Show notes
[Glitchy, slightly snarky intro music fades in]
Hey, it’s Mal, the Misfit Master of AI, and you’re listening to “I Am GPTed” — the show where we make ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Grok, and the rest of the robot gang slightly less useless… by asking better questions.
Let’s get straight into it.
Today’s power move is one simple prompting technique: **Output Redirect**.
Plain English: you tell the AI how it screwed up and what you actually wanted, so it can fix itself.
Here’s the lazy-before version:
“Write a LinkedIn bio for me.”
You get a boring, corporate snoozefest that sounds like a refrigerator manual.
Now the Output Redirect version:
“Here’s what I asked you before: ‘Write a LinkedIn bio for me.’
Here’s what you gave me: [paste the bland bio].
Here’s what I really want: a punchy, friendly, first-person bio, under 80 words, that highlights my career change from teacher to UX designer. Rewrite it, and explain why your first version missed the mark.”
Same AI, totally different result.
You’ve basically turned the bot into your own writing coach… minus the invoice and the emotional baggage.
Alright, practical use case time — something you probably haven’t used AI for: **awkward message cleanup**.
You know that email you’ve ignored for three weeks? The one glaring at you from your inbox like a disappointed parent?
Instead of marinating in guilt, try this with any AI:
“Act as my polite-but-direct assistant. I need a short reply to this email I’ve ignored for three weeks. Acknowledge the delay, give a brief update, no rambling, no over-apologizing. Keep it under 120 words. Here’s the email and my situation: [paste both].”
In 20 seconds, you’ve got a response you can tweak and send.
You save time, preserve the relationship, and avoid writing ‘sorry for the delay’ for the 947th time this year.
Now, a **common beginner mistake** — and yes, I absolutely did this:
Prompting like it’s Google.
I used to type things like:
“Best productivity tips”
…and then sit there, offended, when the AI handed me the same generic list I could’ve found on a random blog from 2012.
The fix? Context. Always context.
Instead of “Best productivity tips,” try:
“I’m a project manager working remotely with two kids at home and constant Slack messages. Give me five realistic productivity tips, focused on managing interruptions, each in one sentence, in plain language.”
Suddenly, the AI stops giving you motivational poster quotes and starts acting like it’s actually been in your life for more than three seconds.
Let’s give you a **simple exercise** to build your AI muscles — no gym membership required.
For your next three prompts, follow this template:
1. Start with a role: “Act as my… [coach / editor / teacher / assistant].”
2. Set the format: “Give the answer as bullet points” or “Give me a 3-paragraph summary.”
3. Add the audience: “Explain this for a busy beginner with no technical background.”
Example:
“Act as my writing coach. I’m a beginner. Rewrite this paragraph in a clearer, friendlier tone, in 5 bullet points, and explain one thing I can improve in my writing style.”
Do that three times this week with *any* task — emails, planning, learning — and you’ll start to see how small tweaks in your prompt change the output massively.
Finally, a quick tip for **evaluating and improving AI-generated content** so you don’t just copy-paste robot nonsense into the world.
Use what I call the **Read-It-Out-Loud Test**:
1. Read the AI’s answer out loud, like you’re hosting a radio show.
2. Notice where you cringe, stumble, or get bored.
3. Go back to the AI and say:
“These parts felt awkward or confusing: [paste them]. Rewrite this to be clearer, shorter, and more natural, while keeping the key points.”
You’re not just accepting the first draft; you’re running an editing loop.
The AI writes fast; you decide what survives.
Alright, that’s it for today’s dose of misfit AI wisdom.
If this helped you get a little more GPTed and a little less overwhelmed, **subscribe to the podcast** so you don’t miss future episodes.
**Thanks for listening.**
This has been a Quiet Please production. To learn more, head over to **quietplease dot ai**.
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