You’re using ChatGPT wrong

Jeff Su
6 Feb 202409:30
EducationalLearning
32 Likes 10 Comments

TLDRThe video script discusses common misconceptions about using Chat GPT and offers practical advice for optimizing its use. It emphasizes the importance of keeping custom instructions simple and broad, using them as a foundation rather than overly specific guidelines. The speaker shares personal experiences with automating tasks through Chat GPT, even without coding knowledge, and suggests using targeted questions to refine responses. The script also highlights the potential of Chat GPT for summarizing information and extracting actionable insights, as well as the value of avoiding prompt overload by focusing on a few key prompts for productivity.

Takeaways
  • 🔍 Custom instructions should be broad enough to cover all use cases, rather than overly specific.
  • 📝 Start with simple, three-sentence custom instructions to define your professional, secondary, and personal personas.
  • 🌟 Use admired online creators as a model for tone, writing style, humor, and delivery in custom instructions.
  • 🚀 Leverage Chatbot's capabilities to automate tasks, even without coding experience, through scripts and applications.
  • 📋 Tailor your prompts to ask clarifying questions, leading to more accurate and relevant responses.
  • 🔄 The 'first try fallacy' is the unrealistic expectation of perfect answers from initial prompts; refine your prompts through follow-up questions.
  • 🎯 Move beyond summarization; use prompts to distill actionable insights specific to your role and objectives.
  • 📃 Engage in Q&A sessions with written content for in-depth insights and analysis.
  • 📈 Utilize prompts to stress test Chatbot's responses and confirm the accuracy of the information provided.
  • 🛠️ Regularly optimize and use saved prompts in daily tasks to enhance productivity and efficiency.
Q & A

  • What is the common mistake made by self-proclaimed experts when a new feature gets released?

    -The common mistake is that they share their best practices to capitalize on the hype without those practices having gone through enough testing to produce consistently good results.

  • Why is it not advisable to make custom instructions overly specific?

    -Custom instructions should act as an umbrella covering all use cases. If they are too specific, they may not be applicable to other situations, thus reducing the relevancy of the output.

  • How can one effectively use custom instructions for Chatbot?

    -One should keep the custom instructions simple, providing a snapshot of their professional identity, secondary persona, and interests to allow the Chatbot to tailor responses appropriately.

  • What is the recommended approach to writing custom instructions?

    -The recommended approach is to write simple and general custom instructions that can cover a broad range of use cases, and then refine them based on specific tasks or content.

  • How can one use Chatbot to improve writing in a specific tone and style?,

    -One can analyze blog posts or articles written by someone they admire and ask Chatbot for a set of instructions to write in the same tone, style, humor, reading level, and delivery.

  • What is an example of a task that Chatbot can automate for non-coders?

    -Chatbot can help write a Google App Script to automate tasks such as generating a new page in Google Docs with specific content before meetings.

  • How can asking Chatbot five questions improve the response?

    -By asking Chatbot five questions, it clarifies the user's needs and provides a more tailored and relevant response based on the additional input.

  • What is the first try fallacy in the context of using Chatbot?

    -The first try fallacy is the unrealistic expectation of getting perfect answers from Chatbot with just the initial prompt without the need for follow-up questions or clarifications.

  • How can Chatbot be used to distill actionable insights from an article?

    -By asking Chatbot to provide insights specific to the user's role and responsibilities, it can offer actionable next steps based on the content of the article.

  • What is the summary only shortfall mentioned in the script?

    -The summary only shortfall is the tendency of users to only use Chatbot to summarize information, instead of extracting actionable insights that can be applied to their specific roles or situations.

  • How can one avoid the prompt overload paradox?

    -To avoid the prompt overload paradox, one can ask Chatbot for a set of prompts that align with their role and objectives, and then select a few to focus on using regularly, refining them as needed.

Outlines
00:00
📝 Maximizing Custom Instructions for Productivity

This paragraph discusses the common misconception about using custom instructions with AI tools like Chat GPT. It emphasizes the importance of keeping the instructions simple and broad rather than overly specific. The speaker provides a personal example of how they use custom instructions effectively, highlighting the balance between specificity and general applicability. They also share a strategy for leveraging online content creators' styles to refine the tone and delivery of AI-generated outputs. Additionally, the paragraph touches on the potential of automation through scripting, even for those without a coding background, and shares a personal anecdote of automating meeting notes in Google Docs.

05:01
🤔 Enhancing AI Interactions with Effective Prompts

The second paragraph focuses on strategies to improve interactions with AI tools. It starts by addressing the 'first try fallacy,' which is the expectation of getting perfect answers on the first attempt. The speaker suggests adding a specific sentence to the end of prompts to clarify the request and enhance the quality of the AI's response. The paragraph also highlights the importance of moving beyond mere summarization to extracting actionable insights from information. It introduces the concept of a dedicated Q&A session with AI, allowing for targeted queries and in-depth analysis based on specific needs. The speaker shares tips on personalizing insights and emphasizes the value of optimizing and using prompts in daily tasks for increased productivity.

Mindmap
Keywords
💡Custom Instructions
Custom Instructions refer to the specific directives given to Chatbot to tailor its responses according to the user's preferences and use cases. In the video, it is emphasized that instead of being overly specific, one should keep the instructions simple and broad to cover various scenarios. An example given is to describe one's professional role, secondary persona, and personal interests to guide the Chatbot's output effectively.
💡Product Marketing Manager
A Product Marketing Manager is a professional role focused on promoting and communicating the value of a product or service to the market. In the context of the video, this role is used as an example of how one might describe their professional identity within custom instructions, thereby influencing the tone and content of the Chatbot's responses.
💡Efficiency and Productivity
Efficiency and productivity are concepts related to optimizing processes and achieving maximum output with minimal resources. In the video, these terms are part of the user's personal interests, indicating a preference for Chatbot responses that are streamlined and focused on achieving goals effectively.
💡Google App Script
Google App Script is a scripting language used to automate tasks across Google applications. The video provides an example of how a non-technical user, through the guidance of Chatbot, was able to write a script for Google Docs to automate the creation of meeting notes, showcasing the accessibility of automation even for those without coding experience.
💡Automation
Automation refers to the process of creating systems or tools to perform tasks with minimal human intervention. In the video, automation is discussed as a powerful yet underutilized feature of Chatbot, exemplified by the creation of a Google App Script to streamline document preparation for meetings.
💡First Try Fallacy
The First Try Fallacy is the unrealistic expectation of getting perfect answers from Chatbot on the initial prompt. The video suggests that by asking clarifying questions, one can improve the quality of responses and achieve more accurate outcomes, rather than relying on the first attempt.
💡Currency Conversion
Currency conversion involves changing amounts in one currency into equivalent values in another. In the video, it is used as an example of how a user might ask Chatbot for assistance with automating a task, specifically converting various currencies to USD in Google Sheets, to manage payments more efficiently.
💡Actionable Insights
Actionable insights are specific, useful pieces of information that can be directly applied to decision-making or problem-solving. The video encourages users to go beyond merely summarizing information and instead use Chatbot to extract insights that can guide their actions, such as identifying strategies for a marketing manager based on an article about holiday shopping.
💡Prompt Engineering
Prompt engineering is the process of crafting effective and targeted prompts for Chatbot to elicit the most useful and relevant responses. The video advises users to assume the role of an experienced prompt engineer to generate a list of productive prompts that can be integrated into their daily work routines.
💡Q&A Session
A Q&A session is an interactive format where questions are asked and answered, often used for information sharing and clarification. In the video, it is suggested that users can have a dedicated Q&A session with Chatbot, assuming the role of a knowledgeable expert, to gain deeper insights and analyses based on provided materials or context.
💡Prompt Overload
Prompt overload occurs when users consume a lot of content related to Chatbot but fail to effectively incorporate or optimize those prompts in their daily tasks. The video offers a solution by advising users to generate a list of targeted prompts that align with their roles and objectives, and then focus on implementing a few key prompts to enhance productivity.
Highlights

The importance of not overloading custom instructions with too much specificity, as it can limit the versatility of the AI's outputs.

The suggestion to keep the first box of custom instructions simple with three sentences: a professional snapshot, a secondary persona, and personal interests.

The strategy of choosing an online creator to emulate for the tone and style of AI outputs, with Ali Abdall being used as an example.

The method of analyzing blog posts for instructions on writing in a similar tone and style, with a specific process outlined for doing so.

The misconception of not needing to write code to automate tasks, and how Chatbot can assist in writing scripts for Google applications despite no coding experience.

The ease of implementing scripts in Google applications through the extensions menu and the potential for making simple tweaks to the scripts.

The concept of using Chatbot for tasks beyond summarization, such as distilling actionable insights and having dedicated Q&A sessions with written content.

The effectiveness of asking Chatbot five questions to improve the response, which helps clarify the user's needs and provides a more tailored output.

The fallacy of the first try, which refers to the unrealistic expectation of perfect answers from Chatbot without follow-up or clarification.

The idea of using Chatbot to automate tracking in Google Sheets, with an example of currency conversion automation provided.

The concept of the summary only shortfall, where users only use Chatbot for summarization instead of extracting actionable insights.

The tip for personalized insights by inserting one's role into the request for summarization, which yields more relevant outputs.

The suggestion to assume the role of a senior business analyst for a Q&A session with written content, providing in-depth insights and analyses.

The paradox of prompt overload, where users save Chatbot-related content but fail to optimize or use the prompts in daily tasks.

The strategy for becoming more productive by asking Chatbot for prompts tailored to one's role and responsibilities, and then selecting a few to use daily.

The importance of refining the chosen prompts over a two-week period using the perfect prompt formula for continuous improvement.

Transcripts

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