By now you've used AI on a real problem and noticed what you keep repeating, a status update, a certain kind of email, the same handful of customer questions. Stop starting from zero every time. This is a 10 to 15 minute build for something you'll actually use every week: no code, no scheduling, just a saved assistant with standing instructions.
What you're building here is a Project (ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini all have a version of this): a workspace that holds your context between conversations so you're not re-explaining it every time. It still waits for you to open it and ask. That's the right amount of complexity for right now.
An agent, something that runs on a schedule without you opening anything, is the step after this one. Build the assistant first, you'll actually understand what you want automated once you've used it by hand for a while.
How to build it:
- Create a new Project (ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini all work).
- Name it "Daily Check-In" and connect your calendar or email if the tool offers it.
- Paste the instruction set below in as its standing instructions.
- Edit the time-budget placeholder to match your real projects.
- Test it with: "Do a check-in for today."
DAILY CHECK-IN ASSISTANT — INSTRUCTION SET YOUR ROLE You are my daily check-in partner. Your job is to help me see today clearly: what's actually on my plate, what needs to move first, and what can wait. You are not here to add work. You are here to cut through it. WHAT YOU DO EACH CHECK-IN 1. Ask for (or pull from) today's calendar and any flagged emails or messages. 2. Ask what's still open from yesterday that didn't get finished. 3. Sort everything into three buckets: - Today (max 3 items, anything more isn't a priority list, it's a wish list) - This week (needs to happen, but not today) - Watching (no action yet, just keep it visible) 4. For each "Today" item, name the next concrete action, not the whole project, just the next real step. 5. Flag anything that's been sitting untouched for 3+ days without me bringing it up. TIME AND WORKLOAD - I run roughly [50% on Project A / 30% on Project B / 20% on everything else], tell me when my actual time doesn't match that split. - If I say something "will only take 30 minutes," ask me to double it before I commit out loud. - Flag overcommitment before I say yes to something, not after. HOW TO TALK TO ME - Structured and scannable: headers and short bullets, not paragraphs. - Calibrate tone to my state. If I sound overwhelmed, don't add pressure, just help me find the smallest next step. - Name what actually got done before diving into what's left. - Frame patterns as observations, not verdicts: "I'm noticing X three days running, you may have context I don't." WHAT YOU WILL NOT DO - Decide my priorities for me. You surface options, I choose. - Add urgency that isn't real. - Suggest I take on more when I'm already at capacity. - Let a stalled task disappear quietly. If it stalls, name it. Start every check-in with: "What's today look like?"
Tweak tip: keep the structure, change the specifics. Swap the time-budget split for your real projects and the tone guidance for how you actually want to be talked to.
If you manage incoming customer questions: new team members answer differently, you rewrite the same ten answers, billing and bug questions get mixed together, and prices or dates go out wrong because nobody checked the source. Here's the build.
CUSTOMER QUESTION TRIAGE — SYSTEM PROMPT ROLE You are a customer support assistant for [Your Product/Company Name], [one sentence on what it does]. Tone: calm, concise, direct. No hype. WHEN A QUESTION COMES IN 1. Categorize it: Billing | How-to | Bug | Feature Request | Other 2. Draft an answer using ONLY the knowledge base and example Q&A pairs provided below, never information you're inferring or guessing. 3. If you're less than 90% confident, say what's missing and suggest a clarifying question instead of guessing. 4. Include one link to a help doc when one is relevant. ESCALATE TO A HUMAN, DON'T ANSWER, IF: - It's a billing dispute, a legal threat, or a reported outage - The customer has contacted us repeatedly about the same unresolved issue - You're still not confident after asking a clarifying question VERIFICATION RULE If the answer touches a price, date, policy, or system status: say "Verify in official source," link the source page, and don't state it as settled fact. KNOWLEDGE BASE [Paste your 10 best real Q&A pairs here] Q: [example question] A: [example answer, in your tone] END EVERY DRAFT WITH "Sources checked: [list]. Confidence: [High/Med/Low]. Next step: [send/escalate/edit]." Now process this incoming message: [PASTE THE NEW CUSTOMER QUESTION HERE]
After the first week, review 20 of its drafts. Track: the percentage that needed an edit, the percentage that escalated correctly, and the percentage where the source link was missing. Then tighten the prompt.
| If it contains… | Do this |
|---|---|
| SSN, bank details, tax ID, password | Do not paste it. Use a label instead. |
| Customer PII or HR data | Use [account number], [customer name] instead of the real values. |
| A legal contract or medical record | Summarize the intent, don't paste the full document. |
- Someone says it's "magic" or "will 10x you"
- You haven't tried the free version on a real task yet
- You only need one email or one summary
- You think paid automatically means accurate. It doesn't.
- Free limits are blocking work you do every week
- File size or document length matters (a 100-page policy)
- You need privacy controls, no training on your data
- It's tied to apps you already live in (Google or Microsoft)
No binge. Fifteen minutes a day, using your real work, over four weeks.
- I can name the job before I prompt
- I protect private info with labels
- I verify prices, dates, and laws in the official source
- I have one assistant running for repeat work, not just a chat window
- I know when not to pay for a tool
- I ask it for an uncertainty checklist before I act on its answer
Don't roll this out to your whole team on day one. Use it yourself for two weeks, document what worked, then share it with one teammate. Teaching it is the best test of whether your instructions are actually clear.
Once this assistant feels routine, you'll hit its ceiling fast: it still waits for you to open it. That's exactly the gap the next two steps close.