5 ChatGPT Labels To Check Your Proposal Before Sending

A Lauren Fox prompt guide for checking a proposal or email before you send it. Define each label with the full instruction below and include your draft. These labels are shorthand you choose; typing a label alone does not activate a native ChatGPT command or guarantee accurate answers.

Start with your draft

Use one prompt at a time. Include who will read the draft, what decision you need and any confirmed constraints. Replace the square brackets. After each critique, decide what to change yourself. Keep private details out of examples you do not have permission to share.

Here is my [proposal/email]: [paste draft]. The reader is [recipient]. I want them to [decision or action]. Confirmed facts: [facts]. Unconfirmed assumptions: [assumptions]. Constraints: [budget and deadline]. Use this context for the review prompts that follow.

TRUTHMODE

Challenge the logic and ask for evidence.

TRUTHMODE: challenge my logic and skip the compliments. Review the draft and context above. Identify unsupported claims and label assumptions. If I say this saves the team time, ask how much, compared with what baseline and what evidence supports it. Ask for missing information instead of inventing facts. Suggest specific revisions and explain why each is needed.

REDTEAM

Find the strongest objections and weak assumptions.

REDTEAM: find the flaws in my assumptions. Review the draft and context above from the recipient's perspective. Identify the strongest objections, dependencies that could fail and unclear commitments. Check whether my plan assumes budget approval this quarter. Separate confirmed facts from assumptions. Suggest questions I should resolve before sending and ways to reduce each risk.

FUTUREYOU

Use a future perspective to question today's commitments.

FUTUREYOU: answer as my future self, a year from now. Treat this as a perspective exercise using only the draft and context above. Do not claim to know what will happen. Would I still commit to this deadline? Describe plausible reasons I might regret the commitment, explain which assumptions each depends on and suggest what I should check now.

ELI10

Make the ask easy to understand.

ELI10: explain my ask simply, like I'm ten. Use the draft and context above to write a clear opening line, then explain what I am asking the reader to decide. Keep the actual scope, budget and deadline intact. Avoid jargon and a childish tone. Ask me to clarify any ambiguous detail rather than choosing a meaning for me.

/human

Rewrite the revised draft in natural language.

/human: rewrite this naturally. Here is my revised draft: [paste revised proposal/email]. Keep my meaning and verified facts. Use direct, conversational language suitable for [recipient]. Preserve the details they need to decide, including the request and any conditions. Do not add claims, promises or personal experiences. Flag details that still need confirmation.

Example: a proposal

Illustrative draft: I propose a two-week pilot of an internal reporting assistant. This saves the team time. We can start this month and finish by Friday the 30th, assuming the budget is approved this quarter. Please approve the pilot.

TRUTHMODE should question the time-saving claim. Supply a real baseline before giving a figure. REDTEAM can flag the budget dependency and who must approve it. FUTUREYOU can help you question whether the deadline allows for testing. ELI10 can make the decision clear. Use /human after you have resolved the facts.

Possible revision, after checking the details: Could we run a two-week pilot of a reporting assistant? The aim is to reduce time spent preparing reports. We will measure the current process before the pilot and compare it with the results. The start date depends on budget approval. Please confirm who can approve the pilot, and we can agree a realistic deadline.

Example: an email

Illustrative draft: Hi Sam, the new process will save everyone hours every week. Can you sign it off today so we can launch on Monday?

Ask TRUTHMODE what evidence supports “everyone” and “hours”. Ask REDTEAM whether Sam has approval authority and whether Monday depends on another team. Use ELI10 to state the decision you need. Once you know the answers, use /human with your corrected email.

Possible revision: Hi Sam, could you review the proposed process and let me know whether you can approve a pilot? We have not measured the time saving yet. I would like to agree the success criteria before choosing a launch date. If approval sits with someone else, could you point me to them?

Before sending

• Verify factual claims against your own evidence. A confident critique can still be wrong.
• Confirm budget approval and deadlines with the people responsible.
• Check that the final version preserves your meaning and asks for a clear decision.
• Keep your judgement. These prompts support a review; they do not guarantee truth or predict the future.