You’re using ChatGPT wrong

Whenever a new feature gets released, self-proclaimed experts share their best practices to capitalize on the hype. While well-intentioned, much of this advice hasn't gone through enough testing to produce consistently good results. One such feature is custom instructions, available for both paid and free users of ChatGPT. Contrary to popular belief, being overly specific in your custom instructions can actually decrease the relevancy of ChatGPT outputs for both work and personal life.

Custom Instructions: Keep it Simple

The first box in custom instructions should be kept simple with three sentences:

Snapshot of Professional Life: "I'm a product marketing manager in Tech."
Secondary Persona: "In my spare time, I create online content on these topics."
Personality and Interests: "I'm all about efficiency, productivity, and self-improvement."

For the bottom field, here's a hack: find an online creator you admire. For instance, let's pick Ali Abdaal. Head to his newsletter page and look at the last two posts. Then, input this prompt into ChatGPT:

I'm going to share two blog posts written by Ali Abdaal. Analyze the blog posts and give me a set of instructions I can use to write in exactly the same tone, writing style, humor, reading level, and delivery. Here are the blog posts: 
Blog post one: [Paste] 
Blog post two: [Paste]

From the analysis, pick and choose the style guidelines you resonate with and paste them into the second custom instruction box. This will provide ChatGPT with enough context about your background and preferences to generate relevant outputs for any use case.

Leveraging ChatGPT for Coding

The second mistake is not using ChatGPT to write code and automate tasks. Even with no coding experience, ChatGPT can help you automate mundane tasks. For example, you can ask ChatGPT to write a Google Apps Script for your 1-on-1 meeting notes. Here's a sample prompt:

Hey, write a Google App script for my 1-on-1 meeting notes in Google Docs that does the following: 
- Adds a new page with heading two that says 'Date: [Today's Date]'
- Adds a heading three 'Notes' followed by three bullet points
- Adds a heading three 'Action Items' followed by a numbered list
- Creates a button I can click before every meeting to generate this new page

Copy the generated code into the Google Docs app script editor, and run it. This simple automation can save significant time and effort.

The First Try Fallacy

Another common mistake is expecting perfect answers from ChatGPT on the first try. To improve the results, add the following sentence to your prompts:

Ask me five questions that would improve the response you'll be giving me.

This enables ChatGPT to clarify and refine its understanding, resulting in more relevant responses.

Not Just Summarizing

Most people use ChatGPT to summarize information, but it can also distill actionable insights. For instance, if you come across an article on holiday shopping insights, you can ask ChatGPT:

I'll share an article below on holiday shopping insights. How does the information in this article apply to a paid media marketing manager responsible for increasing brand awareness? Here is the article: [Paste Article]

ChatGPT will then provide personalized insights based on your role. Paid users can also upload PDFs for even more straightforward interactions.

Avoiding Prompt Overload

It's easy to get overwhelmed by the numerous prompts. To address this, ask ChatGPT to generate custom prompts that fit your specific needs:

Assume the role of an experienced prompt engineer with over 20 years of experience. I am a [Your Role] working on [Your Responsibility] with the goal of [Your Objective]. Give me 10 ChatGPT prompts that will help me become more productive in my job.

Select up to three prompts that you can use regularly and refine them over two weeks to maximize productivity.

Keywords

ChatGPT
Custom Instructions
Automation
Google App Script
First Try Fallacy
Summarizing
Actionable Insights
Prompt Overload
Productivity

FAQ

Q: How should I structure my custom instructions in ChatGPT?
A: Keep it simple. In the first box, provide a snapshot of your professional life, a secondary persona, and your core personality and interests. For the second box, analyze and adopt the writing style of an admired creator.

Q: Can I use ChatGPT to write code if I have no coding experience?
A: Absolutely. You can prompt ChatGPT to write scripts for automating tasks, such as Google App scripts for meeting notes or standardizing presentation fonts.

Q: How do I improve ChatGPT's responses?
A: Add the sentence "Ask me five questions that would improve the response you'll be giving me" to your prompt. This helps ChatGPT to clarify and refine its understanding before providing a response.

Q: How can ChatGPT help me beyond summarizing text?
A: ChatGPT can provide personalized, actionable insights based on your role and objectives. Upload PDFs for even more in-depth interactions and Q&A sessions.

Q: How do I avoid being overwhelmed by numerous ChatGPT prompts?
A: Ask ChatGPT to generate custom prompts specific to your role and responsibilities. Select up to three to use regularly and refine them over a couple of weeks.