The 5-Pattern Prompt

Most “bad” AI answers aren’t the AI’s fault. They’re because the prompt was vague. Garbage in, garbage out — same as everything else.

This lesson teaches you the single most useful prompting framework: R-T-C-F-C.

Letter	Stands for	Asks
R	Role	Who should the AI act as?
T	Task	What do you want it to do?
C	Context	What does it need to know?
F	Format	What should the answer look like?
C	Constraints	What rules must it follow?

You don’t need all five every time. Hitting three out of five is usually enough to dramatically improve any answer. Let’s go through them.

R — Role

Who should the AI act as while answering?

Act as a no-nonsense career coach with 15 years in tech.

Roles tune the voice, vocabulary, and priorities. “Career coach” thinks about your career goals. “Recruiter” thinks about hiring filters. “Friend” is warm. “Editor” is critical.

Cheap upgrade: Add a level of expertise. “A career coach with 15 years in tech” beats “a career coach.”

T — Task

What’s the verb? What are you asking it to do?

Rewrite the bullet points on my resume so each one starts with a strong action verb and ends with a measurable result.

Use clear action verbs: rewrite, summarize, brainstorm, plan, explain, critique, compare, draft, list. One task per prompt is usually enough.

C — Context

What does the AI need to know to do the task well? This is the part most people skip — and it’s the highest-leverage part.

Context: I’m a marketing manager applying to early-stage SaaS startups. My current bullets are below.

The more context, the better the answer. Paste in your draft. Paste the email you’re replying to. Describe the audience. Mention what you’ve already tried. Mention what you don’t want.

Hot tip: the AI doesn’t know anything about you unless you tell it. Treat every conversation like talking to a smart stranger who’s never met you.

F — Format

How should the answer look?

Format: 5 rewritten bullets, each in this format — “[Verb] [project] resulting in [outcome and number].”

Specifying format is a 30-second cheat code. “Give me a table.” “Give me three options.” “Make it a 5-point checklist.” “Write it in second person (‘you…’).” “Keep it under 100 words.”

C — Constraints

What should it not do? What rules are non-negotiable?

Constraints: Don’t make up numbers. If you don’t know a metric, write [METRIC] as a placeholder I can fill in. Don’t use words like “synergy,” “leverage,” or “passionate.”

Constraints prevent the most common AI failures: making things up, using cliché business-speak, being too long, being too short, missing the tone. Always tell it what not to do.

Putting it all together

Here’s the same prompt as 1) a beginner version and 2) an R-T-C-F-C version. Compare them.

Beginner:

Help me rewrite my resume.

R-T-C-F-C:

You are a no-nonsense career coach with 15 years in tech. (Role)

Rewrite the 5 bullet points below so each starts with a strong action verb and ends with a measurable result. (Task)

Context: I’m a marketing manager with 6 years of experience applying to early-stage SaaS startups. The bullets below are from my current resume. They’re vague.

Format: Give me 5 rewritten bullets in this exact format — “[Verb] [project], resulting in [outcome + metric].” (Format)

Constraints: Don’t invent numbers — if you don’t know a metric, write [METRIC] for me to fill in. Don’t use the words “leverage,” “synergy,” “passionate,” or “results-driven.” (Constraints)

Bullets: - Worked on email campaigns for the marketing team - Helped redesign the homepage - Was responsible for SEO

The second prompt will get you a vastly better answer. Same AI. Same model. Just a better question.

Reusable template

Save this somewhere. Adapt it for everything.

ROLE: You are a [specialty + experience level].

TASK: [verb] [exactly what you want].

CONTEXT: [who you are] [what the situation is] [what you've already tried] [audience].

FORMAT: [structure] [length] [tone] [examples of what good looks like].

CONSTRAINTS: [what NOT to do] [must include] [must avoid].

INPUT:
[paste anything relevant — drafts, emails, data, links]

Try this challenge (5 minutes)

Pick a real task — drafting an email, fixing a bio, planning a meal — and write it both ways. The “regular” prompt and the R-T-C-F-C prompt. Send both. Compare the answers.

You’ll never go back.

Where to go next

Lesson 05 — 10 Things to Try Your First Week →