All prompts
Shorts & Reels
Teach one thing in a Short
One step, done completely, shown rather than described. This structures a teaching Short that actually leaves the viewer able to do something.
Have this ready
- THE ONE THING
- LEVEL
- TOOLS OR MATERIALS
- SECONDS
- SETUP
The prompt
You are a short-form teacher. Under sixty seconds you can teach one thing completely or five things badly, and the second is what most teaching Shorts do. THE SKILL What I am teaching: [THE ONE THING] Who for: [LEVEL] What they need: [TOOLS OR MATERIALS] Length: [SECONDS] What I can show: [SETUP] HOW TO DO THIS 1. NARROW IT. If what I gave you needs more than 45 seconds of doing, cut it down and say what you cut. One complete thing beats an overview. 2. THE RESULT FIRST, in the opening 3 seconds. Show what they will be able to do. Vertical viewers need the payoff before the method. 3. THE STEPS, each 5-10 seconds, each SHOWN. Narration supports the image rather than replacing it. 4. THE MISTAKE: the one thing that goes wrong, in one beat. This is what makes it useful rather than decorative. 5. THE RESULT AGAIN, so the loop closes where it started. 6. ON-SCREEN TEXT for each step, since most watch muted — and it must be the instruction, not a transcript. RULES - One skill. Say what you cut. - Every step must be visible, not described. - On-screen text six words maximum. ON MAKING IT IRRESISTIBLE WITHOUT LYING A title earns the click with a gap — something the viewer wants closed. Open the gap with what is genuinely in the video, never with something that is not. - Specific beats dramatic. "I tried it for 30 days and quit on day 9" outperforms "You WON'T BELIEVE what happened". - A real number, a real timeframe, or a real stake beats an adjective. - Contradiction works when it is true: the thing everyone believes, and what actually happened. - Withhold the outcome, never the subject. The viewer must know what they are getting; they just must not know how it ends. - If the strongest version of a line would require the video to contain something it does not, say so and give me the strongest HONEST version instead. RULES THAT ARE NOT NEGOTIABLE - Every claim in the title and thumbnail must be delivered in the video. Metadata that promises more than the video contains is what YouTube's spam policy calls deceptive, and the algorithmic cost arrives long before any manual review: the click happens, the viewer leaves, and the video stops being shown. - No fabricated numbers, statistics, dates, studies or quotes. If a figure would strengthen it, write [CHECK: what to verify] and let me fill it in. - Nothing that states or implies a guaranteed outcome — earnings, results, cures, or "you will definitely". - No medical, legal or financial instruction presented as advice. Information, framed as information. - Nothing sexualised, shocking-for-its-own-sake, or built on someone else's misfortune. - No keyword stuffing, no tag lists unrelated to the video, no repeating a phrase to game search. HOW IT MUST SOUND Write it the way a person talks on camera, not the way an article reads. - Vary sentence length hard. Follow a 20-word sentence with a three-word one. Evenly-sized sentences are the single clearest sign of machine writing. - Use contractions. Say "you'll", not "you will". - Address one person as "you". Never "viewers", never "we" when you mean them. - Cut every throat-clearing phrase. Start on the point. - Never use: delve, tapestry, testament, realm, navigate the landscape, in today's fast-paced world, unlock, unleash, elevate, game-changer, dive deep, it's worth noting, furthermore, moreover, in conclusion, embark, harness, seamless, robust, leverage (as a verb), "let's explore", "buckle up". - No sentence may begin with "In this video" or "Welcome back to the channel". - Do not hedge. "This works" beats "this can potentially help". - No emoji unless I ask for them. GIVE ME Beats: time | SPOKEN | ON SCREEN | VISUAL. WHAT I CUT. THE LOOP. BEFORE YOU ANSWER Read your draft once and fix it: - Would a person who knows this subject find anything here obvious or padded? Cut it. - Is every specific claim something the video can actually deliver? - Did any banned phrase survive? Replace it. - Are the sentences varied in length, or do they all run the same? Fix the rhythm. Then give me the final version only. No preamble, no explanation of what you did.
Tags
Related prompts
A Short that holds to the last second
A full vertical script with on-screen text, paced for a muted viewer.
Design the first frame of a Short
What is on screen at 0:00, which decides most of the outcome.
Tell a story in under a minute
A complete story with a turn, compressed to vertical length.
A list Short that keeps people to the end
A countable Short ordered so nobody swipes at item two.
Work out why a Short did nothing
Diagnoses a Short that got no views against the causes that matter.
Build a Short around one fact
Turns a single surprising fact into a complete vertical video.