level-1-essentials/README.md

Level 1 — Essentials

You are: new to AI, or an occasional user without a system. You will become: a competent power user — knows the jargon, has personal system prompts, routes tasks to the right model, ships real work with AI. Typical time: 30 days at 30-60 min/day.

Prerequisites

• None enforced
• Willingness to spend 30-60 minutes a day for a month
• Recommended (not required): If your files, notes, and knowledge are not yet in a system AI can reach (Markdown, cloud drive, or vault), consider running Groundwork Layers 1–3 first. Level 1 will work either way — but the modules on files, RAG, and context assume you have a knowledge base to point at. See GROUNDWORK-AND-FLUENCY.md for the full mapping.

Exit criteria

• You have a master system prompt and About-Me block
• You have a personal prompt library (20+ prompts)
• You know which model to route which task to
• You can pass the 15-question jargon fluency test
• You've shipped at least 5 real work outputs using AI
• For companies: AUP signed, accounts procured, first two department copilots piloting

Tracks

• 00-start-here/ — kit philosophy, 30-day sequence, full index
• individual/ — 9 sections for personal capability
• company/ — 10 sections for organizational rollout
• shared/ — glossary, eval templates, checklists, templates
• eli10/ — plain-language companions for the essential concepts

How to work Level 1

1. Start with 00-start-here/README.md (5 min)
2. Follow 00-start-here/30-day-starter-sequence.md day by day
3. If a section feels dense, open the eli10/ twin first
4. For companies: run the individual sequence AND the company sequence in parallel

If you finish this level, you have the foundation to become a builder.