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It’s the year 2025, and by many people’s standards, this is the dawn of artificial intelligence. Tools like ChatGPT seem to be everywhere. You can find mentions of it in blog posts, in media headlines, and in casual conversations with friends. Oh, and if you live in a tech-heavy city like Francisco like do, you’ll find it plastered across billboards. AI triggers strong reactions in people. A person might react with excitement, skepticism, or even fear. For most, it’s viewed as just another way to automate tasks. And yes, that’s certainly true. But I’d argue that it can also be much more than that. If you use it in the right way, AI can also expand your mind. It can prompt your mind.
Before diving deeper into AI prompting, I feel the need to acknowledge the elephant in the room: accuracy. AI outputs aren’t perfect. Hallucinations really do happen and you should absolutely check results for accuracy. But if you’re willing to keep an open mind, hallucinations can actually be useful if you treat them as sparks rather than gospel. They can stretch your thinking, inspire creativity, and allow you to explore perspectives you might never have otherwise considered.
I’ve been a professional software engineer for many years, building all kinds of technologies, including AI systems long before they went mainstream. As an engineer, you get used to a certain mindset:
- Things rarely work the first time.
- You have to experiment, break problems down, and change how you think about them.
- You need to look at problems from different angles and sit with them until they are solved.
Tools like ChatGPT have, in some ways, made this mindset more accessible to everyday people. Without years of technical training, people can now experience what it feels like to think like an engineer. They can experience what it feels like to iterate and tweak their ideas until they get something that they’re really satisfied with. In my opinion, that can be transformative.
The Value of Iteration
One of the biggest lessons you learn when working with AI is the value of iteration. The first response you get is rarely the one you want. To get closer, you need to rephrase, add specifics, and try again. Sometimes you need to do this several times. Many newcomers expect perfection on the first try and give up when it doesn’t happen. That’s like walking into a gym once, not seeing instant results, and deciding exercise doesn’t work.
During the 13 years I’ve worked at organizations, I’ve spent numerous hours in front of a computer screen, fixing code that just wouldn’t work. At first, it was frustrating, almost like I was getting punished for something. But over time I noticed that the persistence I grew while working with code carried into other areas of my life. I was more patient when pursuing new fitness goals, more flexible when things at home went wrong, and more resilient in tough conversations where there were no easy answers. Prompting an AI builds the same muscle. Each attempt strengthens your ability to sit with discomfort, adapt, and try again.
For readers outside of tech, prompting is like learning to cook or make pottery. The first try might be messy or taste bland, but each attempt teaches you what to adjust. More spice here, more clay there, less heat here… until you get it right. With tools like ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, anyone can practice this iterative mindset daily and watch their resilience grow.
Try this quick hack (10 minutes):
- Pick something you’re struggling with. It could be writing an email, planning a workout, or brainstorming weekend plans.
- Ask the AI simply. Type it in plain English into your favorite AI tool
- Tweak and repeat. Run it at least three more times, each time adding something different. Try making it shorter, adding more details, giving some examples, etc.
- See the change. Lay the answers side by side. Notice how each small change reshapes the result.
- Keep the best one. Save the best version as your go-to template. Next time, you’ll skip the guessing and get right to the good stuff.
Thinking Big and Small
Prompting also works out your problem-solving muscles. It teaches you how to toggle between the details and the big picture. On one hand, you need to be precise. If you tried the brain hack in the last section you might have noticed that specificity changes everything: length, tone, format, examples, constraints. The more precise you are, the more precise the results. Specifics matter.
Great AI prompters can also break down complex problems. They can take a big, messy task and turn it into smaller steps, and then zero in on one piece that moves the whole forward.
At the same time, effective prompting requires you to zoom out and think about the big picture. What’s the larger goal? And how to do all the parts connect?
As an engineer, I rely on this dual perspective constantly. I hold the software architecture in mind while changing a single line of code. I look at the parts of the code that I need to work on and turn big projects into small, easy tasks that I can knock out one at a time. It’s what makes the difference between feeling overwhelmed and feeling in control.
This isn’t just for software. Everyday life rewards the same mental toggle:
- Planning a weekend trip? A prompt like “What should I do in Los Angeles?” will get you a generic list. But adding details like “I want a balance of outdoor time, great food, and downtime within distance of my hotel” will give you a more personalized plan.
- Training for a 5k or learning how to do handstands? Define your macro goal, then break it into micro goals (like wrist strength, wall holds, and balance drills). Master these micro skills and then put it all together.
- Doing meal prep for the week? Make a weekly plan, then specify portions or categories per day
Using AI trains you to think big and small, so you can solve problems more effectively at work, in relationships, and in life. And the best part is that you feel calmer while doing it.
Try this quick hack (10 minutes)
- Define the macro. Write one sentence that states the big goal. Example: “Plan a healthy weekly meal plan for a busy professional.”
- Get a response. Paste that single sentence into your AI tool and see what you get. Most likely it will be a broad, generic plan
- Focus. Break the macro goal into micro-prompts with specific constraints:
- Breakfasts: “Give me five easy, 15-minute breakfast ideas under 500 calories each.”
- Lunches: “List five vegetarian lunch options that don’t need reheating.”
- Dinners: “Suggest five balanced, gluten-free dinners I can prep in 30 minutes or less.”
- Do it. Enter each micro-prompt one by one and see what you get.
- Compare. Examine the outputs side by side. Notice the single big prompt gave you a broad overview, while the micro-prompts produced actionable ideas you could use right away.
Awareness of Your Own Communication
I once asked ChatGPT to summarize an academic paper in preparation for a talk to a mixed audience of professionals and AI enthusiasts. My prompt looked something like this:
“Summarize the details of the academic paper for general audience.”
The response I got back, while technically accurate, was dry and overly formal. When I rephrased the prompt to “Explain this research like you’re talking to a curious high school graduate,” the difference was immediate. The new version was clear, engaging, and easy to follow. That shift in wording showed me just how much the phrasing of a question can change the outcome.
Using AI is like giving instructions to a colleague or friend. If what they deliver isn’t what you expected, the gap usually comes from how you asked. AI makes that disconnect obvious right away. Each time you adjust your phrasing and see how the answer changes, you train yourself to be more precise with your words. Sometimes a single word shift, such as “summarize” vs. “simplify” or “outline” vs. “step-by-step guide,” can make a huge difference.
AI is like a capable teammate. It’s quick, very resourceful, and very versatile, but only if you give it clear instructions. In this way, AI mirrors real-world communication with people. The clearer your ask, the closer the result will match your intent.
I’ve become more mindful in my day-to-day conversations with colleagues, both inside and outside of tech. Words carry hidden assumptions, emotions, and background knowledge, and mine don’t always match the other person’s. Communication is about aligning perspectives so everyone is on the same wavelength. That’s not always easy, but prompting has helped me get closer.
Try this quick hack (5 minutes)
- Pick a prompt you’ve already written (or craft a new one).
- Run it in your AI tool of choice.
- Adjust a few words or phrases and run it again. Repeat this at least three times, each time changing something small. Look at the answers. Notice how even tiny shifts in wording can dramatically change the outcome.
Critical Thinking and Creativity
Before buying a car or making some other major decision, you probably ask questions such as “What’s wrong with this?” or “What are the hidden costs?” Prompting AI can train you to ask those same questions in other parts of your life. It becomes a tool for critical self-reflection, helping you see blind spots you might otherwise miss.
Much like software engineers stress-test their code to make sure it works under pressure, you can test your ideas and find holes in your thinking. With a single prompt, you can ask an AI to argue against you, point out your assumptions, or find evidence that contradicts your viewpoint. You can use it to help you defend your ideas and also refine them so you can get more buy-in.
Try this quick hack (5 minutes):
- Pick one idea you’re thinking about
- Ask AI: “What assumptions am I making?” or “Play devil’s advocate with this idea.”
- Read the response and see if it reveals blind spots or new questions worth exploring.
On the flip slide, using AI can also be a playground for creativity. Instead of looking for a safe and obvious solution, try asking for something unusual:
- “Give me 10 surprising ways to solve this problem”.
- “Combine two unrelated things together like knitting and skateboarding and see what you can come up with”
Even when the answers aren’t perfect, they can stretch your thinking beyond the obvious. I’ve personally used this when I felt stuck on projects. More than once, a left-field suggestion from an AI nudged me to explore an approach I’d never have considered on my own. It often made the difference between spinning my wheels and moving forward.
Try this creativity hack (5 minutes):
- Pick two completely unrelated topics, say “gardening” and “software design.”
- Ask AI: “Combine these two fields to create a new product, service, or idea.”
- Review the results and highlight anything surprising, playful, or worth exploring further.
AI isn’t only about productivity hacks or task automation. If you use it intentionally, can become a training ground for the mind. So the next time you open up ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, don’t just think of it as an assistant. Think of it as a partner for personal growth. Every prompt is an opportunity to refine how you think, how you create, and how you communicate with yourself and with others.
