high-leverage prompts for AI power users
Most people use ChatGPT like a glorified search engine
Apologies if you received this email twice. Substack was down this morning and this post now seems to have a mind of its own 🙈
Most people use ChatGPT like a glorified search engine. They ask surface-level questions, get surface-level answers, and call it “productivity.” But GPT, when prompted correctly, can challenge you, expand your mental models, and pressure test your ideas better than most coworkers or friends ever will.
Below are 12 high-leverage prompt templates I created to help you do exactly that. These aren’t cutesy fill-in-the-blank lines—they’re thinking structures designed to push the LLM across disciplines, bias layers, rhetorical modes, and cognitive depth.
They’ll help you:
stress test startup ideas
break down big topics from multiple perspectives
clarify your worldview
generate creative insights
and synthesize information like a strategist, not a sponge
Prompt 1: 360-Degree Clarity
Take this topic: [INSERT YOUR TOPIC]
Break it down from four angles:
Beginner explanation
Advanced technical summary
Criticism or opposing view
Practical application or real-world example
End with a short synthesis tying them together.
Why it works: Forces the LLM to move across levels of abstraction and bias. Good for sharpening understanding fast.
Prompt 2: Mental Model Multiplier
Using these mental models—first principles, second-order thinking, inversion, and the map/territory distinction—analyze [TOPIC]
For each model, explain how it reframes the situation and what unique insight it reveals.
Then rank which model is most useful and why.
Why it works: Forces the LLM to generate lateral insights and avoid regurgitating summaries.
Looking for prompts that go beyond synthesis and strategy?
If you’re craving a slower, more reflective kind of clarity—the kind that helps you understand yourself better, not just your ideas—check out THE DAILY 5
It’s my 12-week, AI-assisted journaling framework designed to help you build emotional awareness, pattern recognition, and self-direction with the same precision you apply to your work.
It’s like having a thinking partner for your inner systems.
You can start anywhere, but I recommend building a baseline with Week 1.
The 5-minute daily ritual that changed how I think
·THE DAILY 5 is a weekly journaling practice for people who want to understand themselves better—but don’t have hours to reflect every day. It’s structured, intentional, and grounded in real self-awar…
