The “Polite Prompt” Trap: Why being rude to ChatGPT gets better results

If you grew up with the internet, you were probably taught to be polite. You treat the chat interface like a colleague. You say “please,” you ask “could you,” and you frame requests as questions. (btw, please keep doing this with humans!)

In the world of AI, this is a mistake.

When you are polite to a Large Language Model (LLM), you are giving it wiggle room.

“Could you write a headline?” implies a choice.

It implies a conversation.

The AI responds by mimicking a helpful assistant: it gives you a preamble (”Sure! Here are some options…”), a list of mediocre ideas, and a polite sign-off.

It’s friendly, but it’s inefficient.

To get high-leverage output, you need to stop asking and start commanding. You need Hard Constraints.

The Probability Field Think of an LLM as a prediction engine. When you ask a vague question, the field of probable answers is massive. It grabs the “average” of the internet and you seen it… mediocre.

When you add a Hard Constraint, you slash that probability field in half. You force the AI into a corner where the only possible output is the one you actually want.

Here are three “Constraint Codes” I use daily. You can copy and paste these directly to the end of your next prompt.

1. The Brevity Constraint (The “NORN” Protocol)

I shared this on Notes the other day, and it’s the one I use most. Use this when you need a headline, a tweet, or a subject line and you don’t want the AI to “chat” with you.

Copy/Paste: “Constraints: Max 280 characters. No preamble. No follow-up questions. Output only the text asked for.”

2. The “Anti-Robot” Constraint

AI loves words like “delve,” “tapestry,” and “landscape.” It creates that flat, corporate-sounding prose we all hate. This constraint forces it to sound human by removing its crutches.

Copy/Paste: “Constraints: Use active voice only. Do not use the words: delve, tapestry, leverage, unlock, or realm. Write at a 5th-grade reading level. Vary sentence length.”

3. The Format Constraint

Sometimes you don’t want paragraphs; you want data. If you don’t specify the structure, the AI will guess. Don’t let it guess.

Copy/Paste: “Constraints: Output format = Markdown Table. Columns: [Concept], [Action Step], [Example]. Do not write any text before or after the table.”

Why This Matters I’ve spent months mapping out these inputs into what I call the Mythical Frameworks which is a system of 9 specific “modes” like ARGUS (for clarity) and VALKYRIE (for persuasion).

But you don’t need to memorize a system to get better results today. You just need to change your mindset.

Your AI isn’t your friend. It’s an engine. Stop being polite, set your constraints, and watch the quality of your output double. Be ruthless with the robot so you can be gracious with the reader. Save the politeness for the comments section where the real humans are.

Let me know in the comments: What is the one word you ban your AI from using?