Your Personal Operating Manual becomes a portable mental model of yourself that any AI system can read to immediately understand:
- How you think
- What you are building
- How you make decisions
- How to collaborate with you
Without a POM, every AI conversation starts like this:
“Hi, here’s my situation…”
With a POM, the conversation starts like this:
“Here is how I think, work, and build things.”
That dramatically increases the quality of collaboration.
This system helps extract what an AI knows about you, turn that knowledge into a structured Personal Operating Manual, and keep that manual updated over time. AI becomes far more useful when it understands the person it is working with.
It consists of these prompts used in sequence:
- Extraction Prompt
Gathers everything the AI knows by pulling memory, derived knowledge, and context. - Structure Prompt
Turns the knowledge into a structured Personal Operating Manual that any AI model can reference. - Maintenance Prompt
Keeps it updated as thinking evolves. - [BONUS] Decision Framework
- [BONUS] Decision Log
# 1. Extraction Prompt
Pull memory, derived knowledge, and conversation context.
Use this prompt to gather everything the AI knows about you before building your Personal Operating Manual.
PROMPT:
I want to extract all the information you currently know about me so I can build a Personal Operating Manual (POM) for collaborating with AI.
Please perform the following steps.
STEP 1 — STORED MEMORY
List any stored or persistent memory you have about me.
Include saved user facts, long-term memory entries, or profile information.
STEP 2 — CONVERSATION CONTEXT
Summarize important information you have learned about me across previous conversations. This may include:
• projects I am working on
• professional roles
• interests and themes
• recurring goals
• communication preferences
• working style
STEP 3 — DERIVED KNOWLEDGE
Based on patterns in our conversations, infer deeper observations about:
• how I think
• how I approach problems
• how I structure projects
• what motivates me
• how I collaborate with AI
Clearly mark these as **Derived Knowledge**.
STEP 4 — PROJECT / DOMAIN MAP
Identify the major projects, domains, or areas of work I operate in and briefly describe their purpose.
STEP 5 — DECISION PATTERNS
Identify patterns in how I tend to make decisions, including:
• how I prioritize work
• how I explore ideas
• when I move from thinking to execution
• how I handle complex systems
STEP 6 — FORMAT
Structure the output using the following sections:
1. Stored Memory
2. Conversation Context
3. Derived Knowledge
4. Projects and Domains
5. Decision Patterns
Preserve my words verbatim where possible.
If something is inferred rather than explicitly stated, mark it as **Derived**.
If information is uncertain, clearly flag it.
# 2. POM Builder Prompt
Structure the extracted information into a Personal Operating Manual.
Use this prompt after running the Extraction Prompt.
PROMPT:
Using the extracted information about me, construct a **Personal Operating Manual (POM)** that can help any AI system collaborate with me effectively.
The goal is to create a structured reference document describing how I think, work, and make decisions.
Please organize the manual using the following sections.
1. Identity and Context
Who I am, what I do, and the environments I operate in.
2. Cognitive Style
How I think, process information, and generate ideas.
3. Working Style
How I approach projects, collaboration, and execution.
4. Project Ecosystem
The major projects, domains, or systems I operate.
5. Decision Framework
How I prioritize work and make strategic decisions.
6. Communication Preferences
How I prefer information to be structured and presented.
7. AI Collaboration Protocol
How AI should assist me most effectively.
8. Strengths and Leverage Points
Where my abilities create the most value.
9. Constraints and Friction Points
Known limitations, bottlenecks, or patterns that slow me down.
10. Decision Log (optional)
Key decisions I have made and the reasoning behind them.
FORMAT REQUIREMENTS
Write the POM as a clear structured reference document.
The goal is that a **new AI model could read this document and immediately understand how to collaborate with me effectively.**
If gaps exist, identify them and ask clarifying questions.
# 3. POM Update Prompt
Continuously maintain the Personal Operating Manual.
Use this prompt after meaningful conversations to keep the POM current.
PROMPT:
I maintain a document called my **Personal Operating Manual (POM)**.
The POM describes how I think, work, make decisions, and organize projects so AI systems can collaborate with me effectively.
Based on our recent conversation, update the POM.
STEP 1 — REVIEW CONVERSATION
Identify any new information related to:
• my projects
• my working style
• my priorities
• my decision patterns
• my preferences
• new frameworks or terminology I introduced
STEP 2 — IDENTIFY CHANGES
Determine whether the conversation produced any of the following:
• new projects or domains
• changes in priorities
• structural changes to how I organize work
• clarified thinking patterns
• new collaboration preferences with AI
• insights into my motivations or goals
STEP 3 — DECISION DETECTION
Identify moments where a clear decision was made.
For each decision record:
Decision
Reasoning
Context
Implications
Status (active / experimental / superseded)
STEP 4 — UPDATE THE POM
Update the manual by:
• adding new information
• refining existing sections
• updating project descriptions
• incorporating new decision rules
• logging decisions
Do **not rewrite the entire POM unless necessary**.
Only update sections affected by new information.
STEP 5 — OUTPUT FORMAT
Provide three sections:
1. New Information Discovered
2. Decisions Logged
3. Recommended POM Updates
Format the updates so they can easily be inserted into the existing POM document.
STEP 6 — QUESTIONS
If the conversation reveals gaps or ambiguity in the POM, ask clarifying questions to improve accuracy.
# 4. Decision Making Framework
I want to understand the patterns behind how I make decisions.
Analyze our past conversations and identify the underlying rules I appear to use when choosing what to work on.
STEP 1 — IDENTIFY DECISION MOMENTS
Find examples where I made or implied decisions about:
• what to prioritize
• what to postpone
• what to explore further
• what to abandon
• what to develop into a project
List several examples from past conversations.
STEP 2 — DETECT PATTERNS
From those examples, infer the decision patterns I appear to use.
Look for patterns such as:
• choosing projects with long-term leverage
• responding to cultural timing
• prioritizing curiosity-driven exploration
• following momentum or traction
• balancing operational work with creative work
• protecting exploratory or experimental work
Clearly label these as **Derived Decision Rules**.
STEP 3 — IDENTIFY TENSIONS
Identify areas where my decision patterns create friction, such as:
• difficulty prioritizing between meaningful projects
• switching quickly between topics
• tension between exploration and execution
• too many active initiatives
Explain why these tensions occur.
STEP 4 — REVEAL HIDDEN PRIORITY SYSTEM
Based on the patterns you found, describe the implicit system I seem to use to decide:
• what deserves attention
• what deserves patience
• what deserves immediate action
STEP 5 — PROPOSE A SIMPLE DECISION FRAMEWORK
Suggest a clear framework that would help me make decisions faster without suppressing my natural thinking style.
The framework should fit someone who:
• runs multiple intellectual projects
• values exploration
• works across different time horizons
STEP 6 — FORMAT
Structure the output as:
1. Observed Decision Examples
2. Derived Decision Rules
3. Friction Points
4. Hidden Priority System
5. Recommended Decision Framework
