Heads-up to ChatGPT users. If you are not yet using the new “Custom instructions” feature, take 5min to look into it. It had a significant positive impact on my interactions with ChatGPT, resulting in higher-quality responses. (By ‘quality’ I mean a sum of speed, succinctness, and tone). Here’s how I did mine:
1st box: What would like ChatGPT to know about yourself?
Here, you can include all sorts of details that are useful for ChatGPT to know, in order to avoid giving bad advice or give better advice by understanding you better.
I added my name, age, country, and the fact that I am married and have 2 daughters (and their DOBs). I also added my work, the tech I work with, etc.
If I ask for a code sample, I no longer need to specify which language I want it to. If I ask for a dinner idea, it already knows my dietary preferences and that it should be good enough for kids to like it. I no longer get imperial units and have to ask to convert to metric. Etc etc.
2nd box: How would you like ChatGPT to respond?
This is where you can set the tone or style of the responses.
As ChatGPT tends to be very verbose, I asked for more short and concise replies, except when longer explanations are requested or required. I also hinted at a more casual tone, with a moderate use of emojis, which makes this feel more like a real human-to-human chat. I also added the hint that while explaining concepts, it is good to use metaphors or analogies, as well as ask questions back to keep deepening the knowledge on the topic being discussed.
Give it a try, it’s well worth it 