Attention Factory · The ChatGPT Files

100
ChatGPT Secret Codes

The cheat sheet for pulling sharper answers out of ChatGPT. One hundred short phrases you drop into any prompt — each with an example you can copy tonight.

How to use them

Every code is just a phrase you add to your prompt. Put it at the start or the end, then ask your real question. Example: Truth mode. followed by what you actually want to know. That's the whole trick.

A guide by Mercy Thaddeus · mercythaddeus.xyz · Attention Factory

Get the truth

When you need ChatGPT to stop being polite and start being useful.

Truth mode

ChatGPT stops trying to please you and tells you what it actually thinks, even when it stings.

Truth mode. Here's my business plan — is it any good or am I kidding myself?

BEST FOR Gut-checking ideas you're attached to

/honest

Drops the diplomatic hedging and gives you the blunt version with nothing to lose.

/honest. Is this LinkedIn post landing or quietly embarrassing?

BEST FOR Feedback you suspect people are softening

Confidence check

Before you trust an answer, ChatGPT rates its own confidence and flags exactly where it guessed.

Answer this, then confidence check: how sure are you and where did you guess?

BEST FOR Research and facts you plan to act on

Red team

ChatGPT attacks your plan from every angle a sharp critic would, so you find the holes first.

Red team this launch plan. Tear it apart.

BEST FOR Pitches, plans, and big decisions

Steelman

Builds the strongest version of the argument against you — the fastest way to find soft logic.

Steelman the other side of: I should quit my job this quarter.

BEST FOR Testing a belief you hold strongly

Pre-mortem

Pretends your plan already failed, then works backwards to tell you why while you can still fix it.

Pre-mortem this. Assume it flopped in six months and tell me why.

BEST FOR Launches, partnerships, anything risky

No fluff

Strips praise, throat-clearing, and filler. Just the useful parts.

No fluff. What's wrong with this sales page?

BEST FOR When answers keep padding

Devil's advocate

Argues the opposite of your position hard, then scores which side is stronger.

Devil's advocate my pricing. Argue both sides, then pick a winner.

BEST FOR Sticky debates with yourself

Reality check

Separates what you want to be true from what the evidence supports.

Reality check. Am I ready to freelance full-time or still romanticizing it?

BEST FOR Career and money decisions

Risk rank

Lists the real risks in order of likelihood × impact, not vibes.

Risk rank this product launch. Top five only.

BEST FOR Prioritizing what can actually kill the plan

Think sharper

Codes that upgrade how ChatGPT reasons through a problem with you.

First principles

Throws out recycled advice and rebuilds from what is actually true.

First principles. How do I actually grow an audience from zero?

BEST FOR When every answer online sounds the same

Think harder

Spends more effort before answering — for tradeoffs with no obvious answer.

Should I take the offer or stay? Think harder.

BEST FOR Complex decisions

Step back

Before answering, tells you the better question you should be asking instead.

Step back first. What should I really be asking before I pick a niche?

BEST FOR When you're stuck on the wrong problem

Assumptions

Lists every hidden assumption baked into your question before it responds.

List the assumptions in my plan before you answer.

BEST FOR Spotting shaky ground under a decision

OODA

Runs your decision through Observe, Orient, Decide, Act and gives the move.

Run my pricing decision through OODA.

BEST FOR Fast decisions under pressure

Decision matrix

Scores options against weighted criteria so the choice stops being a vibe.

Put these three tools in a weighted decision matrix for my workflow.

BEST FOR Choosing between similar options

MECE

Breaks the problem into buckets that don't overlap and don't leave gaps.

MECE. Map every way this launch can fail.

BEST FOR Scoping messy problems

Second-order

Shows what happens after the obvious first effect — the downstream consequences.

Second-order effects of posting daily on LinkedIn for 90 days.

BEST FOR Strategy and habit decisions

Constraint flip

Solves the problem under a brutal constraint so the real levers show up.

Constraint flip: solve this with $0 and 3 hours a week.

BEST FOR When resources feel like the blocker

Tradeoff table

Forces an explicit tradeoff between speed, quality, cost, and risk.

Tradeoff table for shipping the MVP this month vs next quarter.

BEST FOR Product and project choices

See what you're missing

Codes for the blind spots you can't catch on your own.

/blind

Points out the blind spots you can't see because you're too close.

/blind. What am I missing about this content strategy?

BEST FOR Work you've stared at too long

/mirror

Reflects back who it thinks you are from everything you've said in the chat.

/mirror. From this whole conversation, who do you think I am?

BEST FOR A sharp outside read on yourself

Unlearn

Names things you probably believe about a topic that are actually wrong.

Unlearn. What do most people get wrong about ChatGPT?

BEST FOR Clearing bad assumptions before you learn

Counterfactual

Walks through exactly what changes if one key thing were different.

Counterfactual: what changes if I had no ad budget?

BEST FOR Stress-testing a plan against reality

Insights

Pulls non-obvious patterns out of your data or situation you'd skim past.

Insights. Here are my last 30 days of posts — find the patterns.

BEST FOR Numbers, habits, hidden trends

Future self

Answers as you, ten years from now, looking back at this moment.

Answer as my future self in 10 years. Should I start the business now?

BEST FOR Decisions clouded by short-term fear

Audience gap

Shows the gap between what you think you're saying and what the audience hears.

Audience gap. Here's my pitch — what does a busy stranger actually hear?

BEST FOR Messaging and positioning

Incentive map

Maps who benefits, who loses, and who will quietly resist.

Incentive map for rolling out this AI workflow at work.

BEST FOR Change management

Failure modes

Lists the top ways this fails in the real world, not in theory.

Failure modes for my new newsletter. Be concrete.

BEST FOR New products and habits

Missing data

Tells you what information you don't have yet that would change the answer.

Missing data. What do I still need before deciding on this hire?

BEST FOR Decisions with incomplete info

Learn and level up

Codes that turn ChatGPT into the teacher you wish you had.

ELI5

Explains anything like you're five — perfect for dense jargon.

ELI5 how RAG works in plain English.

BEST FOR Tax, contracts, AI jargon

Socrates

Teaches by asking you questions until it clicks, instead of dumping answers.

Socrates. Teach me prompt engineering by asking me questions.

BEST FOR Actually remembering what you learn

Expert mode

Answers at top-expert level and assumes you can keep up — no dumbing down.

Expert mode. Assume I know the basics. How does SEO really work now?

BEST FOR When ELI5 is too slow

Lindy

Gives the time-tested approach that has worked for decades, not this week's trend.

Lindy mode. What's the proven way to get fit — ignore the hype?

BEST FOR Cutting through fads

80-20

Shows the small slice of effort that drives most of the result.

80-20. What few ChatGPT habits actually move the needle?

BEST FOR When you're overwhelmed by options

Rubric

Builds a scoring rubric, then grades your work against it honestly.

Create a rubric for a strong cover letter, then score mine.

BEST FOR Improving anything you can measure

Curriculum

Builds a learning path with milestones, practice drills, and checkpoints.

Curriculum. Teach me SQL in 14 days with daily drills.

BEST FOR Skill acquisition

Quiz me

Tests you, grades you, and rewrites the weak spots until you pass.

Quiz me on this chapter until I score 90%.

BEST FOR Retention and exam prep

Analogy bank

Gives three analogies at different levels until one sticks.

Analogy bank. Explain APIs three ways — kid, coworker, engineer.

BEST FOR Hard concepts

Mistake log

Anticipates the mistakes beginners make and how to catch them early.

Mistake log for first-time freelancers. What will I mess up?

BEST FOR Starting something new

Write and ship

Codes for turning ChatGPT into your writer, editor, and finisher.

Gives three completely different versions so you pick the best.

D3. Write a message asking my boss for a raise.

BEST FOR Messages, captions, tone-sensitive copy

/human

Rewrites stiff, robotic text so it reads like a person wrote it.

/human. Rewrite this email so it sounds like me, not a template.

BEST FOR Making AI drafts sound natural

Compress

Cuts the fluff and gives the essential version — down to a line if you want.

Compress this into one tweet without losing the point.

BEST FOR Tightening long, rambly text

Persona

Rewrites for a specific reader so it actually lands.

Rewrite this pitch for a busy CEO who skims.

BEST FOR Matching message to audience

Template

Turns a one-off into a reusable template you can fill forever.

Turn this proposal into a blank template I can reuse.

BEST FOR Anything you do more than once

Voice lock

Matches your voice from samples, then stays locked for the draft.

Voice lock from these 3 posts. Rewrite this announcement in my voice.

BEST FOR Brand-consistent content

Hook ladder

Generates ranked opening lines from safe to bold.

Hook ladder for a reel about ChatGPT Work. Rank 10 hooks.

BEST FOR Social and email openers

Edit pass

Does a structural edit first, then a line edit — separately.

Edit pass. Structure first, then lines. Here's the draft.

BEST FOR Long-form writing

CTA forge

Builds clear calls to action with options for soft, direct, and urgent.

CTA forge for my webinar signup. Soft, direct, urgent.

BEST FOR Landing pages and posts

Ship checklist

Runs a pre-publish checklist: clarity, claims, tone, and missing pieces.

Ship checklist this LinkedIn carousel before I post.

BEST FOR Final QA before publish

Work and ops

Codes for email, meetings, plans, and the day-to-day grind.

Inbox triage

Sorts messages into reply today, this week, and ignore — with draft replies.

Inbox triage. Here's my email dump from the last 7 days.

BEST FOR Email overload

Meeting digest

Turns messy notes into decisions, owners, and next steps.

Meeting digest. Extract decisions, owners, and deadlines.

BEST FOR After every meeting

Agenda builder

Builds a tight agenda with timeboxes and desired outcomes.

Agenda builder for a 30-min hiring sync. Outcomes first.

BEST FOR Running better meetings

Status update

Writes a crisp status update: done, blocked, next — no fluff.

Status update for my manager from these notes.

BEST FOR Weekly reporting

SOP draft

Turns a messy process into a step-by-step SOP someone else can run.

SOP draft for how I publish a newsletter every Friday.

BEST FOR Delegating and systems

Prioritize

Ranks your list by impact vs effort and tells you what to cut.

Prioritize this task list. Kill anything that doesn't move the goal.

BEST FOR Overloaded weeks

Negotiation script

Builds talking points, counters, and walk-away lines.

Negotiation script for raising my freelance rate 30%.

BEST FOR Salary and client talks

Follow-up ladder

Writes a sequence of follow-ups that escalate without being annoying.

Follow-up ladder for a client who ghosted after the proposal.

BEST FOR Sales and partnerships

Job pack

Builds resume bullets, cover letter, and interview answers from one story bank.

Job pack for this role using my experience below.

BEST FOR Job applications

Week plan

Turns goals into a realistic weekly plan with buffers and focus blocks.

Week plan. Goals: ship the deck, close 2 leads, rest Sunday.

BEST FOR Weekly planning

Research and data

Codes for digging, comparing, and making numbers useful.

Research brief

Scopes the question, sources needed, and what done looks like before diving in.

Research brief. Competitors in AI coaching for freelancers.

BEST FOR Starting any research job

Source grade

Rates each claim by evidence quality and flags weak links.

Source grade this article. What's solid vs speculative?

BEST FOR Due diligence

Compare grid

Builds a side-by-side comparison with criteria you care about.

Compare grid: Notion vs Obsidian vs Capacities for a second brain.

BEST FOR Tool and vendor choices

Summarize deep

Multi-pass summary: one line, one paragraph, then key takeaways and open questions.

Summarize deep this transcript.

BEST FOR Long docs and calls

Extract

Pulls structured fields from messy text into a clean table.

Extract: company, role, salary, location from these job posts.

BEST FOR Cleaning unstructured data

Trend scan

Separates lasting trends from noise and hype cycles.

Trend scan. What's real vs hype in AI agents right now?

BEST FOR Market reading

Number story

Turns a spreadsheet dump into a narrative a human can act on.

Number story. What moved, why, and the one action.

BEST FOR Weekly metrics

Cite or cut

Only keeps claims it can support; cuts or marks the rest as unknown.

Cite or cut. Rewrite this section with only supported claims.

BEST FOR Trustworthy writing

Interview guide

Builds questions that get useful answers, not fluff.

Interview guide for customer discovery with early adopters.

BEST FOR User research

Brief to brief

Turns raw research into an exec brief under one page.

Brief to brief. One page for leadership from these notes.

BEST FOR Leadership updates

Build with ChatGPT

Codes that lean on Canvas, code, files, and interactive output.

Canvas mode

Asks for a Canvas doc or app you can edit live instead of a chat dump.

Canvas mode. Build a one-page project brief I can edit with you.

BEST FOR Collaborative drafting

Spreadsheet

Builds formulas, structure, and sample data you can download and use.

Spreadsheet. Build a content calendar with status and due dates.

BEST FOR Ops trackers

Code it

Writes working code, explains it, and includes how to run it.

Code it. A Python script that renames files by date.

BEST FOR Automations and tools

Debug

Diagnoses errors from the message and the surrounding code, then patches.

Debug. Here's the error and the function. Fix it and explain why.

BEST FOR Broken scripts

Prototype

Ships a minimal interactive prototype you can click through.

Prototype a simple habit tracker UI I can try in Canvas.

BEST FOR Product ideas

Diagram

Draws the system as a clear diagram or flowchart in text/mermaid.

Diagram the customer onboarding flow end to end.

BEST FOR Process clarity

Prompt pack

Turns one workflow into a reusable pack of prompts with inputs/outputs.

Prompt pack for my weekly content pipeline.

BEST FOR Repeatable AI workflows

Custom GPT brief

Writes instructions, knowledge needs, and test cases for a Custom GPT.

Custom GPT brief for a brand-voice editor that never invents claims.

BEST FOR Building Custom GPTs

File audit

Reviews an uploaded file for structure, gaps, and quick wins.

File audit this spreadsheet. What's messy and what to fix first?

BEST FOR Spreadsheets and docs

Automate recipe

Designs a no-code or light-code automation with triggers and steps.

Automate recipe: new Typeform lead → Slack + Notion + thank-you email.

BEST FOR Ops automation

Content and brand

Codes for creators, marketers, and anyone shipping content weekly.

Content engine

Turns one idea into a week's worth of posts across formats.

Content engine. One idea: 'AI won't replace you, workflows will.'

BEST FOR Weekly content planning

Hook + body + CTA

Forces every draft into hook, body, CTA — no wandering.

Hook + body + CTA for a carousel on ChatGPT Projects.

BEST FOR Social posts that convert

Story spine

Structures a story with setup, tension, turn, and takeaway.

Story spine for a founder story about almost quitting.

BEST FOR Reels and keynotes

Brand voice card

Builds a one-pager of voice rules, do/don't, and sample lines.

Brand voice card from these 5 posts I love.

BEST FOR Consistent brand writing

Objection crush

Lists the top objections and writes replies that don't sound defensive.

Objection crush for 'I don't have time to learn AI.'

BEST FOR Sales and comments

SEO outline

Builds a search-aware outline with intent, FAQs, and internal link ideas.

SEO outline for 'how to use ChatGPT for business'.

BEST FOR Blog and landing pages

Thumbnail text

Writes short, punchy on-image text options for thumbnails.

Thumbnail text. 12 options under 6 words for this YouTube title.

BEST FOR YouTube and ads

Repurpose

Takes one long piece and slices it into platform-native formats.

Repurpose this newsletter into LinkedIn, X, and a short script.

BEST FOR One-to-many content

Series map

Plans a multi-part series with cliffhangers and payoffs.

Series map. 5-part series teaching ChatGPT Work from zero.

BEST FOR Course and series content

Comment bait

Writes endings that invite a specific, easy comment.

Comment bait. End this post so people reply with their stack.

BEST FOR Engagement on social

Agent and power moves

Codes for Projects, Work, memory, and long autonomous runs.

Project brain

Sets up Project instructions: goals, constraints, voice, and what never to invent.

Project brain. Write instructions for my 'Client Delivery' Project.

BEST FOR ChatGPT Projects

Work brief

Writes a ChatGPT Work brief with outcome, apps, approvals, and definition of done.

Work brief. Weekly metrics report from Sheet + Slack digest. No sending.

BEST FOR ChatGPT Work agents

Plan mode

Forces a plan first — steps, risks, and checkpoints — before any build.

Plan mode. Show the plan for this campaign pack before you build.

BEST FOR Long agent tasks

Memory write

Saves durable preferences as clear memory notes, not vague vibes.

Memory write. Remember: short answers, no emojis, British spelling.

BEST FOR Persistent preferences

Continue

Restarts a stalled agent from the last verified step, not from scratch.

Continue from the last verified step. Don't re-derive what's done.

BEST FOR Long runs that pause

Verify

Audits claims against files/tool results before reporting progress.

Verify. Only report what you can point to in the files.

BEST FOR Stopping confident nonsense

Guardrails

Sets hard rules: what it can touch, what needs approval, what is off-limits.

Guardrails. Draft only. Never send email or post. Ask before deletes.

BEST FOR Safe agent setup

Sol lane

Routes the hard, multi-step job to deeper reasoning (Sol / high effort).

Sol lane. Architecture decision across 4 services — don't rush.

BEST FOR Hard reasoning jobs

Terra lane

Routes scoped everyday work to the balanced default (Terra).

Terra lane. Draft the weekly update and a clean checklist.

BEST FOR Everyday agentic work

100

Luna lane

Routes bulk/low-stakes volume work to the fast cheap lane (Luna).

Luna lane. Tag and summarize these 40 support tickets.

BEST FOR Bulk cleanup and tagging

That's all one hundred.

Start with five that fit what you're working on this week. Once they're muscle memory, the rest will follow.

Save this. Steal from it. Send it to the friend who still types one-line prompts.

Mercy Thaddeus · Attention Factory · attentionfactory.io