10 AI prompts to make you more productive

A good prompt is specific about what you want, the format, and the audience. Here are ten that work well.

Writing

1. Tighten this draft — Rewrite the following more concisely without losing meaning: [paste text]
2. Change the tone — Rewrite this email to sound more confident and friendly: [paste email]

Planning

1. Break down a project — Break this goal into a step-by-step plan with milestones: [goal]
2. Find the risks — List the three biggest risks in this plan and how to mitigate each: [plan]

Thinking

1. Explain it simply — Explain [concept] to a complete beginner in one paragraph.
2. Argue the other side — Give the strongest argument against this position: [position]

Everyday

1. Summarize — Summarize this in three bullet points: [text]
2. Make a list — Give me five concrete ideas for [topic], one sentence each.

Code

1. Explain code — Explain what this code does in plain English: [code]
2. Debug — This code throws the following error. What's the likely cause and fix? [error]

The meta-tip

The more context you give — audience, format, length, examples — the better the result. Treat a prompt like a brief, not a search query.