You have probably tried an AI tool at some point, typed something in, got back three paragraphs of confident-sounding waffle, and thought: “Well, that’s not very useful.” Then you closed the tab and got on with your day the old-fashioned way.
Completely understandable. But the problem was not the AI. The problem was the instruction you gave it.
This post is about fixing that, quickly and practically, so that AI actually becomes useful in your real life rather than something you feel vaguely guilty about not using properly.
AI Is Quietly Becoming a Core Work Skill
Like it or not, AI tools are becoming part of everyday working life at a pace that is hard to ignore. People are using them to draft emails in seconds, pull action items out of messy meeting notes, prepare for difficult conversations, stress-test business plans, and explain complicated topics to their boss without sounding condescending.
The people who have figured out how to use these tools well are saving hours every week. Not because they are more technical, or because they bought an expensive course. Simply because they learned to give better instructions.
That skill has a slightly intimidating name: prompt engineering. Ignore the name. It is mostly just clear thinking and knowing what you want.
Why Most People Get Disappointing Results
Here is the core problem. When most people first try an AI tool, they type something like:
“Write me an email about the meeting.”
And they get back something like:
“Dear [Recipient], I hope this email finds you well. I am writing to follow up on our recent meeting…”
Three paragraphs of beige nothingness that you would never actually send. So you either bin it, or spend ten minutes editing it into something usable, which defeats the point entirely.
The fix is simpler than you might think. Imagine you have just hired a brilliant new colleague. Sharp, capable, genuinely wants to help. But it is their first day. They know nothing about your situation, your tone, your audience, or what “done” looks like to you.
If you say “write me an email about the meeting,” they will panic and produce something generic. But if you say: “Draft a short, professional email to a client letting them know the Q3 budget has been approved, but the hiring freeze is still in place. Keep it direct and reassuring, no waffle,” that same colleague will do a brilliant job.
AI is exactly like this. The more clearly you explain what you want, the better the result. Every single time.
The Four Things Every Good Prompt Needs
Good prompts have four ingredients. Once you know them, you will start spotting what is missing whenever a result comes back wrong.
1. A role. Tell the AI who to be. “Act as a senior editor” or “act as a project manager” changes the entire register of the response. It is the difference between a generic answer and one that feels genuinely expert.
2. Context. What is the situation? The more specific, the better. “I am a data analyst trying to move into a senior role and my company has a vague promotion process” gives the AI something real to work with.
3. The task. What exactly do you want? Not “help me with my CV” but “rewrite my last three bullet points to emphasise impact and use active verbs.”
4. Constraints. The rules. “Keep it under 150 words,” “no jargon,” “professional but warm,” “do not include an introduction, just give me the content.”
Here is what that looks like in practice. Compare these two prompts:
Vague prompt: “Write a summary of this report.”
Good prompt: “Act as a senior project manager. Summarise the report below into five bullet points for a non-technical audience. Focus on risks and next steps. Keep it under 200 words and avoid jargon.”
Same AI. Completely different result. The second one you could actually use.
Three Techniques Worth Stealing Immediately
Show it what you want, rather than describing it. If you want a particular tone or style, paste in two or three examples before making your request. Say: “Here are three examples of the kind of writing I am going for. Now write me something similar about [topic].” This works far better than trying to describe a tone in the abstract.
Break big tasks into steps. If you ask an AI to read a document, summarise it, translate it, and format it as an email all in one go, quality drops noticeably. Do each step separately, feeding the output of one into the next. It takes an extra minute and the results are significantly better.
Ask it to critique itself. This one feels strange but it works. If you get a mediocre result, follow up with: “Critique your previous answer. Point out where it is vague or boring, then rewrite it to be 20% shorter and more engaging.” The second draft is almost always noticeably better. It is like having an editor on call who never takes it personally.
A Prompt You Can Use Right Now
If you want to try this today, here is a template you can copy and paste directly into ChatGPT, Gemini, or whichever tool you use:
Act as a Senior Editor and Communication Strategist.
I have a rough draft that needs tidying up. Please rewrite it with the following in mind:
- Fix grammar and improve clarity
- Remove any waffle or repetition
- Keep the core meaning exactly as it is
- Tone: [e.g. professional but warm / direct / friendly]
- Format: [e.g. email / bullet points / short paragraph]
Do not include any preamble. Just give me the rewritten version.
Here is my draft: [paste your text here]
Swap in your tone and format, paste your draft, and you will have a usable result in about ten seconds. That is a reasonable return on a minute of reading.
Where to Go From Here
There is a free guide I’ve spent time putting together that goes much deeper on all of this. It covers how AI actually works (explained in plain English, not tech speak), a full set of ready-to-use prompt templates for common tasks like editing emails, extracting action items from meeting notes, stress-testing ideas, and explaining complex topics clearly, plus a troubleshooting guide for when things go wrong and what to do about it.
➡️ The AI Intern OS: Playbooks to Save 8+ Hours a Week and Outperform in Your Career
Learning to prompt well is one of those small investments that pays off quietly in dozens of ways. An hour now, and you will use it for years
