💡 CHATGPT PROMPT SHORTCUTS — HOW TO USE THEM CORRECTLY

Jul 21 • Prompts

I am new here. Thank you for welcoming me to this community. I wanted to share something that may help us get better and more useful responses from ChatGPT.

First, an important clarification:

⚠️ These are NOT official ChatGPT commands, secret codes, or hidden modes.

They are PROMPT SHORTCUTS — easy labels we can use to tell ChatGPT what type of reasoning, analysis, tone, or approach we want.

For the best results, especially in a new conversation, don’t rely on the shortcut word alone. Type the shortcut AND tell ChatGPT what you want it to do.

Here are some useful ones and how to use them correctly:

🔹 TRUTHMODE

USE WHEN: You want honest feedback instead of reassurance or automatic agreement.

PROMPT:

“TRUTHMODE: Give me your honest assessment. Don’t agree with me just to be agreeable. Tell me what works, what doesn’t, and what I may be overlooking.”

🔹 ELI10

USE WHEN: Something is complicated and you want it explained in simple language.

PROMPT:

“ELI10: Explain this to me as if I were 10 years old. Keep the language simple, but don’t leave out information I actually need to understand it.”

🔹 REDTEAM

USE WHEN: You have an idea, plan, business strategy, argument, or decision and want someone to challenge it BEFORE you act on it.

PROMPT:

“REDTEAM: Challenge this idea. Look for weaknesses, risks, blind spots, incorrect assumptions, counterarguments, and reasons this could fail.”

🔹 80/20

USE WHEN: You’re overwhelmed and need to know what actually deserves your attention first.

PROMPT:

“80/20: Apply the Pareto principle to this situation. Identify the few actions likely to produce the greatest results and tell me what I should prioritize first.”

🔹 FIRSTPRINCIPLES

USE WHEN: You don’t want the standard answer and want the problem broken down logically from the beginning.

PROMPT:

“FIRSTPRINCIPLES: Break this problem down into its fundamental facts and assumptions. Separate what we know from what we’re assuming, then build the best solution from there.”

🔹 SOCRATES

USE WHEN: You want ChatGPT to help you THINK through something instead of simply handing you an answer.

PROMPT:

“SOCRATES: Use the Socratic method. Ask me thoughtful questions one at a time that will help me examine my assumptions and reason through this problem.”

🔹 LINDYMODE

USE WHEN: You want proven, time-tested approaches rather than automatically chasing the newest trend.

PROMPT:

“LINDYMODE: Analyze this using principles and strategies that have stood the test of time. Tell me which approaches have lasting evidence or historical durability and which may simply be trends.”

🔹 UNLEARN

USE WHEN: You suspect something you’ve always been told may be outdated, oversimplified, or wrong.

PROMPT:

“UNLEARN: Identify common assumptions or conventional advice about this subject that may be outdated or misleading. Explain what current evidence or better reasoning suggests instead.”

🔹 ANTIADVICE

USE WHEN: You want to question the popular advice everybody seems to repeat.

PROMPT:

“ANTIADVICE: Identify the most common advice people give about this situation. Tell me where that advice can fail, who it may not work for, and what alternatives I should consider.”

🔹 FUTUREYOU

USE WHEN: You need perspective on a decision.

PROMPT:

“FUTUREYOU: Based ONLY on the information available now, respond as though you’re helping me look back on this decision from a wiser, more experienced perspective. Don’t predict the future — help me think about which decision my future self would most likely be glad I made.”

🔹 SHADOWMOTIVE

USE WHEN: You’re analyzing negotiations, marketing, business decisions, communication, or someone’s possible incentives.

PROMPT:

“SHADOWMOTIVE: Analyze the possible incentives, competing interests, or unspoken motivations involved here. Separate what is supported by evidence from what is only a possibility. Do not present speculation as fact.”

🔹 /HUMAN

USE WHEN: You want writing to sound less stiff or robotic.

IMPORTANT: /HUMAN is NOT an official ChatGPT slash command.

Instead, use:

“Rewrite this so it sounds natural, conversational, and genuinely human. Remove robotic wording, unnecessary formality, repetitive sentence structures, and generic AI-sounding phrases while keeping my meaning and personality.”

⚠️ This does NOT guarantee that something will or will not be identified by an AI detector.

🔥 THE REAL POWER MOVE: STACK YOUR INSTRUCTIONS

You can combine several approaches when you want a deeper response.

EXAMPLE:

“TRUTHMODE + REDTEAM + 80/20:

I want to start this business. First, give me your honest assessment without sugar-coating it. Then challenge the idea and identify its biggest risks and weaknesses. Finally, tell me the 20% of actions I should concentrate on first that are most likely to produce meaningful results.”

Another example:

“ELI10 + FIRSTPRINCIPLES:

Explain this complicated subject in simple language, but also break it down from the fundamental facts so I understand WHY it works — not just what I’m supposed to do.”

📌 BEST PRACTICE:

Think of these words as LABELS for instructions — not magic commands.

ChatGPT generally performs better when you provide:

1️⃣ WHAT you’re trying to accomplish

2️⃣ CONTEXT it needs to understand the situation

3️⃣ HOW you want it to approach the problem

4️⃣ WHAT FORMAT you want the answer in

5️⃣ Any LIMITATIONS or requirements it must follow

EXAMPLE:

“REDTEAM: I’m considering launching a print-on-demand crop-top brand through TikTok Shop. My budget is $300 and I’m starting without inventory. Challenge my plan, identify the five biggest risks, and give me practical solutions for each. Put your answer in a simple table and prioritize the risks from highest to lowest.”

THAT is where the power is.

You’re not unlocking a secret ChatGPT setting.

You’re giving ChatGPT clearer instructions — and clearer instructions generally produce more useful responses. 💡

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💡 CHATGPT PROMPT SHORTCUTS — HOW TO USE THEM CORRECTLY