One short word before your question and the answer comes back in a different shape. Handwritten notes. Sticky notes. A picture. A tutor who asks instead of tells. All the ways nobody taught you the first time.
You ask about the thing you have been avoiding. Your numbers. A contract clause. How ads actually work. Back comes 600 words that are perfectly correct, and you skim them, and by the afternoon you could not explain a single one to anybody.
That is not you being slow. It is the textbook problem again. You asked what something is, so it told you, in the one shape that is hardest to hold on to. Nobody drew it. Nobody asked you a question about it. Nobody warned you which bit everyone gets wrong.
These 10 words fix that in 3 seconds of typing. They are the ways of being taught that you always wanted, and now you can point every one of them at the grown-up things you have been putting off.
Yes. In Claude, in Gemini, in ChatGPT, and in the free versions of all 3. Here is why, because the reason is the useful part.
ChatGPT does have a real slash menu. Type a slash in a new chat and a little list pops up with things like /image and /search. Those are buttons. None of the 10 on this page are on that list. They are just short words, and the slash is only there to make them feel like one thing instead of a sentence.
So nothing is being unlocked. You are telling it the shape you want, in fewer characters. Any chat that understands English understands that, which is why these travel everywhere and why nothing breaks when a menu changes.
Numbers 1, 2 and 3 come back as an image, so they need a chat that can make images. If yours can't, you get the same thing written out instead, which is still better than the wall of text. Everything from 4 down is plain text and works in absolutely anything.
Put the word first, then your topic. That is the whole method. Each one below has the short version to type, and a longer line underneath for when the short version does not land the first time.
Every example uses a business topic on purpose. These came out of studying, but you are not 15 and there is no test on Friday. The thing you have been avoiding is your own P&L.
A page of handwritten notes with little drawings, explained the way you would explain it to a 10 year old. This is the one for the topic you have quietly never understood.
Why it works. Handwriting has no room for jargon. Asking for it forces the whole thing down to the words that actually fit on a page.
/handwritten [your topic] If that alone doesn't land: Explain [your topic] as a page of handwritten notes with small doodles, the way you'd explain it to a 10 year old. Make it an image.
The key points laid out as sticky notes, one idea per note. Best used on something long you already have: a report, a contract, a course you paid for and never finished.
Why it works. A sticky note holds about 8 words. It physically cannot give you the long version, so you get the 6 things that actually matter.
/make-sticky-notes [your topic, or paste the document first]
If that alone doesn't land:
Turn this into sticky notes, one idea per note, no more than 8 words on each. Make it an image.
The whole thing as one picture, with the parts connected. Use it when you understand the pieces separately but not how they fit, which is most people and funnels.
Why it works. It has to decide what connects to what. That is the bit a paragraph lets it dodge, and the bit you were actually missing.
/visualizelearning [your topic] If that alone doesn't land: Show me how [your topic] fits together as one diagram, with the parts labelled and arrows for what leads to what. Make it an image.
The 10 year old version, as text, in 4 seconds. This is the one for the letter from the tax office, or the clause your client's lawyer sent back.
Why it works. Naming an age is the trick. "Explain it simply" is a taste. "Explain it to a 10 year old" is a target it can actually hit.
/eli10 [your topic, or paste the paragraph you don't understand]
If that alone doesn't land:
Explain this to me like I'm 10. Short sentences, no jargon, and if you have to use a technical word, say what it means right after.
The same explanation rewritten as a story with people in it. Use it on whatever you have to remember on Thursday, or repeat to a client without notes.
Why it works. A story has an order and a reason things happen. That is the part you keep, long after the bullet points have gone.
/storymode [your topic]
If that alone doesn't land:
Rewrite this as a short story about one person, so I remember it. Keep every fact accurate, and tell me at the end which part of the story maps to which part of the real thing.
What most people get wrong about this, before you learn it wrong too. Point it at pricing, at ads, at anything where you have been handed a lot of confident advice.
Why it works. School taught you the right answer and left you to trip over the popular wrong one by yourself. This one hands you both at the same time.
/misconceptions [your topic] If that alone doesn't land: What do most people get wrong about [your topic]? For each one, tell me what people believe, what's actually true, and why the wrong version is so easy to fall for.
It stops explaining and starts asking you questions, one at a time. The tutor who would not just tell you, which was infuriating then and is exactly what you need now.
Why it works. On your own business you are usually not missing information, you are avoiding a decision. Questions get that out of you. More explaining does not.
/socrates [the thing you're stuck on] If that alone doesn't land: Don't give me the answer. Ask me one question at a time about [the thing you're stuck on], wait for each answer, and keep going until I've worked it out myself.
One question at a time, getting harder or easier depending on how you answer. Run it on the thing you read last week and have not used since.
Why it works. Reading something twice feels like learning and mostly is not. Being asked is the only way to find out which bits did not stick.
/quizme [your topic, or paste what you just read]
If that alone doesn't land:
Quiz me on this. One question at a time, wait for my answer before the next one, and make it harder or easier based on how I'm doing. At the end, tell me which parts I clearly haven't got yet.
The questions you are most likely to be asked. It was the exam at school. Now it is the sales call, the accountant, and the client who pushes back on your price.
Why it works. It is the same skill you wanted at 16. Only the exam changed name, and nobody ever told you that you could still study for it.
/questionpredictor [the topic, and who is going to ask: a client, my accountant, a buyer]
If that alone doesn't land:
What are the 10 questions I'm most likely to get asked about this, in order of how likely they are? Mark the 3 that would catch me out, and give me a short honest answer for each.
One page you can look at before the thing happens. The revision sheet you used to spend a Sunday making, except it takes 10 seconds and it is about your own business.
Why it works. A page has an edge. Fitting it forces an order of importance, which is the decision you were never going to make on your own.
/studyguide [your topic] If that alone doesn't land: Make me a one page study guide on [your topic]. The 5 things that matter most at the top, the words I need to know underneath, and the 3 mistakes to avoid at the bottom. It has to fit on one page.
Once you see that these are just short words, you can invent the one you personally need. If you keep asking for the same shape of answer every week, that is a shortcut waiting to happen. Give it a name once and use the name from then on.
I want to make my own shortcut word so I don't have to explain myself every time. From now on, when I type /[your word] followed by anything, it means: [describe exactly what you want back, including how long it should be and what it should never do]. Say it back to me in one sentence so I know you've got it. Then wait, and I'll try it.
In a chat that remembers you between conversations, save it and it keeps working. In one that doesn't, paste those 3 lines at the top of a new chat and it works for that chat.
These are not official features, so there is no version of this where they get switched off and you lose something. If a word ever stops giving you what you want, the fix is to say the same thing in a full sentence, which is what the second line on every card is for.
That is really the whole lesson, and it is worth more than the 10 words. You are allowed to tell it the shape you want. Most people never do, and then wonder why the answer was so hard to read.