemini write a draft of an email attach the google document and ask it to use that document as a reference for your writing style.
Have It Interview You!
Do you have a hard time coming up with the text content for your annual reviews or project proposals? Give gemini a copy of the rubric or what you’re supposed to cover as an attachment. Then tell it to interview you so that it can write a draft of the content for your annual review. This can help you go from blank page to rough draft very quickly.
Create A Sparring Partner
'Argue against this idea' or 'find the weakest part of my argument' turns AI from a yes-machine into something genuinely useful.
Improving Prompting
When you’re first learning how to prompt you might end up with some longer conversations as you figure out how to get AI to do what you want. Once you’ve finally got what you want ask AI “how could I have prompted you at the very beginning of this conversation to get to this end result faster?”. This will help you improve your prompting skills.
VENT
Are you really frustrated about a situation, but can’t figure out the right words to express your frustration to leadership in a way that they’ll be receptive? Vent about it and ask gemini to create a draft of how you could discuss this with a particular leader. It can help you with filtering things out and getting to the core of the message.
Give It A Role & Audience
"You are a writing tutor helping a first-year undergrad" beats "help me with this essay" every single time.
Make Sure It’s 99.9% Sure
At the end of your prompts include “Before you complete this task ask me questions until you’re 99.9% sure that you can complete what I’m asking you to do.” If you are picky about the number of questions you can always say “ask me up to three questions”. This can be a great way to help you learn what information the AI needs that you’re not including.
Don’t Just Ask For 1 Idea
Whenever you’re having gemini draft something or provide ideas you should consider asking it to give you three different versions (or more if you want). You might end up combining different parts or realizing that the first option it gave you wasn’t what you liked best.