People collect "magic prompts" like baseball cards. You don't need them. You need one simple shape and one counterintuitive habit.
The shape: Role · Task · Context · Format
Almost every great prompt answers four things:
- Role — who should the AI be? ("Act as a patient teacher / a tough conversion expert / a warm customer-service pro.")
- Task — what exactly do you want done?
- Context — the details only you know (who it's for, your tone, the constraints).
- Format — how should the answer come back? (bullets, a table, 3 options, under 100 words.)
That's it. "Write me an email" is weak. "Act as a warm customer-service pro. Write a reply to this upset customer whose order is late. Keep it under 120 words, apologize once, offer a fix, sound human. Here's the thread: […]" is strong.
The weird trick: make it interview you first
Here's the move almost nobody uses: before you answer, ask me any questions you need to do this really well.
Add that one line and the AI stops guessing. It asks the two or three things that actually change the answer — and what comes back is night-and-day better. We use it in the "interview me to find my brand voice" move and the "ramble → plan" move.
Then: ask for options, not an answer
One answer is a guess. Ask for "three versions on different angles, then tell me which you'd pick and why," and you get to choose instead of accept. It's how the ad-angles move beats just asking for "an ad."
Want this done for you automatically? Our free Prompt Polisher rebuilds any rough request into this shape in one click. Or browse moves where we've already written the prompt for you.