How to ask ChatGPT better questions — prompting basics for professionals

The single biggest difference between people who find ChatGPT useful and people who don’t is this: the quality of what they type in.

Vague question. Vague answer.
Specific question. Useful answer.

Here are the prompting basics that make the biggest difference.

Give it context

ChatGPT doesn’t know who you are, what you do, or what you’re trying to achieve. Tell it.

Context changes everything.

Tell it the format you want

• “Write three bullet points.”
• “Write one paragraph, under 100 words.”
• “Write a table comparing X and Y.”
• “Write this as a professional email.”

If you don’t specify, you’ll get whatever ChatGPT thinks is appropriate. Sometimes that’s fine. Often it’s not what you needed.

Give it a role

• “Act as a sceptical finance director.”
• “Act as someone who knows nothing about this topic.”
• “Act as a tough but fair interviewer.”

This changes the register and the angle of what comes back in ways that are genuinely useful.

Ask it to be honest

• “Tell me the three weakest parts of this argument.”
• “What am I missing?”
• “What would a critic say?”

ChatGPT defaults to being helpful and agreeable. Push it to be more challenging and it will be.

Iterate — don’t give up after one attempt

If the first answer isn’t right, don’t start again. Refine it:

• “Make it shorter.”
• “The second paragraph doesn’t work — try again.”
• “Too formal. Make it sound more like me.”

Think of it as a conversation with a capable but uninformed assistant. The more you direct it, the better it gets.

One prompt worth trying today

“I have a [type of meeting] coming up with [who]. The main topic is [topic]. Help me prepare: what are the key points I should make, what questions am I likely to be asked, and what should I watch out for?”

That’s a complete meeting prep in one prompt.

That Clicked covers prompting in depth across the course — with real workplace examples for every module.

— Anna