Stage 3: Tend
Keep it tidy and safe
Once a month, ask your AI to check your memory folder: the text files about you from Stage 2. No folder yet? Start with Stage 2. This health check reads your files, reports problems and changes nothing. You decide what to fix. About 10 minutes a month.
First, keep a backup
Before you fix anything, keep a copy of every file. On a computer, save them to a folder or your cloud storage. On a phone, paste each one into a note. If a fix goes wrong, add the old copy back.
The monthly health check
Open your “My memory” Project, the workspace that holds your files, and start a new chat inside it. Paste this.
Copy this into a new chat
Run a health check on my memory folder. Read every file. Change nothing. Check for: 1. Private details: passwords, PINs, login codes, ID, bank or card numbers, health details, other people's private details. Say where each one is, but never repeat it. 2. Repeats: the same fact in two places. 3. Clashes: two facts that can't both be true. 4. Old facts: undated facts, facts over a year old, projects with no update in 3 months, inbox items over a month old. 5. Size: any file over about 1,000 words. 6. Strays: files missing from index.md, or index rows with no file. On free ChatGPT, rules.md may sit in the Project settings instead. Number every finding, private details first. End with "Nothing was changed."
What you should see: a short numbered list, private details first, ending with “Nothing was changed.”
Reply with the numbers you want fixed, like “fix 1 and 3”. Your AI gives you the corrected files. Swap each one in, the same way as in Stage 2. Then ask it to update “Last health check” in index.md.
If it doesn’t look right
- If it starts rewriting files, stop it and say: “Report only. Change nothing.”
- If it repeats a private detail, delete that chat, then fix the file.
Every three months: clear out
Finished work and old facts pile up. Once a season, ask for a list of things you might not need any more.
Copy this into a new chat
Make a clear-out list for my memory folder. List finished projects, facts over two years old, routines I've dropped, and inbox items over three months old. For each one, give the reason and ask me: keep, update or delete? Don't change anything until I answer.
What you should see: a list where you decide every item.
When you’re done, ask it to update “Last clear-out” in index.md.
What never goes in
| Leave out | Write this instead |
|---|---|
| Passwords, PINs and login codes | Nothing. Keep them in a password manager. |
| ID, bank account or card numbers | The general fact, like “I bank with a credit union.” |
| Health details | What you need from answers, like “Keep answers short and easy to scan.” |
| Other people’s private details | First names or roles only, and nothing private. |
Set a reminder
Add a monthly reminder to your calendar called “Memory health check”. Make every third one “Health check and clear-out”.