this will improve your AI prompting skills

In a previous post, I talked about why writers are not (yet) obsolete in the age of AI. In fact, this is the writer’s golden age! Read it here: AI is the Era of Writers!

In this post, I’m going to talk about one practice that writers have been doing that is giving them an unfair advantage in using AI.

No more long intro, here it is:

The one practice that will make you use AI with absolute virtuosity is journaling.

Yes, that thing where you dump your brain into a notebook or your phone’s Notes app.

But I’m talking about a specific kind of journaling.

There are a lot of productivity Youtubers and Tiktokers today teaching you how to “journal” (and then sell you their Notion templates). They tell you to write the tasks you want to accomplish for the day, 3 things you’re grateful for, etc.

But what most of them are doing is just making lists.

The kind of journaling I’m talking about that will help you improve your AI prompting (the way you communicate with AI to get results) skills is introspective writing — in prose.

Just like old-school writing a diary.

What should you write about?

Write about what happens to you. Literally. What did you work on today? Who did you hang out with? What happened to you?

But not only that. The most important thing is that you GO DEEP. Don’t just write “Had coffee with Jesse this morning.” Write about what you think about her. Why did she say x? What was she probably thinking when she did y? And most importantly, what was she wearing? (describe in detail)

Practice writing in detail about your pains, joys, visions, dreams…

Write about what you ate for lunch…

What your date smelled like.

Right now, AI can only output script (words & code), images (both still & moving) and audio. But later, there might come a time when it can output smells.

Imagine prompting AI to “generate a smell that is a mix of musk, leather and steak,” and an AI-powered vaporizer will mix certain chemicals inside and then spray the odor output in the air.

So yes, describe his smell to yourself in your diary. In detail.

This practice might feel a little cheesy to some.

But it’s the most effective way I found to train your brain to untangle your brain fog, figure out what you actually think and how to say it, and be more precise with your words.

A lot of times, we think we know what we think. But when someone asks us to explain, we get tongue-tied. There are some people (me included) who think in images more than in word. And it’s not always easy to translate your mental pictures into language—unless you’ve trained yourself.

Journaling is not going to improve your prompting overnight. But it’s a worthwhile habit to develop if only for its power to improve your ability to articulate, which, you’ll see, will transform how you interact not only with AI bots but with live humans, too.

Been a compulsive journaler and note-taker. At work, I was known as “the notebook guy” because of the number of notebooks I kept. Now I mostly journal digitally, using Apple Notes and various other apps.