Chapter Five: Prompt Like You Mean It
Prompts aren’t gentle nudges—they’re battle cries. When you prompt like you mean it, you stomp on “default,” flip the bird at “generic,” and summon outcomes that crackle with your own spark.
Flip the Default
The easiest thing in the world is to type “Write me a summary…” and hit enter. The hardest thing is to type something outrageous—something only you would ask—and watch the model catch fire.
- Middle Finger to Mediocrity. Defaults exist so you can stand out. If everyone is asking “Tell me about X,” ask instead: “Give me X as if it’s a secret plot twist in a noir novel.”
- Demand Flavor. Order more than plain. Sprinkle in your obsessions—Malloy’s snorts, the hiss of your smoker, the clack of chicken feet on the coop floor.
When you dare to be different, the model stops regurgitating the same old lines. It listens, it pivots, it creates something new.
Your Life as Context
Your world is a treasure trove of variables most people overlook.
- Chickens & Chaos. “Explain Bayesian reasoning using the personalities of Karen, Cheryl, and Dottie fighting over a corn kernel.”
- Rum & Revelry. “Describe a product roadmap as if it’s a tasting flight of Plantation Xaymaca, Dr. Bird, and Lemon Hart 151—what notes do we detect?”
- Malloy the Muse. “Write me a morning brief as if Malloy the Blue Heeler narrated it between snores.”
These “weird inputs” aren’t gimmicks—they’re magnets for creativity. The stranger the prompt, the more the output dances.
Taste with Teeth
Good taste isn’t about playing it safe; it’s about knowing exactly how to push the envelope without tearing it.
- Be Bold with Tone. Want snark? Demand snark. “Draft me an investor email so irreverent that they’ll still laugh after signing the term sheet.”
- Be Sharp with Structure. Use unexpected formats. “Summarize last quarter like a wrestling play-by-play announcer calling the shot on BC registration spikes.”
- Be Relentless on Detail. Tiny moments matter. “Where would the product team stand if Apple rolled out Vision Pro tomorrow? Paint the scene in 200 words max, with cinematic flair.”
Taste with teeth means your prompts have bite—fierce, memorable, unmistakably yours.
Strange Inputs, Brilliant Outputs
The secret truth: the weirder your prompt, the more the model flexes its creative muscles. That’s because default queries flatten the response; wild queries force the model into less-traveled corners of its training.
Exercise: Pick a mundane task (e.g., writing meeting notes). Now reframe it with three bizarre twists:
- Use your chickens as stakeholders.
- Include rum tasting notes as progress metrics.
- Narrate from Malloy’s perspective. Run all three prompts and compare. Which one sparks the most insight?
“The best outputs come from the strangest inputs.”
Hold this close every time you sit down to prompt. If your query could come from anyone, it’s too safe. If it could come only from you, you’re on the right track.
Your Personal Prompt Challenge
Today, pick one of your quirks—your favorite rum, your coop drama, your dog’s snore concerto—and build a prompt around it. Ask for something you never thought an AI could do. Then watch: the machine will surprise you, because you dared it to.
Prompt like you mean it. Make every word count.
Let your weirdness roar.