Many novice ChatGPT users have experienced this: You provide simple instructions, and the AI generates generic content that feels uninspired. The typical reaction? “This is just junk! I don’t get the hype.”
Having used ChatGPT extensively for writing opinion pieces, books, manuals, and blog posts, I’ve learned one crucial lesson: write more to get better results. ChatGPT isn’t a magical tool that reads your mind and extracts your insights. You need to articulate those yourself, either by typing or dictating.
When you give ChatGPT minimal instructions, you’re essentially asking it to pull from general information to meet your request. As a large language model, it defaults to existing, often mediocre content.
Here’s a chart I created to illustrate this point. To get the most out of AI, you need to explain your starting point, your goal, your style, and as much relevant content as possible.
Of course, AI can be used to generate SEO-optimized content quickly for social media or other purposes. However, if you’re aiming for something truly unique, there’s no shortcut. You must do the thinking and much of the writing yourself.
So where does ChatGPT help me?
As a non-native English speaker, ChatGPT ensures my writing is grammatically polished. It allows me to write more freely, without worrying about structure or grammar in the initial stages. This makes the writing process feel less stressful since I know I have a capable editor to refine my drafts.
There are also cases where the content already exists, and I don’t need to reinvent the wheel. For instance, I might ask ChatGPT to list typical strategy process components or explain acronyms like ADKAR.
ChatGPT is also a powerful brainstorming tool. When I need ideas or get stuck, I can provide detailed instructions and, with a bit of iteration, watch as the AI helps me craft the perfect phrasing.
Ultimately, ChatGPT is an incredible writing companion, but it doesn’t do the heavy lifting of thinking for you.
This blog post is 2038 characters long. My prompt was 2227 characters long.
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