Lesson 7 of 10 · ⚡ Impact: Medium · Difficulty: Easy · ⏱ ~2 min
Why it matters
Most stalled sessions aren't bad prompting — they're one of a handful of common snags. Knowing them means you spot the fix in seconds instead of going round in circles.
The five — and the two-second fix
The ghost upload. "I'll send the file"… then silence. Fix: upload it first, then say what to do with it.
The fresh start. Re-asking in a brand-new chat. Fix: stay in the thread and steer — it remembers this conversation, not a new one.
Wrong lane. Asking for something it can't make. Fix: see Know the lanes.
"Make it better" with no map. Fix: part + problem + target — see Feedback that lands.
Treating it like a help desk. "Where's my file gone?" is one for support, not the AI.
In practice
The one we see most: a strong request stalls because the file never arrives. "Pull the themes from our customer survey" gets a vague, generic answer when the survey was never attached — upload it first, then ask, and the same request flies. Nine times out of ten the problem isn't your wording, it's a missing piece the AI simply couldn't see.
Now you try
Spot the one you do most often — that's your single highest-value habit to break. Fixing it alone will smooth out most of your sessions.
Remember: keep one clear conversation going, and give it what it needs to act.
Next → 8. Direct it, don't fight it