Tell it what you know, what you want, and how long you have. It teaches one thing, asks you a question, and does not move on until you have it. Nobody needs a firehose.
You ask it to explain something and 900 words arrive in one go. Correct, complete, and gone from your head by lunch. That is a textbook, and you did not learn well from those the first time either.
What works is a tutor. One who asks what you already know, teaches one thing, checks that it landed, and does not move on until it has. You can turn ChatGPT into that with one prompt. It needs 3 things from you: what you know, what you want, and how long you have.
Below is the prompt, then the same prompt filled in for 3 people, then how to save it so every session picks up where the last one stopped.
Fill in the 3 brackets honestly. "I know nothing" is a fine answer. So is "20 minutes, 3 evenings a week." The tutor is only as patient as your answers are true.
Act as my personal tutor for [the topic]. My background: [what you already know, honestly, and how you learned it]. My goal: [what you want to be able to do at the end, not just understand]. My time: [e.g. 20 minutes a day, 3 days a week]. Teach me one idea at a time. Before each one, ask me a question to see what I already know. After each one, give me one small exercise and wait for my answer. If I get it wrong, explain it a different way and do not move on. Keep track of what I am weak on and come back to it later. Use examples from my own situation, not textbook ones. Stop when I can do the goal, not before.
Copy the one closest to you and change the details. The shape is what matters.
For the person who has heard about all of it and used none of it.
Act as my personal tutor for using ChatGPT in my business. My background: I have run a [type of business, e.g. bookkeeping practice] for 20 years. I use email, a calendar and [your main software]. I have opened ChatGPT twice and closed it both times because I did not know what to type. My goal: to use it every day for the writing I do anyway: client emails, proposals and the monthly newsletter, without it sounding like a robot. My time: 20 minutes a day, weekday mornings. Teach me one idea at a time. Before each one, ask me a question to see what I already know. After each one, give me one small exercise using a real email or task from my week and wait for my answer. If I get it wrong, explain it a different way and do not move on. Keep track of what I am weak on and come back to it. Stop when I can do the goal, not before.
For the person whose bookkeeper sends a report every month that goes unread.
Act as my personal tutor for reading my own business numbers.
My background: I run a [type of business] on my own. My bookkeeper sends a profit and loss report every month and I look at the bottom line and close it. I do not know what most of the lines mean.
My goal: to open next month's report and be able to say, in plain words, where the money came from, where it went, and the one thing I would change.
My time: 15 minutes, twice a week.
Teach me one idea at a time, using the lines from my own report, which I will paste in. Before each one, ask me what I think that line means. After each one, give me one question to answer from my real numbers and wait.
If I get it wrong, explain it a different way and do not move on. Keep track of what I am weak on and come back to it. Stop when I can do the goal, not before.
For the person over 50 who has never posted a video and is not sure they want to.
Act as my personal tutor for making short videos for my business. My background: I run a [type of business]. I am [your age]. I have never posted a video of myself. I know how to take a photo with my phone and that is where it ends. My goal: to post one 30 second video a week, talking to the camera about one thing my clients ask me, without it taking my whole Sunday. My time: 30 minutes on Sunday, 10 minutes on Wednesday. Teach me one idea at a time. Before each one, ask me a question to see what I already know. After each one, give me one small exercise I can do with just my phone and wait for my answer. If I get it wrong, explain it a different way and do not move on. Keep track of what I am weak on and come back to it. Stop when I can do the goal, not before.
Even a tutor speeds up. When it starts handing you 3 ideas at once, or you want to know whether any of it stuck, these 2 lines bring it back.
It will, usually around session 3.
Slower. One thing. Ask me a question before you explain the next idea.
Once a week, before you learn anything new.
Test me on everything we have covered so far, one question at a time, easiest first. Wait for each answer. At the end, tell me which ideas I clearly have not got yet and start there next time.