Most people use ChatGPT like a smarter search engine.
Ask a question, get an answer. But a quiet revolution is underway…one that reframes ChatGPT and other AI chatbots as thinking partners, not just tools.
Those who learn how to prompt well and how to stay in the conversation are discovering that they can do more than get answers. They can write books, clarify strategies, generate insights, and even deepen their own thinking.
So the old adage applies: “Ask better questions and you will get better answers”.
Deep prompting is becoming a new creative discipline
My prompting practice has evolved from asking simple questions to following threads of curiosity deeper and deeper, layering question upon question until, by the end, I feel like I’ve co-created an entire book.
We’re now entering a second wave of AI use, not defined by the novelty of the tool, but by the quality of the questions and the structure of the interaction.
Let’s explore this emerging craft, uncover the best practices, and look at the powerful techniques most people still aren’t using.
The current best practices of power prompting
While casual users ask ChatGPT for lists, ideas, or summaries, power users—authors, founders, researchers, and educators—use it like a second brain.
Here’s what they do differently:
| Technique | Description |
| Iterative Prompting | Revisiting and refining prompts over multiple turns |
| Role-based Context Setting | “Act as my editor/speech coach/founder friend” to shape tone and perspective |
| Threaded Inquiry | Asking follow-up prompts like “What’s missing?” or “What would a critic say?” |
| Output Remixing | Requesting alternate formats: bullets, stories, analogies, or frameworks |
| Meta-Prompting | Asking the AI how it arrived at its answer to foster reflective thinking |
| Voice Embedding | Training ChatGPT on your tone, style, or goals to get more aligned output |
| Chained Prompts | Structuring multi-step workflows for writing, strategy, or decision-making |
In short: they don’t treat ChatGPT like Google. They treat it like a creative collaborator.
What most people haven’t discovered (Yet)
Some of the most powerful uses of ChatGPT lie just beneath the surface—used by only the most advanced thinkers and creators.
Here are hidden techniques that can change the way you think, write, and solve problems:
1. Prompting as dialogue, not command
Most users write one-line prompts. Experts? They stay in the conversation.
Like this:
- “Go deeper on that last point. What would a philosopher say?”
- “Now summarize it in a story about a 12-year-old who discovers this in a science lab.”
- “Give me the version you’d present to a skeptical CEO.”
They treat ChatGPT like an interactive dialogue partner, not a vending machine.
2. Ask for the opposite answer
Want sharper insight? Well…ask questions like this:
- “What’s the opposing argument?”
- “Debunk this idea using expert criticism.”
- “How might this approach fail?”
This simulates mental dialectic—testing ideas from both sides.
You’ll often discover weaknesses or blind spots in your own logic.
3. Prompt for transparency and reasoning
For transparency and more try these questions:
- “Explain your reasoning step-by-step.”
- “What’s your chain of logic?”
- “What model of thinking are you using?”
This forces ChatGPT to reveal its logic, which makes you a better thinker too.
It’s not just what the answer is, but how it came to be.
4. Ask “What’s Missing?”
When you get a list or analysis, follow with:
- “What would most people forget to include?”
- “What’s the hidden factor no one talks about?”
- “What’s a counterintuitive insight here?”
You’ll unlock the edge cases, the subtleties, and the nuance.
5. Use ChatGPT to simulate people and perspectives
Instead of writing alone, ask:
- “What would Richard Branson say about this?”
- “How would Steve Jobs tear this apart?”
- “What does a Gen Z teacher think about this trend?”
This lets you role-play conversations across domains and generations.
6. “Write this like a book”
Turn any idea into a long-form intellectual journey:
“Let’s co-write a book called AI and the Art of Thought. Start with a 12-chapter outline. Then we’ll write each chapter together, one by one.”
Chunking ideas into scenes, chapters, or building blocks creates more structure, more insight, and better writing.
A 5-step prompting framework: Socratic Systems Design
The Socratic method, rooted in ancient Greek philosophy from over 2,000 years ago, was the practice of seeking truth through dialogue rather than instruction.
Socrates used questioning to expose contradictions, challenge assumptions, and guide others toward self-discovery. Instead of providing answers, he inspired wisdom through curiosity, humility, and reflection—teaching that genuine understanding arises from continuous inquiry, not certainty.
So with the arrival of an answer engine (ChatGPT) that needs questions to find the answers and the truth we are heading back to the future. Let’s explore what that may look like.
Socratic Systems Design
Socratic Systems Design is an emerging framework for thinking and creating with AI that blends two powerful traditions: the Socratic method of inquiry and systems thinking.
In essence it is the socratic method on steroids
At its core, it’s about asking structured, layered questions — not to reach a single answer, but to uncover deeper patterns, assumptions, and relationships beneath the surface of a problem. Like Socrates, it starts with curiosity and dialogue. Like systems design, it connects the dots across disciplines, causes, and effects.
In practice, Socratic Systems Design turns prompting into a disciplined conversation — where each question leads to insight, each insight informs structure, and the whole process evolves into a dynamic, self-correcting model of understanding. It transforms AI from a passive responder into an active collaborator in reasoning, synthesis, and creativity.
Put simply: it’s the art of thinking in systems through questions. Instead of seeking answers, you design better questions — and through that design, you build better understanding.
Here’s a simple 5-step approach to turn any idea into a compelling body of work or decision framework.
Step 1: Define the domain
“Let’s explore the future of work in an AI-driven world. Act as my co-researcher.”
Step 2: Diverge
“List 10 future scenarios.”
“What would an optimist and a pessimist say?”
Step 3: Converge
“Which patterns repeat?”
“Which ideas align with current macro trends?”
Step 4: Challenge
“Where is this argument fragile?”
“What does the data say?”
“What would a skeptic say?”
Step 5: Synthesize
“Write a manifesto version.”
“Summarize as a tweet thread.”
“Turn this into a 3-minute speech.”
This is how books are written. Strategies are built. Insight is formed. Not through “What’s a good headline?” But through conversation, iteration, and clarity.
Bonus: Build your own prompt library
The best creators are now building Prompt OS systems that you can pull out of your toolkit:
These include creating “Go-to frameworks”: “Give me 5Ps, 3 Horizons, SWOT + Wild Card”
For clarity these frameworks are:
5Ps – A strategy framework that examines five key elements of marketing or planning: Product, Price, Place, Promotion, and People
3 Horizons – A future-thinking model that helps organizations balance innovation and execution across three timeframes: Horizon 1 (core business today), Horizon 2 (emerging opportunities), and Horizon 3 (long-term visionary bets).
SWOT + Wild Card – A decision-making tool that analyzes Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats while adding a Wild Card—an unpredictable external factor (like a sudden technology or crisis) to test resilience and adaptability.
You can also apply Brand tone templates:
Like asking – “Write like my personal newsletter” This is powerful as ChatGPT and other models now have memories that can write and create from your history of prompts and threads over time.
Then you can add some self-prompts: Such as “Ask me questions about my idea until I cry or get clarity” You can keep these in Notion, Google Docs, or even preload them into Custom GPTs.
Final insight: AI is a mirror of your mind
If you treat ChatGPT like a tool, it will act like one. If you treat it like a mirror, a thinking partner, a co-creator, it becomes something more.
It reflects your clarity.
Sharpens your logic.
Distills your chaos.
And it is maybe starting to know you better than yourself. The real revolution in AI isn’t technical. It’s cognitive.
Prompting well isn’t about hacking a system. It’s about asking better questions, which leads to a better version of you.