ImpactMe.AI · NECA Accounting Workshop · October 27, 2026

# Your 30-Day Practice Plan

*Skills fade without use. Fifteen minutes a few times a week is enough to make this stick.*

**Ground rule for every challenge:** use sample or de-identified data unless you're in your firm's approved tool. Verify anything with a number.

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## Week 1: Get comfortable

Goal: make using AI feel normal, on low-stakes tasks.

- **Day 1 to 2:** Pick one email you'd normally write from scratch (a follow-up, a reminder). Draft it with AI, then edit it to sound like you.
- **Day 3 to 4:** Ask AI to explain one accounting or Excel concept you've always been fuzzy on. End with "quiz me with 2 questions."
- **Day 5:** Take one prompt from the *Prompt Library* and use it on a real (de-identified) task.
- **Reflect:** Where did it save time? Where did it get something wrong?

## Week 2: Use the full pattern

Goal: practice the 5-part prompt (role, context, task and format, constraints, check yourself).

- Write one prompt **from scratch** each workday using all five parts. Don't copy from the library this week.
- At least once, push back on the first answer at least twice ("too long," "you missed X," "use a table").
- At least once, ask: "Critique your last answer as a skeptical reviewer. What's most likely wrong?"
- **Reflect:** Which of the five parts made the biggest difference?

## Week 3: Compare and verify

Goal: see for yourself why answers vary, and build the verify habit.

- **Same question, two tools:** Ask the same question in two different AI tools (for example, Copilot and a free tool, using sample data). Compare. Which was clearer? Did they disagree?
- **Same question, twice:** Ask one tool the same question in two separate chats. Notice what changed.
- **Excel cross-check:** Give AI a small set of sample numbers and ask for a total, a percent change, or a WIP calculation. Then do it in Excel. Did they match?
- Sort three of your regular tasks into **Good at / Needs a human check / Never alone**.
- **Reflect:** Did consistency ever fool you into trusting a wrong answer?

## Week 4: Make it part of the job

Goal: turn one use into a repeatable, documented habit.

- Pick **one task** you do every month that AI clearly helps with.
- Write your own reusable prompt template for it, with [BRACKETED] fill-ins and a verify step.
- Time the task with and without AI once each, including review time. Note it on the scorecard from *Measuring AI Adoption and Rollout*.
- Share your template with one coworker and get their feedback.
- **Reflect:** What would you tell a coworker who's just starting?

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## After 30 days

Keep a personal "prompt notebook" (a simple document) of templates that work for you. Revisit it monthly: tools change, and prompts that worked last month may need a tweak. That's expected. The thinking behind them is what you keep.

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## Where to keep learning

The vendors' own help centers are the most reliable place for current features, plan details, and privacy settings, because they change often.

- **Microsoft Copilot:** Microsoft Copilot help and learning, https://support.microsoft.com/copilot (includes guides for Copilot in Excel, Outlook, Word, and Teams)
- **ChatGPT:** OpenAI Help Center, https://help.openai.com/
- **Claude:** Claude Help Center, https://support.claude.com/
- **Gemini:** Gemini Apps Help, https://support.google.com/gemini/

Also worth checking:
- **Your firm's IT team** for which tools and accounts are approved, and how your version is set up.
- **Your NECA peer group.** Share what works and what doesn't with others doing the same job. Peer examples from contractors like you are often more useful than generic tips.

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*Questions, or want a follow-up session for your team? Adam Murphy · ImpactMe.AI · AI Made Useful & Human · adam@impactme.ai · impactme.ai*