Part I: Set the stage before you ask
Your first interaction determines how much editing you do at the end
Hand over the actual document, email, or data instead of summarizing it in your own words. The AI works from what you paste, not from what you meant to paste.
"A skeptical VP" gets a different answer than "the person doing this task." State exactly who reads the output before you ask for it.
One paragraph of your actual writing teaches an AI more about your voice than a full page of instructions describing your voice.
Length, format, tone, and the one thing it must include. An AI with no finish line keeps guessing at one.
If you already tried something and it did not work, say so and say why. That one sentence saves three rounds of the same wrong answer.
Prompt like you're giving a smart new hire an assignment
CO-STAR is a real prompt framework, not an invented shortcut: Sheila Teo built it, and it won GovTech Singapore's first GPT-4 prompt competition. Open a row for what each letter means.
The background it needs to understand the ask.
The specific task, stated as a goal.
Whose writing style to model.
Formal, warm, or blunt — whatever fits the audience.
Who is actually going to read this.
A table, a paragraph, an email, a bulleted list.
Part II: The hard work starts on draft 2
The first answer is a draft — interrogate it
"What's the weakest part of this, and why?" surfaces problems you would otherwise have to spot yourself.
An AI fills gaps silently. Asking "what did you assume about this" turns a hidden guess into something you can correct.
A shorter one, a bolder one, a safer one. Comparing options is faster than negotiating with a single draft.
"Why did you structure it this way?" often reveals a fix you would not have thought to request.
"The second paragraph is off, fix only that" keeps a good draft good instead of triggering a full rewrite.
See the difference: same request, two prompts
Part III: Work smarter
These take one extra sentence and change the whole exchange
"Ask me whatever you need to know before you start" often surfaces a requirement you forgot to mention.
"Respond as a skeptical editor" or "as legal review" changes what it notices, not just how it sounds.
"How sure are you about the statistic in paragraph two?" flags the one line worth double-checking before it ships.
Paste something that does not work and ask what's wrong with it before asking for a good one. It calibrates faster against a real mistake than against an abstract instruction.
"Now make the strongest case against this plan" pressure-tests it before you present it, not after.
A short "never" list, no exclamation points, no invented statistics, works faster than describing everything you do want.
Paste a writing sample and ask it to write in that tone, rather than asking it to sound "like me." Copying words produces an impression. Matching tone produces something that reads like you.
Quick hits by tool
Flip a card for the one habit worth building in that tool.
Claude
Tap to flipSave a real brief once as a Project. Every new chat inside it already knows your brand, audience, and past decisions.
NotebookLM
Tap to flipLoad your own sources first. Every answer stays grounded in what you gave it instead of drifting into general knowledge.
Mistakes
Steal these prompts
Six ready-to-use starters. Copy one, drop in your own details, and go.
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