The idea
Every time you catch a mistake, in AI's work or your own, write it down the same day as a one-line check. Write the kind of mistake, not the single case. Run the list before you send anything of that type, and paste it into the brief next time you ask for that kind of work. The list only grows, and that's the point.
Why it works
The same mistakes come back. AI tools tend to repeat their habits, and so do we. A mistake you caught once and fixed is likely to happen again next month unless something changes. A written check is that change. It's how pilots and surgical teams use checklists: each line exists because something once went wrong.
Writing the kind, not the case, is what makes it work. “Fix the March figure” helps once. “Every figure comes from this year's sheet” helps every time.
How to do it
- Keep one list per kind of work: client emails, invoices, social posts, reports.
- When you catch a mistake, write it down that day, before you forget the details.
- Turn it into a rule about the kind of mistake: “any price”, “any date”, “any name”, not “the Smith quote”.
- Phrase it as a check you can answer yes or no: “Every price matches this year's price sheet.”
- Run the list before you send. Paste it at the end of your brief so the AI checks too.
- Once a month, drop checks that no longer apply and merge ones that overlap.
Here's a mistake I caught: [what went wrong, and where]. Turn it into one yes-or-no check that would catch this kind of mistake in future work of the same type, not just this case. Give me the check in one line, then one example of a different mistake it would also catch.
Before I send this, check it against my list. For each check, answer PASS, FAIL or CAN'T TELL, and quote the line that fails. My list: [paste your checks] The draft: [paste]
Worked example
An online candle shop
Nora sells candles online and uses AI for product pages and customer replies. In one month she caught three mistakes: - A reply quoted last year's shipping price, from an old file she'd pasted. - A product page promised “ships in 2 days”, which she never offers. - A reply called a customer by the wrong first name, taken from an earlier email in the thread. Her list became: 1. Every price comes from this year's price sheet. 2. No delivery time or promise I haven't given myself. 3. The customer's name matches their latest email signature. She pastes the three lines at the end of every reply brief. The next month the AI flagged a draft itself: “Check 2: this promises next-day dispatch.”
Common mistakes
- Writing the case, not the kind. The list fills with one-off fixes and catches nothing new.
- Waiting to write it down. By Friday you won't remember what exactly went wrong.
- Checks you can't answer yes or no. “Be careful with numbers” isn't a check.
- Never pruning. A list that's too long stops getting read.
- Keeping it in your head. Then the AI can't run it.
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