# Prompting: from searching to instructing

*The single highest-leverage AI skill. Read once, keep the checklist forever.*

## The one shift

A search engine **finds pages** that mention your words. An AI **does the task**
you describe. So stop typing keywords and start giving instructions.

The rule that follows from this: **the quality of what you get out is set by the
quality of what you put in.** A vague prompt gets a vague answer — and that's not
the AI being dumb, it's the AI guessing at everything you didn't say.

## The anatomy of a good prompt

Five parts. You won't need all five every time, but the more you give, the less
the AI has to guess.

| Part | What it is | Example phrase |
|------|-----------|----------------|
| **Role** | Who you want the AI to be | *"You are a patient tutor…"* |
| **Context** | What it can't guess — your level, the goal, the material | *"I'm 16 and new to this…"* |
| **Task** | The one clear thing to do (one main verb) | *"Explain… / Draft… / Compare…"* |
| **Format** | The shape you want back | *"As a 5-item list / a table / 150 words"* |
| **Constraints** | The guardrails | *"No jargon. If unsure, say so."* |

**All five in one prompt:**

> ❌ *"team building ideas"*
>
> ✅ *"You are an experienced team facilitator **(role)**. I manage 6 people who
> work remotely and barely know each other **(context)**. Suggest 5 activities we
> could do over a video call in under 30 minutes **(task)**. Give each as: name,
> how it works, why it helps **(format)**. Keep them low-pressure — no singing, no
> putting people on the spot **(constraints)**."*

## Before / after — three quick ones

**Learning something**
- ❌ *"explain photosynthesis"*
- ✅ *"Explain photosynthesis to a 15-year-old in about 150 words using one everyday analogy, then give me a 3-question quiz to check I understood. Define any word most teenagers wouldn't know."*

**Writing something**
- ❌ *"email asking for a deadline extension"*
- ✅ *"Draft a short, polite email to my manager asking to move a report deadline from Friday to Monday because I'm waiting on data from another team. Professional but not grovelling, under 120 words. Give me two subject-line options."*

**Deciding something**
- ❌ *"should I learn Python or JavaScript"*
- ✅ *"I want a career building things and have ~5 hours a week. Compare Python vs JavaScript for me: what each is best for, which opens more doors early, which shows results fastest. Lay it out as a table, then give a one-line recommendation. Think it through before you answer."*

## Now make it yours — point it at what you love

The five parts never change. The only thing that changes is the **task** — and the
tasks you'll actually push hard on are the ones you care about. So here's the same
skill aimed at your world: football, gaming, films. Steal these, then write your own.

**Understand the game deeper — Liverpool**
- ❌ *"liverpool tactics"*
- ✅ *"You're a football tactics analyst. I'm a Liverpool fan and I want to actually understand **why** they press so high up the pitch, not just watch it happen. Explain gegenpressing to me like I'm 16 and new to tactics, using one moment from a real Liverpool game as the example. Under 200 words, and define any tactics term the first time you use it."*

**Build something new — Minecraft**
- ❌ *"how to make an auto farm in minecraft"*
- ✅ *"You're a Minecraft redstone expert. I play survival on Java and I've only done basic redstone — doors, a couple of pistons. Walk me through building an automatic wheat farm, step by step in the right order, listing the blocks I need at each step. If a step needs materials I might not have yet, flag it so I can prep first."*

**Actually get better — Rocket League**
- ❌ *"how to get good at rocket league"*
- ✅ *"You're a Rocket League coach. I can drive and hit the ball fine, but my aerials are all over the place. Give me a 15-minute free-play training routine to make my aerials more consistent. Lay it out as steps with how long to spend on each, and tell me what 'good' looks like at each stage so I know if I'm improving."*

**Fix one weakness — Rainbow Six Siege**
- ❌ *"why do i keep dying in r6"*
- ✅ *"You're a Rainbow Six Siege coach. I mostly play defence and I keep getting picked off in the first 30 seconds of a round. Give me 5 habits that would keep me alive longer, ranked by how much difference each one would make. One line each, plain English — no pro jargon I won't get."*

**See how it's really made — cinema**
- ❌ *"why are some film scenes so tense"*
- ✅ *"You're a film buff who loves explaining how movies work. I want to understand how a scene builds tension without gore or jump-scares. Pick one famous suspense scene and break down the exact choices — camera, sound, editing, timing — that make it land. About 200 words, and stick to that one scene so you don't spoil the film."*

**Plan the perfect night in — you and your mates on PS5**
- ❌ *"what game should we play"*
- ✅ *"Help me plan a Friday games night for me and 3 mates on PS5. We like squad games — R6, Rocket League, Arc. Suggest a running order for about 3 hours that mixes competitive and chill, with rough time for each and one 'decider' game to finish on. Two of us are way better at shooters than the other two, so keep it fun for everyone."*

Notice what these have in common: a **role**, the **context** the AI couldn't guess
(your level, your platform, your mates), one clear **task**, a **format**, and
**constraints**. Swap in your team, your game, your film — the skill is identical.

## Two techniques that punch above their weight

**Few-shot — show, don't describe.** Instead of describing the style you want,
give 1–3 examples of it. AI copies patterns far better than it follows adjectives.

> *"Rewrite these to sound friendly. Example: 'Payment overdue.' → 'Just a gentle
> nudge — your payment's due.' Now do these: …"*

**Chain-of-thought — ask it to reason step by step.** For anything with logic —
maths, planning, a decision — add *"think step by step and show your reasoning
before the answer."* It's more accurate, **and** you can see where it went wrong.

## Three habits that matter more than any trick

1. **Iterate — the first answer is a draft, not the answer.** *"Make it shorter."*
   *"You missed X."* *"Give me three options."* Steering is where quality comes from.
2. **Make it show its work.** *"Quote the source." "Show the calculation."* An answer
   you can check beats an answer you have to trust.
3. **Assume it can be confidently wrong.** It will state false things fluently.
   Verify anything that matters. (That's the focus of the next stage — start the habit now.)

## Your pocket checklist

Before you hit enter:

- [ ] Gave it a **role**?
- [ ] Gave it the **context** it can't guess?
- [ ] Is the **task** one clear instruction?
- [ ] Said what **format** I want back?
- [ ] Set the **constraints** (length, tone, what to avoid, what to do if unsure)?
- [ ] Anything with logic → asked it to **show its reasoning**?
- [ ] Will I need to **verify** this? (If it matters: yes.)

## Try it now

Take something you actually care about this week — a Liverpool game you want
explained, a build you're stuck on, a film you loved — or something you plain need,
like a revision plan. Write it **twice**: first as a search-style query, then as a
full instruction using the five parts above. Send both. Compare what comes back.
That gap is the whole skill.