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The ‘3-word rule' that makes ChatGPT give expert-level responses

The ‘3-word rule' that makes ChatGPT give expert-level responses

Tom's Guide27-05-2025

ChatGPT can do a lot. It can be used to write essays, summarize meetings and even act as your therapist in a pinch.
But if you're still struggling to get personalized responses that go beyond the bland or overly basic, the problem might not be the AI. It could be your prompt.
That's where the '3-word rule' comes in — a super-simple prompt tweak that can take your chatbot from surface-level answers to something that feels custom, thoughtful and expert-level.
No, the three little words are not 'I love you' — but it doesn't hurt to be polite.
The concept is simple: Add a short, three-word directive to your prompt that tells ChatGPT how to respond. These three words can instantly shape the tone, voice and depth of the output. You're not rewriting your whole question. You're just giving the AI a lens through which to answer.
Here are a few examples that work surprisingly well:
'Like a lawyer' — for structured, detailed and logical responses
Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.
'Be a teacher' — for simplified, clear and educational explanations
'Act like Hemingway' — for punchy, minimalist writing with impact
It's kind of like casting the AI in a role, and then you're directing the performance with the specifics in your prompts.
ChatGPT has been trained on a massive variety of writing styles and professional voices. When you give it a short cue — something like'like a professor" — it taps into that persona and shifts its tone accordingly.
That one tweak can turn a vague summary into something polished, insightful and audience-appropriate.
The 3-word rule is especially helpful when:
It's a lightweight form of prompt engineering that makes a big difference; no jargon or prompt-hacking required.
Need a few starter ideas? These formats work across writing, research, translation and even creative tasks:
You can swap in almost any role or voice that fits your needs: CEO, therapist, designer, coach, teenager or just about anyone else. The more specific, the better.
Each tweak helps ChatGPT interpret your request through a more useful lens, and the difference in quality is often immediate.
The 3-word rule isn't magic, but it's close. It's one of the easiest ways to upgrade your prompts and get smarter, more human-like responses from AI.
Whether you're writing emails, building lesson plans or brainstorming your next novel, three extra words could make all the difference.

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Key customer results include: Average recovery of 28+ billable minutes per professional per day 4-11% increase in overall firm profitability 80%+ reduction in time spent on manual time entry Real-time visibility into project profitability and resource utilization "While Laurel is unique in that it is AI that generates profits, the reason everyone at Laurel cares so much about solving this problem is because people waste so much time at work, and the only way to solve this at scale is to deeply understand where that time is going," says Alshak. "And we're starting with professional services because that will give us the human-in-the-loop required to create the world's first-ever agentic timesheet. The average knowledge worker works 9 hours a day, but only adds leverage for 3. That is 3 hours a day we're doing work that should be done by agents, and 3 hours a day we're doing work that nobody should do. That is our opportunity set – 6.4 billion years currently being spent by knowledge workers on tasks humans no longer need to do. That is our opportunity." About Laurel Laurel is the world's first AI Time platform for professional services firms. The company's AI transforms how organizations track, analyze, describe, and optimize their most valuable resource: time. By automating work time and connecting time data to business outcomes, Laurel enables firms to increase profitability, improve client delivery, and make data-driven strategic decisions. Founded in 2018, Laurel serves many of the world's largest accounting, consulting and law firms. For more information, visit About IVP IVP supercharges growth in breakout companies, converting momentum into market dominance. 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