ChatGPT
The generalist most people start with — good at almost everything, agreeable to a fault.
Best for
- drafting and rewriting
- explaining something a second way
- everyday planning
- images and small data jobs
Signature move
Give it the job, then hand it a rubric to grade itself against.
How it wants to be spoken to
Give it a role, the goal, the audience and the format — in that order.
State the format precisely. “A five-row table, no preamble” beats “make it tidy”.
Say what it must not do. It leans agreeable, so bans work better than hints.
In a long thread, restate the facts it is not allowed to drift from.
Why it glitches
None of this is you doing it wrong. These are the shapes it reliably falls into — and the fix beside each.
Invents citations and links when it doesn't know → ask it to write “not sure” instead of filling the gap, and paste real sources yourself.
Skips a middle step in a long list → number your requirements and ask it to answer each number.
Agrees with your wrong premise → ask “what's wrong with this plan?” before “how do I do this plan?”
Forgets the start of a long chat → start a fresh chat for each new task.
A prompt that works there
You are my editor. Below is what I wrote and who it's for. Return: 1) the tightened version, 2) the three weakest sentences and a fix for each. Do not explain anything else. WHAT I WROTE: [paste] WHO IT'S FOR: [audience]
Bring Tay your actual task and she'll shape it for ChatGPT.
Practice with Tay