You will see a lot of advice online about prompts, models, settings, plugins. The single piece of advice that actually matters, for any senior professional, is this one.
You need an explicit list of what you do not paste in. Printed. Visible. Read by everyone who touches the keyboard.
The list, as a starting point
Do not paste, upload, or otherwise share with a consumer model:
1. Client names, fund names, deal names, matter numbers
2. Material non-public information (MNPI) of any kind
3. Personal health information (PHI) and protected medical records
4. Draft contracts, term sheets, or memos that name parties
5. Internal financials, board materials, or compensation data
6. Source code, schematics, or designs not already public
7. Anything covered by an NDA, by section 7216, by attorney-client privilege, or by the SEC's Marketing Rule
8. Anything you would not say aloud in a coffee line in midtown
Adapt it to your firm. The shape stays the same.
The placeholder pattern
The list is paired with a technique. If you can use placeholders, you can do almost any real work without violating the list. The substitutions look like:
[Client A]instead of the client name[Matter X]instead of the case number[8-figure revenue]instead of the actual figure[Board Member 1]instead of the director's name[$5–10M range]instead of the precise dollar value
The model does not need the real details. It needs the shape of the work. Most professional workflows that look like they require confidential inputs actually require only the structure.
What about enterprise versions
Yes, enterprise versions of these tools exist. They come with data processing agreements, no-training commitments, and stronger guarantees. They are useful and worth deploying.
The Never Upload List still applies. It is not about the tool. It is about the habit. You build the habit on the consumer tool because that is what people will reach for at home on a Saturday. The habit travels with them to the enterprise tool on Monday.
The printable Never Upload List.
Members get the list as a printable card for the wall by the desk, the editable list with profession-specific fields (legal, financial, advisory, healthcare), and the sanitization template that builds a placeholder document in two minutes.
The honest part
You will violate this list once. Probably twice. Usually under deadline. You will catch yourself the third time. By the tenth time, the habit is real, and the list is on the wall in case you forget.
That is the whole training programme. The list. The placeholder pattern. The visible reminder.
Filed under Tools · The Leverage Years · Vol. I, Issue 02.