Tiny Prompts That Might Actually Make Your Life Better

Honestly,

I have good news.

You do not need a certification in artificial intelligence.

You do not need to begin every ChatGPT conversation with:

“You are an internationally renowned expert with 37 years of experience…”

You do not need seventeen paragraphs of instructions.

And you definitely do not need to understand why people on LinkedIn keep using the word agentic.

Sometimes you just need one good sentence.

So, in the spirit of Colleen Honestly: Work on Yourself, here are some ridiculously short AI prompts that can make your life a little easier in ten minutes or less.

Not change-your-life-in-a-cult-documentary way.

More like:

Oh. That was surprisingly helpful.

When your brain has 47 tabs open

“Here is everything in my head. Organize it into: do now, do later, delegate, and ignore.”

Then brain-dump.

Don't organize first.

That's literally what you're hiring the robot to do.

When you've been avoiding something

“I've been avoiding this: [thing]. Ask me five questions to figure out why, then help me make the first step ridiculously small.”

Sometimes procrastination isn't laziness.

Sometimes the task is vague, enormous, boring, uncomfortable or has seventeen invisible steps your brain has already noticed even though you haven't.

Make AI help you find the snag.

When you have to send that email

“Make this clear, kind and impossible to misunderstand: [paste draft].”

A personal favorite.

Especially useful when your original draft begins:

“Per my last seventeen emails…”

When you're mad and absolutely should not hit Send

“Here is what I WANT to say. Do not send this anywhere. Tell me what I'm actually trying to communicate.”

Then let it rip.

Give AI the director's cut.

The profanity.

The imaginary resignation.

The part where you explain that apparently you are the only person on Earth capable of reading the attachment.

Get it out.

Then communicate the actual point like an adult who enjoys continued employment.

When you don't understand something

“Explain this to me like I'm smart but completely new to it: [topic].”

I prefer this enormously to “Explain it like I'm five.”

I'm 49.

I can handle vocabulary.

I just don't know what you're talking about yet.

When you're stuck between two choices

“Don't decide for me. Ask me questions that will help me figure out what I actually want.”

This is an important one.

AI doesn't need to run your life.

Sometimes it just needs to help you hear yourself think.

When you think your idea is brilliant

“I love this idea. Now tell me the three strongest reasons it might not work.”

Ouch.

Do it anyway.

Your AI should occasionally be the person at the table who says:

“Okay, but have we thought about…?”

When you think your idea is terrible

“I'm about to abandon this idea. Make the strongest case for why it might be worth continuing.”

Same tool.

Opposite direction.

Neither answer gets the final vote.

You do.

When your to-do list has become a cry for help

“I have 60 minutes. Here is my list. Pick the highest-impact things I can realistically finish and give me the order.”

Notice I said realistically.

Otherwise AI occasionally plans your afternoon like you're a Navy SEAL who doesn't require food, bathrooms or transitions between rooms.

When you need to have a difficult conversation

“Role-play this conversation with me. Don't make the other person unrealistically cooperative.”

This one is fantastic.

Because practicing a difficult conversation against someone who immediately says:

“You're absolutely right, Colleen. Thank you for this valuable feedback. I take full accountability.”

is adorable.

And useless.

When you can't tell whether something sounds like you

“Keep my meaning. Remove anything that sounds corporate, robotic or like I swallowed a leadership book.”

Enough said.

When you need perspective

“What am I making harder than it needs to be?”

That's the whole prompt.

You may not enjoy the answer.

When you've actually had a good week but can't remember any of it

“Ask me questions to help me identify what I accomplished this week.”

See also: my ongoing campaign to make all of us keep our own receipts.

When you're overwhelmed

“I don't need the whole plan yet. Tell me only the next three steps.”

Sometimes you don't need a roadmap.

You need to know where to put your foot next.

And when AI gives you garbage

Here is perhaps the most important prompt on this entire list:

“No. That's not what I meant.”

Seriously.

Then explain why.

You have not offended it.

It will not discuss you with the other AIs in the break room.

You are allowed to correct it.

That's actually how this works.

AI doesn't become useful because you learned the magic combination of words.

It becomes useful when you learn to have a better conversation with it.

Start small.

Give it ten minutes.

Give it something that's actually bothering you.

See what happens.

And if it tells you to participate in a trust fall, close the laptop immediately.

We've discussed this.