The real magic happens with AI when you stop treating it like Google with a personality and start using it like an extra set of hands—a personal assistant, if you will. For instance, I recently connected ChatGPT to my Google Calendar. Instead of asking it to suggest a schedule for several things I wanted to accomplish, I told it what I wanted to get done, had it work around my existing calendar, and asked it to actually schedule everything. Then I kept tweaking it: move my workouts because I prefer exercising before bed, give different activities different colors, tell me what I should be working on during each block, add a grocery list to Fridays for Saturday grocery runs.
That was when something clicked for me. The best AI prompt isn’t necessarily the most clever one.
It’s the one that helps you actually get ish done.
Here are eight that I’ve developed and stashed in the notes app of my computer.
1. “Help Me Actually Do All of This”
How many things have you been saying you want to do for the last six months? The problem isn’t always motivation. Sometimes, you haven’t made space in your day-to-day life to get the task (or set of tasks) done.
“Okay, these are the things I really want to accomplish over the next six months: [LIST]. I work, I need downtime, and I don’t want a schedule that’s going to burn me out after two weeks. Break these goals down into things I can realistically work on every week. Access my Google calendar, look at what’s already there and actually schedule time for me to work on them. Tell me what I should be doing during each block in the notes section of each event so I don’t waste the first 20 minutes figuring out where to start.”
Note, ChatGPT and other AI platforms can connect to apps like Gmail and Google Calendar, allowing AI to help manage emails, schedules, and tasks. In ChatGPT, you can view available connections under Settings → Apps.
2. “What Am I Forgetting in My Email?”
If your Gmail is connected, this is where things start getting really useful.
“Can you go through my Gmail from the last month and tell me if there’s anything important I’ve forgotten to respond to or take care of? Look for deadlines, bills, appointments, things I’m supposed to submit, people waiting on me, refunds or money I might be owed, and anything else that looks like I probably should’ve done something about it. List the most important things first.”
I love this because I don’t have to remember exactly what I’m looking for before searching my inbox. That’s usually the problem. I can essentially say, “What am I forgetting?” and let AI help me find it.
3. “Where Am I Wasting Money or Missing Out on a Bigger Opportunity?”
Most financial advice eventually advises you to “stop buying coffee and snacks.” I’d rather know where the big opportunities are.
“I’m going to give you my income, bills, debt, savings and what I’m trying to accomplish financially. Look at the whole picture and tell me what you would change if you were me. Don’t give me the usual advice about buying less coffee. Where could I make changes that would actually make a noticeable difference over the next year? Also tell me if I’m focusing too much on little expenses while ignoring something much bigger.”
I’ve found this type of prompt much more useful than simply asking how to save money. Sometimes the better question isn’t “Where can I cut $50?” It’s “What decision am I making that could be costing me thousands?” You’d be surprised.
4. “What Could I Already Be Making Money From?”
Sometimes we’re so accustomed to our own skills that we stop recognizing that other people don’t have them.
“[Share what you do for work, what you’re good at (it can be literally anything you want), what you’ve studied, what people come to you for help with.] Tell me what people might actually pay me to do or teach. I don’t want random side-hustle ideas. I want things that make sense specifically for me. Then tell me which one would be easiest to test without quitting my job or spending a fortune.”
This exercise helped me look at my own professional experience differently without needing to invent an entirely new career or become an expert in something else. After all, a skill or talent being relatively easy for you doesn’t mean it isn’t valuable.
5. “Tell Me Why This Business Idea Might Be Terrible”
I have ideas. A lot. I’ve learned that asking AI whether an idea is “good” isn’t nearly as useful as asking it to tell me why it may fail.
“I have a business idea that I’m really excited about, which probably means I’m biased. [Explain the idea.] Tell me everything that could make this a bad business move. Who probably wouldn’t buy it? What am I underestimating? What would make it difficult to make money? What alternatives am I not thinking about? Then, tell me the most cost-effective way I could test whether people actually want this service/product before I spend a bunch of money creating it.”
I don’t need AI to be excited just because I’m excited. I can do that part myself. What I need is something willing to poke holes in my logic before the marketplace does it for me and a take avoidable Ls.
6. “Help Me See What I Might Be Missing”
Sometimes, we’re simply too close to our own lives to see things clearly. That could be a decision you’re struggling with, a situation that keeps bothering you or a pattern you suspect you may be repeating.
“[Insert a situation you’re dealing with and offer some background into similar situations you’ve experienced before]. Don’t just agree with me, and don’t diagnose me. Tell me what you think I’m seeing clearly, what I might be overlooking, any patterns you notice and what evidence you’re using to reach those conclusions. Then, give me a few completely different ways of looking at the situation that I may not have considered.”
I’ve found AI particularly useful for this because I can give it far more context than I might give someone during a 15-minute conversation. That doesn’t mean its interpretation is automatically correct. Sometimes the value is simply having something point at an angle I hadn’t considered and thinking, Wait. Let me sit with that.
7. “Teach Me [X] Like I Know Absolutely Nothing”
One of the most underrated things about AI is being able to ask the same question six different ways without worrying that someone thinks you should understand it already.
“I need to learn [THING], and right now I know basically [WHAT YOU KNOW]. I have about [X] hours a week to work on it. Teach me what I actually need to know first instead of overwhelming me with everything that exists. Explain things in normal language, give me something to practice and let me try it before you give me the answer. If I get something wrong, explain why I’m wrong and let me try again.”
That’s very different from typing “teach me [subject]” and receiving what feels like an entire textbook. You can tell AI exactly which parts confuse you most; ask it to explain something more simply; and keep going until it clicks.
8. “Does my life right now align with the life I want?”
This may be my favorite prompt on the list because it forces you to look beyond goals and think about the life those goals are supposed to create.
“[Describe the life you want and offer insight into how you’re currently living.] Tell me what a completely normal Tuesday in the life I want would look like—not vacation, not some perfect Instagram day, just a regular Tuesday. Compare that with my life now. What are the biggest differences? Then, help me change my schedule, home, habits, shopping or routines, so I’m not depending on motivation alone to close those gaps.”
We tend to picture our dream lives through milestones: the house, career, money, relationship, body or creative accomplishment. But most of life isn’t a milestone. It’s those regular-schmegular Tuesdays. Start there and get a feel for what you want.
The Final Layer
I don’t believe it’s necessary to talk to AI like a programmer. I certainly don’t. Some of my most useful prompts essentially begin wYou don’t need to talk to AI like a programmer. Some of my best prompts start with, “Okay, here’s my problem…”
The real value of AI isn’t having it think for you. It’s using it to create structure around your own thinking—to organize the mess, break an overwhelming goal into manageable steps, challenge your assumptions, and help you figure out what comes next.
Used well, AI isn’t a substitute for your judgment, creativity, or effort. It’s a tool for turning all the things floating around in your head into something you can actually act on in an organized way.
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