Most AI lists advise you to give it prompts like write a professional email or summarize this document. Yawn. The real magic? Using AI to think thoughts you wouldn’t have had on your own. Here are six prompts that genuinely changed how I work:
1. The premortem
Instead of asking AI to help you plan, ask it to destroy your plan: Here’s my plan for [X]. Imagine it’s six months from now and this has completely failed. Write a brutally honest postmortem explaining what went wrong. You’ll uncover blind spots you didn’t know existed.
2. The audit: What should I stop doing?
Sometimes the most productive thing you can do is to stop doing something: Here’s everything I do in a typical week: [list it all]. Categorize each task as: (A) Only I can do this, (B) Someone else could do this or (C) This probably doesn’t need to be done at all. You’ll be shocked how much of your week falls into B and C. I was.
3. The conversation rehearsal
Got a tough talk coming up? I need to have a difficult conversation with [person/role] about [topic]. Play their role and push back on what I say. After three exchanges, break character and tell me where I was weakest. It’s a dress rehearsal for the meeting you’re dreading.
4. The consequence map
Before your next big decision: We’re about to [decision]. Map out the second- and third-order consequences, what happens because of what happens. Include one chain that leads somewhere surprisingly negative and one surprisingly positive. Most of us only think one step ahead. AI thinks three.
5. The tone check
Before you hit send on that important email: Tell me what I’m literally saying, what someone could read between the lines and how this could be misinterpreted by someone in a bad mood. This one’s saved me more than once.
🎁 Bonus: The industry theft
When you’re stuck on a problem, steal an answer from a completely different world: I’m dealing with [your problem]. How would this exact problem be solved in an ER, a Michelin-star kitchen, a Formula 1 pit crew and a movie set? Give me a specific technique from each. The best ideas almost never come from your own industry. They come from someone else’s. That’s how consultants charge the big bucks. You can do it for free in 30 seconds.
Copy these, paste them into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and fill in the blanks. You’ll wonder how you ever worked without them.
💡 Know someone who could use a productivity boost? Forward this to a friend or hit the share icons below. They’ll thank you when they’re leaving work an hour early.