Transcription
I asked ChatGPT to interview me like a New York Times reporter, and what it gave me? Honestly, better than any productivity hack I've ever tried. This one prompt didn't just change how I use AI. It made ChatGPT feel like a real assistant, one that actually gets me.
Most people open ChatGPT, type a basic question, and hope for magic. But if you train it to understand you, your tone, your goals, your workflow, it transforms into something way more powerful. This is where custom instructions come in. But not the boring way. Let me show you the one prompt that unlocks it all.
Here's the prompt: I'd like you to interview me like a New York Times reporter whose job is to help professionals write powerful custom instructions for ChatGPT. Ask up to 10 questions about how I work, think, and communicate, then write custom instructions I can paste into settings.
Okay, so let's take a look at the questions ChatGPT came up with. So we have: what type of work do you do regularly? What kinds of tasks do you wish ChatGPT could help you with more easily? That's a great question. When you're stuck or facing a challenge, how do you usually like to think through a problem? Logically? Visually? Through conversation or another way?
We'll skip down here. When reading or listening to advice, what tone communication style do you connect with the most? Formal and precise? Casual and friendly? Blunt and direct? Or another style? Great question. How important is speed versus depth? When you ask a question, do you want quick answers or more thoughtful, layered insight?
And then finally here: what's one thing ChatGPT has done in the past that made you say yes, that's exactly what I needed.
So take some time. Really take some time and answer these questions as thoroughly as possible. The more information you give ChatGPT, the better. So I'll take some time here. I'll answer these questions, and we'll come back to see what kind of custom instructions ChatGPT has given me.
The result? A tailored set of instructions I could copy and paste into ChatGPT settings. It knew how I wanted my answer structured, what kind of language I like, and even what to avoid.
So here at the top, ChatGPT even tells me where to find custom instructions. Here's: what would you like ChatGPT to know about you to buy better responses? It's given very specific information. It knows I'm from South Korea. It knows I teach English communication and prompt engineering. It also talks about the traits that I like ChatGPT to have. This is very important. So here I don't want any rambling, no filler. Get to the point fast. ChatGPT loves to ramble and gives you long answers. Practical, adaptive, creative, and so on.
So if you're not sure where to find custom instructions, just come up to your name icon here, click on Custom ChatGPT, and there you go. So now you have: what traits should ChatGPT have? And down the bottom here you have: anything else ChatGPT should know about you.
So that's it. So now you have the perfect custom instructions. So every time you open a new chat, ChatGPT is going to know a lot about you, so you can get the best possible answers.
Now it's your turn. Use this exact prompt, drop it into ChatGPT and let it interview you. Then comment below. What did it say? What surprised you most about your own answers? And if you like this video, you'll definitely like this one.