Imagine walking into a friend's house and rattling off a 20-minute monologue with every single detail of a challenge you're facing.

No pause. No space for questions. Just a nonstop, 20-minute word vomit.

That's how most of us are using AI. We dump a giant wall of text into a prompt, cross our fingers, and hope for magic. Instead of working with AI, we're treating it like a command line.

No wonder the results often fall flat!

In this short episode, I share a better way—one that mirrors the way we'd talk with a trusted colleague. When you approach AI as a conversation partner, you open the door to deeper insights, sharper thinking, and far better results.

What You'll Learn in This Episode:

• Why "one shot" prompting works against you most of the time.
• How to reframe AI interactions as a natural dialogue.
• The 3R Prompting Framework: Role, Reference, Requirements.
• Practical ways to build your ideas step by step through conversation.
• How this iterative approach keeps your critical thinking skills sharp.

Key Takeaways

• Think conversation, not commands. Don't unload every detail upfront—start small and build.
• Use the 3Rs. Define the Role you want AI to play, provide the essential Reference, and clearly state your Requirements.
• Stay in the driver's seat. A healthy back-and-forth keeps you engaged and prevents outsourcing your thinking entirely.
• Break it down. Just like building a house, you lay the foundation first and add each piece thoughtfully.

Try This Exercise

Next time you open up your favorite AI tool, instead of pasting in a giant prompt, try this:

1. Start with the core issue.
2. Ask AI a probing question like: What key themes do you see here?
3. Use its response to refine your thinking.
4. Layer in more details only as needed.

You'll be surprised how much better the output (and your own clarity) becomes.

AI is changing how we work. But many freelancers are falling into the trap of using it in the least effective way possible: by relying on massive, fully pre-written prompts that remove you from the creative process.

In this episode, I share a better, more natural approach that treats AI like a trusted collaborator rather than a black box you dump instructions into. You'll learn my simple 3R Prompting framework and see how an iterative, conversational workflow can help you get sharper insights, stronger ideas, and better final results.

What You'll Learn in This Episode

• Why "one-shot" prompts often produce generic, uninspired output.
• How to use the 3R Prompting framework (Role, Reference, Requirements) to set AI up for success.
• The power of iterative dialogue vs. information overload.
• A step-by-step example of moving from raw ideas to polished output through back-and-forth with AI.
• How this approach can make you not only more productive but also a better thinker and problem solver.

Key Takeaway: The most powerful way to use AI is to guide it through a focused, iterative conversation that keeps you in control of the process and the creative direction. That's much better than overloading it with information and expecting magic from just one massive prompt.

Listener Challenge: This week, take one project you might normally hand over to AI in a single big prompt and instead break it into 3–4 smaller conversational steps. Start with the 3R framework, then feed in additional details as you go. Notice how the quality (and your own thinking) improves along the way.