✍️ Writing and email
The stuff I used to dread. Now it is a paste and a nudge.
1. The reply drafter
Here is an email I received. Draft a reply that is warm, clear, and under 120 words. Match a professional but human tone. Give me two versions: one friendly, one more direct. Here is the email: [paste]Use it when: an email has been sitting in your inbox for two days because you do not know how to start.
2. The tone fixer
Rewrite the text below so it stays polite but firm. I do not want to sound apologetic or wishy-washy. Keep my meaning, cut the hedging words. Text: [paste]Use it when: you wrote something honest and then softened it into mush.
3. The one-line shortener
Take this and cut it in half without losing anything that matters. Then show me the cut version and tell me what you removed. Text: [paste]Use it when: you know it is too long but you cannot see what to remove.
4. The “explain it to a human” pass
Rewrite this so a smart 12-year-old could follow it. No jargon. Short sentences. Keep it accurate. Text: [paste]Use it when: you understand something and still cannot explain it to a colleague.
5. The blank-page breaker
I need to write [thing]. Do not write it for me. Ask me five quick questions that will pull the content out of my head, then wait for my answers.Use it when: staring at an empty document is the actual problem.
🗺️ Planning your day and week
These are the ones that changed the most for me. Small prompts, big difference.
6. The Monday reset
Here is everything on my plate this week: [dump it all in, messy is fine]. Group these into themes, flag what is actually urgent versus what just feels urgent, and tell me the three things that would make this a good week if I finished them.Use it when: Sunday-night dread, or a Monday that already feels behind.
7. The daily top three
Here is my to-do list and my calendar for today: [paste]. Pick the three tasks that matter most and tell me why. Be honest if I am fooling myself with busywork.Use it when: you have twelve things to do and will do the easiest four.
8. The time-block builder
Turn this task list into a realistic time-blocked day between [start] and [end]. Build in breaks. Assume I am a normal human, not a machine. Tasks: [paste]Use it when: your list has no sense of how many hours actually exist.
9. The meeting prep
I have a meeting about [topic] with [who]. Give me: the one outcome I should aim for, three questions I should ask, and one thing I should NOT say.Use it when: thirty seconds before you walk in and you have not thought about it once.
10. The weekly review
Ask me five questions, one at a time, that will help me review my week honestly: what worked, what I avoided, and what I should carry into next week. Wait for each answer before the next question.Use it when: Friday afternoon, before the week just evaporates.
🧠 The other ten
That is prompts 1 through 10. The remaining ten live in the swipe file, in full, ready to copy. Here is exactly what you are getting so you can decide whether it is worth the click:
🧠 Thinking clearly and deciding — where AI is genuinely underused. Not for answers. For better questions.
- 11. The devil’s advocate — when you have already decided and want to be sure you are not kidding yourself
- 12. The pros, cons, and gut check — when you keep going in circles in your own head
- 13. The “what am I missing” prompt — when something feels off and you cannot name it
- 14. The explain-both-sides — when everyone online is yelling and you want to actually understand it
- 15. The five whys — when you keep fixing the same problem and it keeps coming back
🛠️ Getting unstuck at work — the paste-in-and-go ones for when you are just stuck.
- 16. The summarizer — when a long thread or transcript stands between you and knowing what to do
- 17. The document interrogator — when you need one specific thing out of a forty-page PDF
- 18. The first draft of anything — when editing is easy for you but starting is not
- 19. The “turn my mess into a list” — when you brain-dumped into a note and now it is unreadable
- 20. The teach-me-fast — when you have to sound competent about something you learned five minutes ago
Free, no form, nothing to sign up for. You are already a subscriber.
🎁 Get all 20 prompts free
Prompts 11-20 written out in full, plus all twenty on one page you can save and paste from. Free, no form.
Related guides
- 3 AI Prompts I Reuse Every Day: The Editor, the Extractor, and the Explainer
- The AI Prompt I Run Before Every Meeting
- Why Your AI Forgets You
Frequently asked questions
Do these prompts work in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini?
Yes. They are written in plain language with no tool-specific syntax, so you can paste the same text into ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini and get comparable results.
Why are these prompts so plain?
Because the clever ones do not survive contact with a real week. These are the ones that get reused without thinking about them — a reply drafter, a Monday reset, a daily top three. Being boring is what makes them load-bearing.
Where do I start if I only try one?
The Monday reset. Paste in everything on your plate, messy is fine, and ask what is genuinely urgent versus what only feels urgent. It is the one that changes the most for the least effort.
What is in the free swipe file that is not on this page?
Prompts 11 to 20, written out in full — the thinking-and-deciding set and the getting-unstuck-at-work set — plus all twenty on a single page you can save and paste from. No form to fill in.
