What to say to your agent

“Hi” gets a friendly hello back and nothing more, because nothing was asked. Try these instead.

Start with a fact#

Skills that keep a list start empty: Sports Follow with no teams has nothing to report. Tell it once:

• “Follow Arsenal and the Warriors.”
• “Netflix is 15.49 a month, next due on the 8th.”
• “I take metformin twice a day, refill due the 20th.”
• “My mom’s birthday is March 3.”

Ask for the thing itself#

“Can you manage my calendar?” gets you a yes. “What have I got on Thursday?” gets you Thursday.

Say how to talk to you#

Tell it once, like “Keep answers to two sentences unless I ask for more” or “Tell me when you’re not sure instead of guessing”.

Hand over one list#

1. Give it one list to keep: tasks, bills, whatever you hold in your head.
2. That skill already messages you on a schedule; change the time or turn it off with the switch on its card.
3. After a week, ask yourself whether you stopped checking something.