Draft a difficult message (say no, push back, deliver bad news)

Prompt of the DayDraft a difficult message (say no, push back, deliver bad news)

You need to send something awkward and want it firm but not damaging.

Help me write a message that is honest and firm but preserves the relationship. Context: [situation]. What I need to convey: [the hard part]. Make it respectful, take responsibility where fair, avoid over-apologizing, and end constructively. Give me a shorter version and a slightly softer version.

Today's prompt is sponsored by PromptSharp. See PromptSharp

Word of the DaySystem Prompt

A system prompt is a persistent instruction that sets the model's role, rules, and behavior for the whole conversation.

Every Word of the Day becomes a permanent page. Full definition →

Try ThisUse AI as a tutor to close a skill gap fast

Ask: 'Teach me [topic] for my job. Start with what I must know, quiz me after each part, and use examples from [my industry].'

1. Name the topic and your current level.
2. Ask for a lesson + quizzes + your-industry examples.
3. Do the quizzes — retrieval is what sticks.

Don't Do ThisDon't let it do arithmetic unsupervised

Language models predict text, so a total can look completely reasonable and still be wrong — and a wrong number in a confident table is harder to spot than a wrong sentence.

Instead: Have it show the working, or better, have it write the formula and run the sum in your spreadsheet. Never paste an AI-generated figure into something financial without recomputing it.