The Best ChatGPT Prompts You Need to Use in 2026
Here's what actually helped me get better responses (after testing dozens of prompts)
Most people don’t get bad results from ChatGPT because it’s “not smart enough.”
They get bad results because their prompts leave too much room for guesswork.
I’ve spent a lot of time testing the best ways to work with ChatGPT and the pattern is always the same: small changes in how you ask lead to massive changes in what you get back.
None of the prompts in this guide are magic tricks.
They don’t make ChatGPT smarter.
They simply reduce guesswork. Once you start using them, the quality of the responses increases dramatically
#1 Ask me questions before you start
One of my favorite ways to reduce ChatGPT’s guesswork is to use this formula:
[YOUR PROMPT]
Before you start, ask me any questions you need so I can give you more context. Be extremely comprehensive
That’s it. One line, but a huge difference.
Without this prompt, the model will usually: assume details, fill gaps with “reasonable” sounding fluff and hallucinate confidently (especially for complex tasks)
Let’s imagine I want to get a dog. When I ask ChatGPT for recommendations, the response is just guesswork and has nothing to do with my preferences.
When I use the prompt formula, it flips into information-gathering mode:
It asks 10–15 questions you didn’t think about
You answer them
And the output becomes denser, more accurate, and way more “you”
Here’s the same request, but this time adding the prompt formula:
Once I answered those questions, the response improved a lot!
I also got a small ranking where I can always come back and make a comparison.
Start 2026 off on the right foot
There are still 7 great prompts you should use in 2026
But before we continue this list, I’d like to answer a question many of you have asked me:
P.S. I created a Google Doc with my best guides. Check it out here
P.S.S. My course on learning a new language with AI will be released in the first weeks of January. If you want to get it once it’s released, become a paid subscriber today :)
