If you’re an avid ChatGPT user and haven’t upgraded your usage habits, then you’re most likely still using it the same way you did when you first discovered it back in 2023. Instead of continuing to treat it like a simple search engine, you should treat it more like a reliable thinking partner. Here are seven signs that your ChatGPT usage is behind the times and the biggest fixes you need.
Evolve your old ways of using ChatGPT
Some obvious and not-so-obvious hints expose just how much your time spent with ChatGPT hasn’t moved past the sort of uses beginners most likely abide by:
- You only ask questions that deliver one answer and nothing more: You ask simple questions such as “What’s the best way to learn [topic]?”, get your answer and move on from the subject at hand. It’s better to build a conversation derived from more thoughtful prompts instead of isolated ones. A good example of this is telling ChatGPT, "Assess my current skill level, identify the biggest gaps, create a 30-day curriculum, quiz me weekly, and adapt the plan based on my progress."
- You request information instead of asking for methods meant for personal transformation: Simply asking ChatGPT to give you the information you need about a certain activity meant to improve your life isn’t the way. Instead of telling that chatbot to simply tell you about productivity, it’s better to prompt it to observe your habits and create a productivity routine that caters to you. A strong prompt that can make that happen is "Analyze my schedule, identify where I lose time, redesign my workday, and create a weekly review system."
- You never assign ChatGPT a defined role: It’s easy to transform the chatbot into anything you desire in connection to your requests. “Find my hidden strengths” is far too simple a prompt. This example works much better to dive deeper into your request: "Act as a strengths coach and behavioral psychologist. Ask me 15 questions, one at a time, about my career, hobbies, relationships, challenges, accomplishments, and moments when I felt most energized. After I've answered all of them, identify 10 strengths that I may be overlooking. For each strength, provide evidence from my answers, explain how it shows up in my life, and suggest practical ways I can use it more intentionally in my career and personal life."
Continue upgrading your prompts
Here’s a slew of other bad habits that are in dire need of fixing if you want to become a better ChatGPT user:
- You don’t make it challenge you: ChatGPT and other chatbots of its ilk are prone to validating their users when presented with simple prompts like “Here’s my idea. What do you think?” Turning ChatGPT into something that challenges your viewpoints makes for a more helpful experience. This prompt is a great example of that method: "Identify any weaknesses, blind spots, flawed assumptions, competing viewpoints, and reasons this idea might fail."
- You don’t use it like a simulator: AI tools provide some fascinating insights whenever it's presented with a prompt designed to simulate life coaches, hiring managers and even a future version of yourself. Playing around with the following prompt will show just how ChatGPT can act out simulated situations: "Simulate a roundtable discussion between Simon Sinek, Gary Vaynerchuk, and Lewis Howes debating my career strategy."
- You don’t create reusable prompts: Using a prompt just one time and moving on from using it ever again just isn’t the way to go when interacting with ChatGPT and other AI tools. Build a library of your go-to prompts that can be plugged into all sorts of situations, such as coming up with a reusable prompt that’s meant to find the most trending news of the day, help you learn a new skill or turn ChatGPT into your personal tutor on a particular topic.
- You never ask it to analyze you: It’s common to use ChatGPT to simply ask questions about the world at large. But the most curious users tap into the chatbot to ask questions about themselves after making it aware of their habits. Prompts such as "What type of career trajectory would someone with my interests likely enjoy?" and "What recurring blind spots appear in my thinking?" work great in this regard.
Final thoughts
Leave your 2023 ChatGPT usage behaviors behind and bring yourself into the current year by turning into an AI power user who can teach others about your amazing ways. Making great use of OpenAI’s chatbot to help you access knowledge faster, make more informed decisions and build repeatable systems through reusable prompts are just a few of the new routines you can adopt to become a modern-day ChatGPT expert.
