The 3 Prompts I Run Before Any New Content Batch

Every time I sit down to generate a batch of reels, I run three prompts before the actual generation. They take about five minutes total. They've saved me more re-renders than any other thing I do.

Prompt 1: "What did I post last batch?"

I paste the previous batch's titles into a chat and ask: "What's the throughline of these? What topics are over-represented? What's the dominant tone?" The answer gives me a guardrail for the next batch — if the previous one was four posts about side hustles and one about parenting, I know to swing wider.

This is the one most creators skip. They generate batches in isolation and end up with three months of identical-shaped reels. The audience notices before the algorithm does.

Prompt 2: "Roast this batch concept"

Before I write any actual scripts, I tell the model what I'm planning and ask it to find the weakest reel in the batch. "Here are the ten ideas I'm about to draft. Which one is the most generic? Which one is the most likely to land flat? Which one would I ship anyway and regret?"

The model is shockingly good at this. It usually finds one or two reels that are technically fine but have no real edge. I cut those before drafting. That's a 20% draft savings, and the remaining batch is sharper.

Prompt 3: "Pretend you're me from 6 months ago"

The third prompt is the voice check. I paste my persona description and ask the model to rewrite one sentence from the previous batch in three different voices: too polished, too hype, and exactly right. Then I have it grade where the actual previous batch landed on that scale.

Voice drift is sneaky. It happens by half-degrees per batch. By the time you notice, you've shifted from "calm dry tech-dad" to "energetic productivity guru" without ever deciding to. Running this prompt before drafting catches the drift before it ships.

Five minutes, not fifty

None of these are deep prompts. They're checks. The whole pre-flight takes about as long as making coffee. The payoff is that the batch I draft afterward is in voice, doesn't repeat last batch, and skips the dud reels before they cost render time.

The pre-flight isn't where the writing happens. It's where the writing gets aimed. Skip it once and you'll see the difference.

— Jeff