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- Your Prompts Suck (But You’re Not Alone)
Words are funny little things.
They build nations. They end relationships.
They also make your AI outputs read like oatmeal with a splash of cardboard.
So if your ChatGPT replies feel like they came from a corporate intern who's half-asleep and legally restricted from having opinions…
Yeah. That's not the model's fault.
That’s you.
The Quiet Crisis: Most People Suck at Prompting
We all jumped on the AI hype train.
"Make me a viral tweet thread."
"Summarize this article."
"Write a blog post."
And what we got back?
A soulless slab of text that could’ve been written by Siri with a hangover.
So what happened?
You used a sports car like a shopping cart.
Your prompts are generic, vague, and allergic to context.
Let me show you what you're doing wrong. And what you should be doing instead.
Brace yourself. This might sting a little.
Prompt: “Help me with marketing”
Congratulations. You just fed your AI a kale smoothie made of ambiguity and despair.
This is the equivalent of walking into a bookstore and yelling, “Books, please!”
Instead:
Break it down. Own the context. Add tension. Inject personality.
Try this:
“Act as a cynical Gen Z brand strategist. Write 5 chaotic-good CTAs for an eco-sneaker brand targeting teens who hate capitalism but love aesthetics.”
Now you’re cooking with fire.
7 Prompting Layers That Actually Make ChatGPT Interesting
Here’s the red pill breakdown. You don't need to code. You just need to think like a manipulative puppeteer with a PhD in curiosity.
1. Non-Negotiable Foundations
This is the stuff you can’t skip.
The bare minimum. The oxygen.
Let’s start with a lie:
“Help me with my business idea.”
Nah.
That’s like handing a blank canvas to a painter and asking them to read your mind while blindfolded.
Try this instead:
Act as a disillusioned Gen Z venture capitalist who has reviewed 500+ pitch decks this month, most of them soulless AI clones with no original thesis. You’re jaded, sharp, and unfiltered — think early Reddit meets Harvard MBA.
You’re reviewing a pitch for a mindfulness app targeting neurodivergent teens(ADHD/autism spectrum) who feel alienated by traditional meditation tools. The founders claim to use “gamified emotional regulation” and “vibe-matching audio environments” to improve attention and reduce anxiety.
In under 150 words, write your brutally honest hot take. Assume this is your internal VC notes — not PR fluff.
Prioritize:
Originality of concept vs. trend-chasing
Viability in a saturated mental health space
Whether the product shows actual understanding of the neurodivergent experience — or just buzzword dressing
Avoid clichés like “great potential,” “scalable,” or “timely.” No BS.
Add a one-line verdict at the end in this format:
Verdict: [One brutally honest sentence].
Now we’re speaking the model’s language.
Now it knows where it’s standing, who it is, and how to attack.
Specificity = clarity.
Clarity = gold.
2. Precision Engineering
Most people stop at the role-play.
But the real juice is in breaking it apart.
If your task is complex, chunk it.
Say you’re building a new product launch roadmap.
Don’t ask for the whole thing.
Try:
You are a neurodivergent-aware product strategist with a background in creator economy analytics and digital health startups. You’ve helped launch over 20 tech products for Gen Z and millennial creators with ADHD, and you’re known for spotting both behavioral blind spots and high-virality hooks.
You’re evaluating a wearable productivity tracker aimed at ADHD creators — streamers, YouTubers, designers, indie founders — who struggle with focus, time blindness, and burnout cycles.
Your task has 3 phases. Stick to this structure and write with no fluff — just insight, sharp observations, and plain-spoken intelligence.
Step 1 — Risk Analysis (Max 100 words)
Identify 3 high-stakes risk factors that could derail the launch — think in terms of:
Audience mistrust (e.g., tech that shames ADHD behavior)
UX/design overwhelm
Creator skepticism of “productivity hacks”
Frame each in one tight sentence. No corporate jargon.
Step 2 — Pre-Launch Community Activation (Max 150 words)
Recommend 5 pre-launch tactics that build real creator buy-in, not surface-level hype. Focus on:
Co-creation opportunities
User-driven content
Vulnerability-led storytelling
“Insider” feeling campaigns
Each tactic should feel native to ADHD creators, not like a marketing team pretending to understand neurodivergence.
Step 3 — Virality Ranking (Max 75 words)
Rank the 5 tactics from most to least viral, based on likely TikTok/YouTube traction, emotional shareability, and meme potential.
Add 1 sentence per tactic explaining why it ranks where it does.
Avoid buzzwords like “synergy,” “value-driven,” or “robust community building.”
This is strategy for humans — not VC decks.
Give it structure.
AI loves steps. It breathes in order, breathes out brilliance.
3. Expert Tactics (Most People Don’t Even Know Exist)
Here’s where the nerds shine.
Chain-of-thought prompting is how you get reasoning, not regurgitation.
Example:
“Before answering, explain the logic behind how you interpret this. Then respond. No shortcuts.”
It’s like forcing the AI to think out loud.
You get transparency. You get intelligence.
And then there’s negative prompting — pure control magic.
“List 5 startup ideas in edtech that DON’T involve gamification, AI tutors, or virtual classrooms. Bonus if they challenge the current education model.”
Tell it what to avoid.
You’ll be shocked at how much sharper the result is.
4. Why Your Prompts Fail
Let’s be blunt.
You’re either saying too little…
“Write a social media post.”
Or you’re saying way too much…
“Write an SEO-friendly, high-converting carousel post in the tone of Naval Ravikant meets Gary Vee, targeting 18–24 year olds, must include 3 facts, 4 emojis, CTA, and keep it under 240 characters.”
Stop.
Here’s the rule: Split the prompt, not the model.
Start like this:
Prompt 1: “What is the core message a productivity coach would want to share with burned-out millennials in 2025?”
Prompt 2: “Write an emotional story-based intro to a blog post with that message.”
Prompt 3: “Now write 3 variations of short social captions with different emotional tones: hope, anger, sarcasm.”
Stack those.
Each one gets better because it builds on the last.
This is how you prompt like a professional.
5. Real-World Applications (for Humans Who Do Actual Work)
Let’s make this practical.
Here are real prompts, for real people, doing real creative work:
Marketing Prompt:
“Act as a sarcastic ad copywriter who hates buzzwords. Write 3 darkly funny taglines for a carbon-neutral deodorant that smells like rain and rebellion.”
Research Prompt:
“Analyze this spreadsheet of eCommerce return rates. Ignore the top 10% outliers. Identify trends among high-return items and suggest 2 actionable fixes.”
Creative Writing Prompt:
“Write a flash fiction piece from the POV of a sentient weather app that slowly realizes it’s predicting a world-ending storm — and no one’s listening.”
That’s how you turn inputs into insight.
6. Skill Sharpening (How You Get Scary Good)
Prompt engineering is like lifting weights.
You won’t get better unless you train weird.
Try stuff like this:
“Teach me about neural networks using an extended metaphor about dating apps. Keep it under 300 words. Be funny but accurate.”
Or this:
“Explain cryptocurrency to a 6th grader, a jaded economist, and a conspiracy YouTuber who thinks money is fake.”
You’re not just feeding the machine.
You’re building a second brain — trained on your voice, your goals, your weird creative angles.
Save your best ones. Build your library.
Refine like it’s religion.
7. The Future of Prompting (and Why It Might Replace You)
Let me paint you a picture:
AI prompting itself.
Refining its own questions.
Auto-iterating drafts, formats, tone without you lifting a finger.
That’s where we’re headed.
You’re either the architect of this future…
Or the background noise it eats on its way there.
Final Thought (But Not a Conclusion™)
Prompting isn't about mastering a tool.
It's about mastering your ability to ask the right questions.
Bad questions = dead output.
Great questions = superpower.
So stop scratching the surface.
Start commanding brilliance.
Or keep getting answers that sound like your AI took a nap halfway through.
Your move.
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