50 AI Prompts That Actually Work (For Real Work Tasks)

Good prompts follow a formula: role + task + context + format. Tell the AI who it is, what to do, what it needs to know, and how to structure the output. Most bad prompts are missing at least two of these.

Here are the prompts that consistently produce useful output across common work tasks.

Writing & Editing

Rewrite for clarity:

“Rewrite the following paragraph to be clearer and more direct. Remove unnecessary words. Keep all the information but aim for half the length: [paste text]”

Email to difficult stakeholder:

“Write a professional email declining [request] while maintaining the relationship. Tone: firm but respectful. Keep it under 150 words. Context: [explain situation]”

Meeting agenda from bullet points:

“Convert these rough notes into a structured meeting agenda with time allocations. Meeting is 60 minutes. Notes: [paste notes]”

Executive summary:

“Write a 200-word executive summary of the following document. Lead with the key decision or recommendation, not the background. Document: [paste]“

Research & Analysis

Competitor analysis:

“Analyse [Company A] vs [Company B]. Cover: pricing model, target customer, key differentiators, weaknesses. Format as a comparison table followed by a 3-sentence summary of who wins and why.”

Summarise a long document:

“Summarise this document. Structure your response as: 1) One-sentence overview 2) Five key points 3) Any action items or decisions mentioned. Document: [paste]”

Devil’s advocate:

“I’m planning to [describe plan]. Give me the strongest possible argument against this. Be specific and don’t soften it.”

Market research:

“What do customers complain about most when using [product/service category]? List the top 5 pain points with specific examples of what people say.”

Marketing & Content

Blog post outline:

“Create a detailed outline for a blog post titled ‘[title]’. Target audience: [describe]. Include: headline, subheadings, key points under each section, and a suggested CTA. SEO keyword to include naturally: [keyword]”

Social media from long content:

“Convert the following article into 5 LinkedIn posts. Each post should stand alone, include a hook in the first line, and end with a question or CTA. Keep each under 200 words. Article: [paste]”

Product description:

“Write a product description for [product]. Focus on the outcome for the customer, not the features. Tone: confident, specific, not salesy. 100 words maximum.”

Strategy & Planning

SWOT analysis:

“Run a SWOT analysis on [company/idea/project]. Be specific — avoid generic observations. For each weakness and threat, suggest one mitigation.”

Meeting summary to action items:

“Convert this meeting transcript into: 1) A 3-bullet summary of what was decided 2) Action items in format: Task | Owner | Due date. Transcript: [paste]”

Scenario planning:

“For [project/decision], describe three scenarios: optimistic, realistic, and pessimistic. For each, describe what would need to be true and what the outcome would be.”

The Prompt Patterns That Always Help

Add a negative constraint: “Do not use bullet points” or “Do not include a preamble” stops the AI from padding output.

Specify the reader: “Write this for a CFO who has 2 minutes” produces different output than “write this for a marketing team.”

Ask for alternatives: “Give me three different versions of this headline” is more useful than asking for one.

Request a critique first: Before asking for a rewrite, ask “What are the three weaknesses of this draft?” The diagnosis often produces better rewrites than jumping straight to revision.