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December prompt history

A monthly peek inside my ChatGPT history

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Hello my nosey friends,

A key idea of this newsletter is to give you a behind the scenes look at how I use AI.

While most of my AI usage these days happens in coding tools (Codex and Claude Code) where I build products, I’ve also had 200+ conversations with ChatGPT and Claude over the last month.

Random questions, one-off problems, marketing stuff and small tasks where AI makes me faster.

Here are 10 real examples.

The silly seahorse question

I saw on Reddit that if you ask ChatGPT if there's a seahorse emoji it will have a meltdown. I tried and no meltdown! Seems like it was a GPT-5 thing.

PS you might notice ChatGPT’s responses begin with a short TLDR sentence consistently. That's because I have this prompt in my custom instructions:

What's this thing?

An AirBnB we were staying in had a type of heat-meter we hadn’t seen before. Sending photos of strange objects to find out what they are is something I do all the time.

Why is my website traffic using so much bandwidth?

On one of my websites, I have some pages with hidden image elements (the CSS property display: none). I didn't think they were consuming bandwidth until I checked my usage dashboard. I pasted screenshots from the site's code and the bandwidth chart. I ended up removing the unused images, and bandwidth is way down now.

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What monitor size should I buy?

I was renewing my workspace and wanted to buy a monitor. I asked for recommendations based on a monitor I saw on Instagram, and gave ChatGPT info about my table size and how I'll use the display.

Creating a Google Sheets formula that builds an email from spreadsheet data

I wanted to make performance reporting to my newsletter sponsors easier on my end, so I had ChatGPT create a formula that inserts the correct metrics (from my spreadsheet where I track these things) into an email template.

Finding an API that lists companies that just received funding

Reaching companies at the right moment is key for ad sales. Companies that just raised capital = the budget and the pressure to deliver results. I asked ChatGPT to find APIs that track funding announcements to improve my outreach timing.

Creating targeted ad variations based on data

Sponsors often want me to adapt their ad copy to match my audience's actual struggles. I have a Claude Project loaded with survey data from 1,300 subscribers + my full newsletter positioning. It helps me generate solid first drafts quickly, which I then refine manually.

Evaluating the value proposition for a product I'm building

I’m building a product and am working on how to position it so that it’s understood and desired by the right people. After lots of research I landed on two strong versions and used Claude to help me evaluate which one was the best.

Learning about Plato's allegory of the cave

I often use AI to explain concepts and ideas I hear about elsewhere. A lot of the time, I simply read the response and it ends there. In this case, I ended up digging deeper and putting Plato’s The Republic on my reading list.

Estimating the macronutrients for a meal

I try to ballpark my food intake to make sure I have a healthy ratio of proteins/carbs/fat. I do this in my head throughout the day when I prepare food myself, but it’s not always easy with restaurant/take-out food. Giving AI a description or a photo works pretty well for an estimate.

And there you have it.

Most of these threads fall into three buckets: spontaneous learning, making tedious work faster, and using Claude as a creative thinking partner.

I try to be deliberate about when I reach for AI.

Honorable mentions

• Finding the resale price of a vintage perfume bottle based on a photo

• A bunch of recipes: e.g. "give me a gluten-free pancake recipe for 2 people, with a peanut-blueberry sauce"

• “Is broth and bullion the same thing?”

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This was a totally new type of post for me. How did you like it? Leave a comment in the poll below 🔮

ALL RIGHT, ENOUGH AI FOR TODAY

Disclosure: To cover the cost of my email software and the time I spend writing this newsletter, I sometimes work with sponsors and may earn a commission if you buy something through a link in here. If you choose to click, subscribe, or buy through any of them, THANK YOU – it will make it possible for me to continue to do this.