The Cost of Bad Prompts
| Bad Prompt | Result | Time Wasted | |:---|:---|:---| | "Tell me about Ethiopia" | Generic Wikipedia summary | 5 more questions needed | | "Write an email" | Basic template, not personalized | Complete rewrite needed | | "Help me study" | Vague advice, no structure | No actual help |
The Power of Good Prompts
Same requests, better results:
"Explain Ethiopia's coffee export economy to a high schooler, using a coffee ceremony analogy, in 3 paragraphs"
"Write a professional leave request email to my manager, requesting 3 days off for a family event, mentioning I'll complete urgent tasks before leaving"
"Create a 7-day study plan for learning Python, 1 hour/day, assuming I know nothing, with specific free resources for each day"
Rule: Spend 2 minutes crafting a good prompt, save 20 minutes of back-and-forth.