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For a long time, I resisted using AI for my writing. There were a lot of reasons for that—mostly because I LOVE writing. It’s something I genuinely enjoy.
So, why would I want to delegate that to a machine?
But there are parts of writing that can be hard and time-consuming:
So, I've started experimenting with using AI at the start of my writing process. To help me go from idea to brain dump to outline quicker.
But here’s the thing - most people ask AI to do the thinking for them. I see prompts like this all the time: “Write me a blog post on {topic}.”
Honestly prompts like that are how the internet dies.
No one wants AI-written drivel.
What people want is to hear your unique perspective on a topic. That’s why I’ve found that AI is way better as a thinking partner than as your personal writing bot.
And it doesn’t take any fancy “megaprompts” to make this work—just a few simple steps to turn a chaotic brain dump into a solid outline.
(& you can do it in 10 minutes while chilling on the lounge)
AI works best when you give it a good starting point. So, the first thing I do is dump in my initial idea. In all it's messy, chaotic glory.
Usually, I’ll say something like: “I want to write a blog post about {topic}, and here’s what I’m thinking so far…”
And most of the time I'll do this part of the process by using the voice feature on the ChatGPT app on my phone. So I don't even have to sit at my desk and type. Plus using voice I feel like I can get the idea flowing a little easier
Once I’ve done my brain dump, I ask ChatGPT to ask me five questions based on what I just dumped in.
I use this prompt:
"Ask me five questions about the topic & brain dump. Your goal is to discover any unique opinions, experiences or insights so we can write an outline together. Ask me each question one by one and allow me time to answer before asking the next one."
And honestly this step is a game changer. Now AI starts acting like a curious friend helping me dig deeper into my thoughts and really flesh out my idea. It's like workshopping the idea together.
And this is 100% better than just trying to brainstorm an idea on my own. Because questions are like prompts that open up your ideas:
1. They allow you to explore & dig into the topic further.
2. They allow you to see the topic from different perspectives and angles
3. They prompt you to think in different ways
And so me and AI workshop the idea together. And honestly the questions it asks me make me really think deeper. It's incredible.
Now after all this thinking together it's time to write the outline.
I use this prompt:
“Create an outline based on my brain dump and the answers I gave you.”
I've found AI likes to write LOOOONG outlines.
And I probably I could tweak the the prompt to let it know what type of outlines I like best. But honestly I kind of like just workshopping it together.
I'll go back and forth tweaking, combining & rearranging sections of the outline - just like I would with a writing partner or ghostwriter. If I don't like what it produced I just tell it what I want changed.
Working with AI this way has eliminated a lot of frustration. I no longer expect it to get it right on the first go.
By this point, I’m usually ready to write my draft myself. But if you wanted, you could have ChatGPT write a first draft for you—it already has all your thoughts, ideas & perspectives so it can do a decent job of a first draft.
Pro Tip: Download the ChatGPT app on your phone and use the voice chat function to go through this whole process. Honestly it will feel like chatting with a friend - but you have an outline at the end!
So whether you’re writing blog posts, reports, or even planning YouTube videos, this simple 3-step framework will save you time and energy, and get those first words onto the page fast.
Try it out, and see how quickly it can speeds up those initial writing & thinking processes!
