Many of us are getting good at telling our AI assistants what to do

Many of us are getting good at telling our AI assistants what to do. But there's a deeper level of collaboration that unlocks far better outcomes: engaging them to optimize your ask before any execution begins.

I used to focus on getting it to do something for me. Now, for anything other than quick questions and throwaway tasks, I focus on having it help me articulate what I actually need done and how to best ask for it.

Prompt inception!

I start with "Here's my goal. Help me write the perfect prompt to achieve it."

A key part is adding: "Ask me for any other detail you would need to make this prompt as effective as possible." This simple step encourages the AI to challenge your assumptions and surface information you might not have realized was critical.

Yes, it takes extra time to have a highly meta conversation about your future conversation but investing that time, especially for important or recurring tasks, pays off massively with a reusable, optimized instruction that consistently delivers better results.

Give it a try!