Most people miss these 3 ChatGPT tricks — and they dramatically improve your results

1. Add "think hard about this" to your prompt

ChatGPT has multiple models running in the background, and it doesn't always use the most powerful one for your request. Adding phrases like "think hard about this" or "think deeply about this" to the end of your prompt forces the router to use the most advanced model available.

You'll know it worked when you see a "Thought for Xs" message in ChatGPT's response — that's confirmation it used the thinking model instead of the quick one. This simple phrase can be the difference between a surface-level answer and genuinely insightful analysis.

2. Say exactly how long you want the response

ChatGPT generates verbose responses by default, which can be helpful for context but often gives you way more information than you actually need. You can control this by adding specific length instructions directly in your prompt.

For example, you could add something like "Keep this under 200 words" or "Summarize the main causes of the French Revolution in 3 sentences" to your request. ChatGPT is surprisingly precise at following these instructions — if you ask for exactly 500 words, you'll get exactly 500 words.

This is especially useful when you're using responses for presentations, emails, or reports where brevity matters. Instead of spending time editing down a long ChatGPT response, just tell it upfront what length works for your needs.

3. Structure your complex prompts

When you're asking ChatGPT to do something complicated, don't dump everything into one long paragraph. Break your prompt into clear sections with headers or bullet points.

For example, start with "Context:" and explain the background, then "Task:" for what you want ChatGPT to do, then "Requirements:" for specific things the response needs to include. This structured approach helps ChatGPT understand exactly what you're asking for and prioritize the right information.

You can also add a "Constraints:" section to tell it what to avoid (like jargon or unnecessary complexity) and an "Output Format:" section to specify how you want the response organized.

The more structure you give ChatGPT in your prompt, the more useful its response will be.