Getting Better Results with AI
You’ve already learned how to have a conversation with AI.
Now let’s take the next step: learning how to get better results from those conversations.
One of the most useful skills you can develop is learning how to give AI a clear instruction.
That instruction is called a prompt.
What Is a Prompt?
A prompt is an instruction you give AI to help you achieve a particular result.
It can be as simple as:
“Give me three ideas for a quick dinner.”
Or more detailed:
“Give me three quick dinner ideas for two people. Each meal should take less than 30 minutes and use inexpensive ingredients.”
Both are prompts.
The difference is that the second prompt gives AI more information about the result you want.
You don’t need technical language or a complicated formula.
A prompt can simply be your way of telling AI what you need.
You’ve already been using prompts throughout this course. Now let’s learn how to make them more useful.
Start With the Result You Want
Before writing a prompt, think about what you actually want AI to produce.
For example, instead of thinking:
“I need help with my holiday.”
think:
“I want a simple five-day holiday plan that I can actually follow.”
That small change helps you focus on the result.
You could then tell AI:
“Help me plan a five-day holiday for two adults. We enjoy nature and good food, don’t have a car and have a medium budget. Give me a simple day-by-day plan.”
Now AI has a much clearer target.
A useful question to ask yourself is:
“What would a helpful answer look like?”
Start there.
Give AI the Context It Needs
AI doesn’t automatically know everything that’s in your head.
Sometimes a small amount of extra information can make a big difference.
Imagine asking:
“Help me plan my week.”
AI doesn’t know how busy you are, what you need to accomplish or what matters most.
You could instead say:
“I work Monday to Friday and have five things I need to get done this week. Two are urgent, one will take several hours and the others are small tasks. Help me organise them into a realistic plan.”
You haven’t written a complicated prompt.
You’ve simply given AI the information it needs to understand your situation.
Add Your Preferences and Limits
Sometimes the best answer depends on what you want, don’t want or need to avoid.
You might have a limited budget, very little time, specific dietary requirements or a preference for simple solutions.
Tell AI about those things.
For example:
“Give me three easy dinner ideas for two people. Keep each meal under 30 minutes and use ingredients that are easy to find at a normal supermarket.”
The time limit and ingredient preference help AI narrow down the possibilities.
You can also tell AI what to avoid:
“Give me some ideas for a weekend activity. We don’t want anything expensive and we’d rather stay outdoors.”
These details aren’t making your request unnecessarily complicated.
They’re helping AI focus on what will actually work for you.
Tell AI What You Want the Result to Look Like
You can also tell AI how you’d like the answer presented.
Maybe you want a short list rather than a long explanation.
Maybe you want a table, a step-by-step plan or a simple summary.
For example:
“Summarise this document in five bullet points and then give me three questions I should ask.”
Or:
“Give me a simple step-by-step plan with no more than six steps.”
Or:
“Explain this in plain language using one everyday example.”
You’re not telling AI how to think.
You’re telling it what kind of result will be most useful to you.
Give AI an Example When It Helps
Sometimes it’s difficult to describe exactly what you want in words.
In those situations, an example can help.
For example, if you want help writing a message, you could say:
“Write a message similar in tone to this example, but make it shorter and friendlier.”
Then provide a short example.
You can also show AI something you’ve already written and ask it to improve it:
“Please rewrite this so it is clearer and easier to understand, but keep my meaning and roughly the same tone.”
An example gives AI something concrete to work with.
Instead of trying to explain exactly what you mean by “friendly” or “natural,” you can sometimes simply show it.
Build a Prompt Step by Step
You don’t have to think of everything at once.
When you’re not sure what to include, work through these simple questions:
What do I want AI to do?
What does it need to know?
What am I trying to achieve?
Are there any limits or preferences?
What should the result look like?
Imagine you want AI to help organise a family lunch.
You might start with:
“Help me plan a family lunch.”
Then add context:
“Help me plan a family lunch for eight people.”
Then your goal:
“I want it to be relaxed and easy to prepare.”
Then your limits:
“I have a small budget and don’t want to spend all morning cooking.”
Then the result you want:
“Give me a simple menu and a preparation plan.”
Your final prompt could be:
“Help me plan a relaxed family lunch for eight people. I have a small budget and don’t want to spend all morning cooking. Give me a simple menu and a preparation plan.”
Notice that this isn’t complicated.
It’s simply clear.
Improve Your Prompt After the First Answer
Even a well-written prompt won’t always produce exactly what you want.
That’s normal.
Look at the response and decide what could be better.
You might say:
“That’s more complicated than I need. Make it simpler.”
Or:
“Give me cheaper options.”
Or:
“I only have one hour available. Adjust the plan.”
Or:
“Give me three alternatives instead.”
Your first prompt is not a final test.
You can use the response to work out what information was missing and then improve your next request.
This is one of the strengths of working with AI: you can ask, see what you get and adjust from there.
There Isn’t One Perfect Prompt
You may come across people online talking about the “perfect prompt” or special formulas that supposedly make AI produce amazing results every time.
Don’t worry about that.
There isn’t one magic sentence that works for every situation.
The most useful prompt is usually the one that clearly explains what you’re trying to accomplish and gives AI the information it needs.
Sometimes that will be one sentence.
Sometimes it will be several paragraphs.
What matters isn’t how complicated the prompt looks.
What matters is whether it helps AI understand what you need.
Let’s Make It Practical
Think of something you would genuinely like AI to help you with.
It could be:
- planning something
- writing something
- learning about a topic
- organising your week
- coming up with ideas
- solving an everyday problem
Start with a simple request in your own words.
Then improve it by adding:
What you want AI to do.
The context it needs.
Your goal or preferences.
Any important limits.
What you’d like the result to look like.
Send your prompt to AI and look at the response.
Then ask yourself:
“What could I add or change to make this more useful?”
Make one improvement and try again.
You’ve just practised one of the most useful AI skills: turning a simple request into a clearer prompt.
What You’ve Learned
A useful prompt doesn’t require technical knowledge or special language.
It helps AI understand what you’re trying to accomplish.
Remember:
- Start with the result you want.
- Give AI the context it needs.
- Add your preferences and limits.
- Tell AI what you want the result to look like.
- Give an example when it helps.
- Improve your prompt after seeing the first response.
- Don’t worry about finding a perfect prompt.
The goal isn’t to become an expert at writing prompts.
It’s to become better at explaining what you need.
The clearer you can communicate your goal, the more useful AI can become.
And once you can do that, you’re ready to start using AI for something much more practical:
making everyday tasks easier.
What if AI could help you turn a pile of thoughts, tasks or plans into something you can actually work with?
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