You asked one question and got four paragraphs of warm up before the answer. Then a summary of what it just told you. Every time.
You are reading past the padding all day, and you have started skimming, which means you miss the useful line when it is finally there. Worse, when you ask for feedback on your own work you get a compliment, so you carry a weak idea further than you should have.
Half an hour here and you will have a short list of phrases sorted by the job they do. Three words to cut the padding. A phrase that makes it attack your idea. A phrase that gets you five genuinely different drafts instead of one you have to argue with.
This is for anyone who has seen a list of magic prompt words and had no idea which one to use when. Beginner friendly, and it pays off the same day.
The proof behind this
Liz Elliott runs 33 active social brands and her main account, @liz.on.the.web, has 241,000 followers. Work at that volume only stays sane when the first draft comes back close instead of padded.
What this lesson is
Lesson 4.4 of the free AI for Entrepreneurs course, in Module 4: Talking To AI.
Look back at the five parts from Part 17. Role, Context, Example, Rules, Format. Control phrases are those same parts shrunk down to a few words. Be brutal is a Rule. One paragraph only is a Format. Act as a teacher is a Role. They feel like magic words, but they are the fast version of the thing you already know how to do. That also tells you when they fail. A control phrase can shape how you get an answer. It cannot supply the facts only you have. Most lists hand you thirty phrases and let you sort them, and sorting is the actual work, so this lesson groups them by job: cut the padding, make it ask first, make it think harder, make it attack your idea, make it explain simply, make it swing, and show me a range.
New here? Use the free AI for Entrepreneurs course outline to read this series in the best order.
Behind the paywall
The full cheat sheet, sorted into seven jobs
The seven thinking modes, including the one that makes it attack your own idea
The give me five from different angles prompt, and the remix line that stops near copies
Stacking examples that work, and the point where stacking turns to mush
Three standing rules to paste once so you stop typing the same phrase every day
The twelve mistakes, and the checklist
What paid subscribers get overall
Paid subscribers get every part of AI for Entrepreneurs in full. Every numbered step, every prompt in a block you can copy, the mistakes list, and the checklist at the end. You also get the rest of the run as it goes out, and the whole paid archive on Liz on the Web.
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The free half above is the concept, and it stands on its own. The locked half is the work, and it stays in your archive for as long as you are subscribed.
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The full walkthrough is below the paywall.
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