# Five Signs Your AI Forgets You

*A one-page checklist from My Lab Notes, emmanuelquintero.com*

Most people use AI. Few have it working. Tick each sign that sounds like you.

| ☐ | The sign | What it costs you | The direction of the fix |
|---|---|---|---|
| ☐ | **1. You re-explain yourself at the start of every chat.** Who you are, what you sell, how you like things done. | Time every day, and answers that drift from how you actually work. | Write it down once, in a file you own, and point your AI to it first. |
| ☐ | **2. You can't find a decision you made last month.** Or it lives in three places that disagree. | Old mistakes repeat. Nobody, human or AI, knows which version is true. | Give each decision one home. Update it there, and nowhere else. |
| ☐ | **3. Switching AI tools means starting over.** | You stay with a tool because leaving costs too much, not because it's best. | Keep your context outside any one tool, in plain files any AI can read. |
| ☐ | **4. Your best thinking is stuck in chat history.** | The good ideas are there somewhere, but you can't search them, carry them or build on them. | End each working session by writing down what changed and what's next. |
| ☐ | **5. Nobody could pick up your work tomorrow.** Not a teammate, not a new AI. | Everything depends on you remembering. Vacations and busy weeks break it. | Keep a short map of where things are, so anyone can find their way in. |

**Your score:** 0 or 1 ticked, you're ahead of most. 2 or 3, you're losing time every week. 4 or 5, your AI is working from a blank page.

## The Stranger Test (five minutes)

1. Open a brand-new chat with any AI.
2. Give it only what you have **written down** about your work. Nothing from its memory, nothing from your head.
3. Ask it three questions:
   - What am I working on right now?
   - What did I decide most recently, and why?
   - What should happen next?
4. Score each answer: right, partly right, or lost.

Three right answers means your context lives somewhere your AI can read. Anything less shows you where to start.

## Want it built for you?

I set this up for businesses: the folder, the map, and the habits that keep it true. If you'd rather not build it yourself, reach me at emmanuelquintero.com.