5 Things to Teach Your AI Assistant in the First Week

You've set up your AI assistant. You've connected your email and calendar. You've sent a few test messages back and forth. Now what?

The gap between "it's running" and "it's actually useful" is smaller than you think. You don't need to write a manual or spend hours explaining your life. But you do need to give your assistant a few anchors—context it can use to make better decisions.

Here are five things to teach in your first week. They're practical, quick, and they pay off immediately.

1. Your daily schedule and work patterns

Start with the basics: when you work, when you're available, and when you don't want to be bothered.

"I work 9-5 Toronto time. Meetings only on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. No calls before 10 AM. I check email twice a day—morning and late afternoon. Evenings are for family."

Your assistant can use this to filter what's urgent versus what can wait. It won't schedule a 9 AM call on Monday. It won't ping you about a non-urgent email at 7 PM.

This isn't about creating rigid rules. It's about giving your assistant a sense of your rhythm. You can always override it ("actually, can you schedule that call for Monday morning?"), but having the default saves you from having to think about it every time.

2. Who's important and how you interact with them

Not all emails are equal. Your assistant needs to know who gets priority.

"Sarah is my co-founder—anything from her is urgent. Mark is my biggest client—he gets same-day replies. Mom emails me recipes and I usually reply on weekends. LinkedIn messages can wait."

You don't need to categorize every contact. Just mention the handful of people who matter most and how you typically interact with them. Your assistant will pick up patterns over time, but giving it a head start means fewer "is this urgent?" interruptions.

This also helps with tone. If your assistant knows Sarah is your co-founder, it can draft replies that match that relationship—direct, informal, efficient. If it knows Mark is a client, it can be more polished.

3. What you're working on right now

Context is everything. If your assistant knows your current projects, it can make smarter decisions about what's relevant.

"I'm launching a product next month. The beta list has 200 people and I need to email them updates every week. I'm also hiring a designer—anyone who mentions 'portfolio' or 'design' in their email is probably a candidate."

This doesn't need to be comprehensive. Just mention the big things you're focused on right now. Your assistant can help filter emails, surface relevant information, and remind you of deadlines.

As projects change, update your assistant. "The beta launch is done. Now I'm focused on customer support and onboarding."

4. A few simple tasks you want automated

Pick two or three repetitive tasks and teach your assistant how to handle them. Small wins build confidence.

Examples:

• "When I get a meeting invite, add it to my calendar and send a confirmation reply."
• "If someone asks for my availability, check my calendar and suggest three options."
• "Every Monday morning, send me a summary of my week ahead—meetings, deadlines, and any pending emails I haven't replied to."

Start small. Don't try to automate everything on day one. Pick tasks that are repetitive, straightforward, and annoying. Once those are working, add more.

5. How you like to be updated

This one is underrated. Your assistant needs to know when to interrupt you and when to queue things up.

"If something needs a decision in the next hour, ping me immediately. If it's just an FYI, add it to my evening summary. If it's a question that can wait, batch it with other questions and ask me once."

You might also want to set tone preferences. Some people want detailed updates. Others want bullet points. Some want their assistant to ask clarifying questions. Others prefer it to make educated guesses and adjust if it's wrong.

There's no right answer. It depends on your style. The key is to tell your assistant what you prefer so it's not guessing.

What comes next

These five things aren't exhaustive. They're starting points. As you use your assistant, you'll notice gaps—things it doesn't know that it should. When that happens, teach it.

"I don't actually like phone calls—suggest email or video instead."

"When someone sends a calendar invite without checking my availability first, politely ask them to suggest a few times."

"If I haven't replied to a client email in 48 hours, remind me."

Your assistant learns from corrections too. If it drafts an email that's too formal, tell it. If it schedules a meeting you didn't want, explain why. Every correction is training.

The goal isn't to spend hours explaining your entire workflow upfront. It's to give your assistant enough context to be useful today, and to keep adding to that context as you go.

Start with these five. By the end of the week, you'll have an assistant that actually helps instead of just responding to commands.