Dr. Eric Perry speaks with Marty about how anyone can bring AI into their daily workflow — from drafting syllabi to generating reports — with simple, practical steps.

Eric Perry’s Step-by-Step Directions for Using AI

1. Define Your Goal

Decide exactly what you want AI to help with — for example, drafting a syllabus, designing an assessment, creating a project workflow, or producing a report.

Knowing the purpose clarifies how to use the tools effectively.

2. Choose the Right Tool

Pick a platform suited to the task: ChatGPT for writing and planning, Perplexity for research and profiles, Zoom AI Companion for meeting notes, or other specialized apps for images or data.

Not every AI tool does every job equally well.

3. Set Up and Learn the Tool

Create an account and, if needed, use the paid version for full capabilities.

Spend time practicing to understand how the tool responds to your prompts.

Comfort with the tool improves results.

4. Use Specific, Constrained Prompting

Give clear instructions about the format, tone, scope, and sources.

For example: “Act as if you are creating a 15-week counseling syllabus with one weekly reading from this textbook, one discussion prompt, and a grading rubric.”

The more explicit the instructions, the more useful the output.

5. Provide Your Own Source Material

Upload or paste the reference materials you want the AI to use — such as past show notes, rubrics, or course outlines.

Feeding it the right content reduces hallucinations and improves relevance.

6. Verify and Test the Output

Check that references, facts, and other details are accurate and current.

Never assume the AI’s first draft is automatically correct.

7. Refine and Iterate

Edit the AI’s draft as needed and save prompts that work well for reuse later.

Over time, many tools learn your preferences and style, requiring less detailed prompting.

Refinement turns a rough draft into a polished product.

8. Integrate AI Across the Workflow

Don’t use AI only at the end.

Example: Capture meeting notes with a tool like Zoom AI → feed them into ChatGPT → generate task lists, timelines, or assignments → review and refine.

AI can assist throughout the process, improving both efficiency and quality.

Email: ThePorTalkNetwork@gmail.com

Website: ThePodTalk.Net

YouTube channel: YouTube.com/@AIProductivityWorkflow

Goal-First Workflow Design – Dr. Eric Perry