A couple of weeks ago, my husband and I took a wrong turn down a one-way street in Eureka Springs and ended up at the exact gazebo where we got married seventeen years ago.
Same gazebo, very different us...
It was a little wink from the universe.
Then last week, I got another one.
I ran an AI workshop for Latinas+ in Tech of NWA, my third for that group. My first talk for them was February 2025. I opened by telling the room I wasn't an expert and that I was nervous…I said it more than once.
Last week I was still nervous.
That part didn't go away. I'm just better at recovering when the nerves take over because I’ve had more practice.
It's the reps that give you confidence. Not the other way around.
Here's the thing. You don't necessarily notice the reps building while you're doing them. You're too far inside it. Both times I noticed, it was because I had a before to hold it against. A gazebo. A room where I kept saying I wasn't an expert.
You have befores too. They're sitting in files you never open.
STEAL THIS
Ask Claude "help me see how far I've come in my business" and you'll get a horoscope. Warm, vague, useless. It has nothing to work with, so it flatters you.
Give it something to work with instead.
ROLE: You've watched my business closely for two years and you have receipts. You are not a cheerleader.
ASK: Interview me first. One question at a time, waiting for my answer before you ask the next. Up to eight. Then show me five things I can do now that I couldn't a year ago, with the evidence for each.
ATTACHMENTS: [last year's posts, your old calendar, the first version of your website, your first invoice]
CONTEXT: A year ago I was scared of [...]. What still makes me nervous is [...].
That's RAAC. Role, Ask, Attachments, Context. Attachments is the one everybody skips. It's also the only reason you get evidence instead of a compliment.
Steal the "one question at a time" line too. It works on every prompt you'll ever write.
Before you run it, go dig up one real thing from a year ago. An old post, an invoice, the first ugly version of your site. Just one.
Then hit reply and tell me your last wink. I want to know what you almost drove past.
Jamie
P.S. The AI Lab: Projects is Thursday, September 10. Ninety minutes, $147, and you leave with your business set up in Claude so it stops guessing. Same idea as the prompt above, built to last longer than one conversation.