Chapter 41 Exercises: Building Your Long-Term AI Practice

These exercises build the reflective habits and structural elements of a durable AI practice. They're designed to be done thoughtfully rather than quickly — some take time, some require gathering your own history.

Exercise 1: The Development Arc Self-Assessment

Using the four stages described in this chapter (Beginner, Competent, Expert, Integrated), honestly assess where you are right now.

For each stage, write a brief description of what you currently do or don't do:

Beginner characteristics: - Long, vague prompts (do you still do this?) - Accepting first outputs without adequate review (do you still do this?) - Giving up when first attempts fail (do you still do this?) - Using AI for tasks where it doesn't help (do you still do this?)

Competent characteristics: - Clear prompt structure (do you have this?) - Reliable use cases where you consistently get good results (do you have these?) - Difficulty adapting when encountering new task types (is this still true?)

Expert characteristics: - Flexible, judgment-based AI use (do you have this?) - Efficient verification — checking what matters most, not everything (do you have this?) - Clear sense of when not to use AI (do you have this?) - Reflective habit — learning from each interaction (do you have this?)

Based on this self-assessment, write a one-paragraph description of where you are on the arc and what you think would most accelerate your development toward the next stage.

Exercise 2: The Skill Portfolio Audit

Create a list of the 10-15 most important professional skills in your work — the skills that, if you lost them, would significantly reduce your professional effectiveness.

For each skill: - Is this a skill where AI currently assists you? (Yes/Sometimes/No) - Is this a skill where AI could assist you more than it currently does? - Is this a skill where independent practice matters for developmental reasons, even though AI could do it? - Is this a skill where maintaining independent competency matters for professional independence?

Based on this audit, identify: - Two or three skills you should actively maintain through independent practice, even though AI can help - Two or three skills that are good candidates for deeper AI integration - Any skills you're currently over-AI-assisting in ways that may be atrophying your independent capability

Exercise 3: The Trust Calibration Inventory

Write down the 10-15 most common types of AI interactions you have. For each, answer honestly:

  1. How much do you currently trust the AI output on this task? (Score 1-5: 1=treat with high skepticism, 5=trust nearly completely)
  2. How often has AI actually been wrong on this task type in your experience? (Score 1-5: 1=frequently wrong, 5=rarely wrong)
  3. What specific things do you verify on this task type?

Are there task types where your trust level (question 1) doesn't match your experience of AI reliability (question 2)? These gaps are the most important calibration opportunities:

  • Over-trust (trusting more than reliability warrants): Add a specific verification step
  • Under-trust (trusting less than reliability warrants): Consider reducing verification overhead

Write a one-paragraph summary of what you learned from this calibration inventory.

Exercise 4: The "What Would I Lose?" Exercise

If your primary AI tool disappeared tomorrow — no access, no data — what would you lose?

Make a concrete list: - Which workflows would break? - Which parts of your job would become significantly slower or harder? - Which skills have you allowed to atrophy because AI was handling them? - Which prompt templates or workflows do you have documented? Which only exist in the tool?

This exercise serves two purposes: 1. Identifying dependencies that create professional fragility 2. Revealing what's become genuinely integrated into how you work (which is actually good — it means AI is delivering real value)

Based on what you find, what would you want to back up, document, or maintain independently?

Exercise 5: The Professional Identity Reflection

Spend 20 minutes writing on this question: "How has my relationship with AI changed how I think about my professional identity?"

Some prompts to consider: - Has AI changed what you're proudest of in your work? - Has AI changed what you think your core professional contribution is? - Are there aspects of your work where you feel more like "yourself" with AI assistance or less? - Has AI changed how you describe your work to others? - What would you say if a client asked whether your work was AI-assisted?

There are no right answers. This is about honest reflection on a question most practitioners avoid.

Exercise 6: The First Quarterly Review (Prototype)

Even if you haven't had a formal quarterly review practice, you can do a retrospective one now.

Looking back at the past three months of AI use:

What worked? - List 3-5 AI use cases or approaches that generated real value - What made them work? - Have you captured them in your prompt library?

What didn't work? - List 2-3 AI use cases or approaches that didn't deliver expected value - Why didn't they work? - What will you do differently?

What changed? - Have any AI capabilities changed significantly? - Have your verification habits changed? - Has your trust calibration shifted?

Goals for next quarter: - One use case to develop further - One use case to stop or significantly reduce - One new capability to explore

Run this review quarterly going forward. Set a recurring calendar event now.

Exercise 7: The Prompt Retrospective

Pull up your prompt library (or your recent AI interaction history if you don't have a formal library).

For each significant prompt or interaction type: 1. Is this prompt still optimal, or have you found better approaches? 2. Is this prompt still necessary, or has AI improved to the point where it's no longer needed? 3. Is there anything you've learned in the past few months that should be incorporated?

Make any updates. Note the date. Set a reminder to run this retrospective again in 30 days.

Exercise 8: The "Tool, Partner, or Threat" Position Paper

Write a 300-500 word position paper articulating how you currently think about your relationship with AI in your professional work.

Address: - Which frame (tool, partner, threat, or something else) best describes your current relationship? - What has shaped this position? - What are the practical implications of this framing for how you work? - What aspects of the other frames do you incorporate? - What would change your position?

This is a living document — revisit it in six months and see whether and how your position has evolved.

Exercise 9: The Colleague Learning Exchange

Identify one colleague who uses AI in their professional work — ideally someone with a different role or domain than yours.

Schedule 45 minutes to discuss: - What's working in their AI practice? - What's not working? - What approaches have they tried that you haven't? - What's your current big AI challenge, and what's theirs?

After the conversation, write a brief reflection: What did you learn that you'll apply? What did you share that was useful to them?

Repeat this conversation quarterly with the same or different colleagues. The peer learning exchange is one of the highest-leverage investments in your AI practice.

Exercise 10: The Skills Maintenance Plan

Based on your skill portfolio audit from Exercise 2, design a concrete plan for maintaining the skills you want to keep strong independently:

For each skill you identified as needing independent maintenance: - How often will you practice it independently (without AI assistance)? - What specifically will you do? - How will you know if the skill is atrophying?

Example: "I'll write one first draft per week without AI assistance before using AI to improve it. If I find this increasingly difficult, that's a signal to increase independent practice."

Exercise 11: The Long-Term Vision Letter

Imagine yourself two years from now, with the AI practice you want to have built. Write a 400-word description of that practice:

  • What does your daily AI-augmented workflow look like?
  • What kinds of work are you doing that you couldn't do (or couldn't do as well) without AI?
  • What skills have you maintained and deepened?
  • How do you describe your relationship with AI to colleagues and clients?
  • What questions about AI do you still find genuinely uncertain?

This is an aspirational document, not a prediction. But writing it concretely helps identify the specific capabilities and habits you need to build to get there. At the end, list three things you'll start doing differently this week to move toward this vision.

Exercise 12: The AI-Augmented Practice Manifesto

Write your personal manifesto for AI-augmented professional practice. One page maximum.

Your manifesto should address: - What AI is for in your work (and what it isn't for) - What principles guide your AI use - What skills you're committed to maintaining - What standards your AI-assisted work will always meet - What you'll do when AI use feels uncomfortable or wrong

This manifesto is for you, not for publication. But having it written clarifies your commitments in a way that vague intentions don't. Revisit it annually and revise as your practice evolves.