ChatGPT Prompts to Make Your Work Life Easier

Artificial intelligence (AI) is growing to be a bigger part of our lives every day; whether you’re a student, working full-time, or anything in between, you’ve likely used the most popular AI tool, ChatGPT, at least once in the last year. Its userbase grew at an astounding rate after it was launched in November of 2022, gaining 1 million users in just five days (for reference, it took Facebook 10 months to do the same). Now, it garners 1.6 billion visits every month.

However, it can be difficult to know how exactly to get the most out of it. Much like a calculator, ChatGPT is only as smart as its operator. It helps to have the ability to ask it the right questions so you can get the exact results you’re looking for, rather than just generic information.

18 Effective ChatGPT Prompts

You’ve likely seen the stories of students using ChatGPT to write entire papers for them; maybe you’ve seen this first-hand too. But it’s also useful for work in so many different ways.

Something that does need to be mentioned is to never put proprietary information about your company into your prompt. This is particularly relevant for software engineers. Samsung banned its use last year after it discovered that three employees used it to troubleshoot company code. It creates a security risk, as anything you input isn’t confidential, and your company could very well terminate your employment if you upload sensitive information.

With all of that being said, here’s a rundown of some of the most helpful prompt examples that you can use regardless of your job type or industry.

1. Give me some ideas for a blog post regarding (insert topic here).
2. Write a meta description for this article (paste the copy of the article in the prompt).
3. Tell me the main point of this story in a couple of sentences.
4. Give me research on (fill in the blank). You can also have it provide you with a list of the most trustworthy sites for whatever your topic is.
5. Rewrite this email shorter and more direct.
6. Generate a list of 10 keywords related to (topic).
7. Give me a list of possible discussion questions related to (topic).
8. Rewrite this bulleted list to make it more conversational.
9. Develop a guide for handling angry customers.
10. Create a script for handling billing inquiries.
11. Help me prepare a presentation on (topic).
12. Create a content calendar for eight blogs, related to (topic).
13. Provide an example of a sticky header using CSS and JavaScript.
14. Give me a UX design tip I can share on social media.
15. Tell me what this HTML command does.
16. Craft a quiz for (insert topic here) but don’t give me the answers.
17. Create three distinct call-to-actions for this product.
18. Create a social media post that targets (audience demographic) explaining how (product) is good for them.

You’ll notice that all the prompts had active verbs. “Write,” “Find,” “Tell.” It’s important use this type of language to direct it to what you want. Another thing about the program is that it’s very literal, and so doesn’t understand sarcasm, idioms or figurative speech. If you are using it to write a sales pitch or prospecting email, you won’t get very far without some sort of personalization that ChatGPT can’t provide.

If you do use ChatGPT to help you write a report, proposal or email, make sure you edit it. AI language has a tendency to be overly formal and stilted, so you need to add your own writing to make it sound natural. You can drill down based on ChatGPT’s first response until you get an answer for your specific query. If you’re having trouble, rephrase your prompt until you get what you need. The more information AI is given, the more it learns.

Programs such as these won’t replace people in many industries, but people can use it as a tool, provided they do so with regard to personal and professional privacy.