Most prompting advice tells people what to do. A sharper, more memorable format flips this around entirely: showing specific, common phrases and habits people put into AI prompts that reliably produce worse results, with a clear explanation of why — and, ideally, a real before/after example to make the lesson concrete.
Why Negative Framing Sticks Better
“Don’t do X” is often more memorable and more shareable than “do Y,” because it directly names a mistake the viewer might recognize themselves making right now, creating an immediate personal relevance that generic best-practice advice doesn’t have. A post titled “stop writing ‘make it better’ in your prompts” gets a stronger reaction than “how to write clearer prompts,” even though they’re teaching related lessons.
Examples of the Format
Vague adjectives without concrete criteria (“make it more professional” — professional according to what standard, for what audience?)
Asking for multiple unrelated things in a single prompt without structure, then being surprised the output tries to do everything shallowly
Never providing an example of the desired output when one is easy to give
Asking an open-ended question when a specific constraint (word count, format, tone reference) would produce a dramatically better result
Assuming the AI remembers context from a much earlier, unrelated conversation
Structuring Each Post
Name the specific habit clearly and directly. Show a real example of the weak result it produces. Explain briefly why it happens — not just “this is wrong” but the actual underlying reason the vague instruction leads to a vague result. Show the fixed version side by side, so the lesson is concrete and immediately actionable, not just theoretical.
Building a Series
This format works exceptionally well as an ongoing series rather than a one-off post, because the “anti-pattern” framing is inherently expandable — there’s always another common mistake to cover, and viewers who found one installment useful are naturally inclined to follow for more, creating built-in format recognition and audience retention.
Avoiding a Common Trap
The risk with this format is becoming purely critical or mocking in tone, which wears thin quickly and can feel like punching down at less experienced users. The strongest version stays curious and constructive — treating each “anti-prompt” as a genuinely understandable mistake (because the underlying assumption usually makes intuitive sense) rather than an obvious failure, which keeps the tone welcoming rather than superior.
This format pairs naturally with the “I fixed your prompt” format covered elsewhere in this series — together they build a comprehensive, highly practical body of content around prompting skill that positions you as a genuine expert without ever needing to say so directly.
