How progression works

1. 1Exploring — first contact with the capability
2. 2Practicing — deliberate reps on real material
3. 3Building — producing working results
4. 4Applying — reviewed results applied in real contexts
5. 5Operating — running it reliably over time
6. 6Teaching — able to build the capability in others

Mastery changes only through reviewed evidence — never through watching, reading, or logging in. Self-review advances a capability up to building; applying and beyond require review by others.

Capabilities also track freshness: current, review recommended, update required, or superseded. AI changes; verified capability has a review date, not a forever stamp.

• AI fluency
• Problem discovery
• Context design
• Prompting
• Research
• Workflow design
• Automation
• Agent building
• Evaluation
• Business application
• Human-AI collaboration
• Governance
• Communication
• Mentoring

• XP is earned for verified work: completed checkpoints, submitted evidence, improvements after review, and verified missions.
• XP is capability-specific — there is no single number that claims to summarize you.
• Repeating the same action earns less each time: full, then half, then a quarter, then nothing.
• XP never unlocks paid work, certification, Operator status, mentoring, or partnerships. Nothing you can grind replaces evidence and review.

Achievements mark milestones (first mission, first evidence, first improvement). Badges recognize demonstrated capability and always carry published criteria plus the missions and evidence behind them. Credentials — formal, portable, verifiable — come later and will never claim external academic accreditation: everything here is AIF1RST ecosystem certification.

• Weekly Momentum counts weeks with meaningful progress — never daily logins, never app opens.
• Four consecutive active weeks bank a Grace Week (up to two) that covers a missed week automatically.
• A Planned Pause protects your run when life needs the time — illness, vacation, crunch.
• If momentum breaks, a Recovery Mission — any meaningful action within two weeks — restores it.
• Momentum never gates content or opportunities, and we never send "you're about to lose it" messages.

The macro ladder — explorer, builder, practitioner, operator, mentor, ecosystem partner — cannot be climbed with points. Operator and beyond require evidence, defined criteria, history, conduct, human approval, and accepted terms.

Build evidence and access project, referral, collaboration, and revenue-sharing opportunities subject to readiness, performance, availability, and program terms.