DEV Community: Grom Yang

50 ChatGPT Prompts That Save Me 10 Hours Every Week

Grom Yang — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 23:28:07 +0000

I write about AI tools. Someone asked in the comments: "What specific prompts do you actually use?"

Here are the ones I use most.

For Writing:
First draft prompt: "I am writing about [topic]. Give me 5 angles that are different from the obvious take."

Editing prompt: "Here is my draft: [paste]. Make it more direct, remove filler words, keep my voice."

Headline prompt: "Write 10 headlines for this article: [paste summary]. Make them specific and benefit-driven."

For Research:
"Explain [topic] to me like I am a smart 25-year-old who is not in your field."

"I need to research [topic]. What are 5 specific sub-topics I should cover?"

For Productivity:
"Help me review my week. What went well? What should I change?"

"It is Monday morning. I have [list tasks]. What should I prioritize and why?"

For Content:
"I run a [type] blog about [topic]. Give me 20 post ideas that would resonate with [audience]."

These are the prompts I use every day. The key insight: prompts are only as good as the context you give.

I Built a 4.99 Product That Actually Sells. Here Is What I Learned.

Grom Yang — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 23:27:02 +0000

Three months ago I created a digital product. A prompt pack for AI writing tools.

Cost me $0 to create. Three days of work. Listed on Gumroad at $4.99.

Here's what happened:

Month 1: 0 sales. No audience, no traffic, no nothing.

Month 2: Still 0 sales. But I started writing on Dev.to. Published 5 articles about AI tools and productivity.

Month 3: First sale. Then three more. Not a fortune, but proof it works.

What I learned:

Product creation is the easy part. Distribution is everything.
Content marketing is the only free channel that actually works for digital products.
You do not need many products. You need one good one and consistent content.
The best product to sell is something you already use. I created the prompt pack because I use these prompts myself every day.

If you are thinking about creating a digital product:

Start with what you already use. Package your best knowledge. Sell it for $5-10. Build an audience from the free content you create about it.

No audience? Start writing. Every article is an asset that works for you 24/7.

The Best Free AI Tools I Actually Use Every Day

Grom Yang — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 22:55:45 +0000

There are hundreds of AI tools out there. Most are hype.

After using AI daily for over a year, here are the ones I actually rely on.

Writing and Content

Claude (Anthropic)

Best for: Long-form writing, brainstorming, editing.

Why: The conversation memory is excellent. I can reference earlier discussions without repeating context. The writing style feels more natural than most alternatives.

Free tier: Generous.

Notion AI

Best for: Summarizing notes, rewriting, improving clarity.

Why: Integrates directly into my note-taking workflow. One click to improve a paragraph or extract key points from a meeting note.

Free tier: Limited but enough for light use.

Research and Information

Perplexity AI

Best for: Fast research on specific topics.

Why: Gives you sources directly. Unlike ChatGPT, it shows where the information comes from. Great for fact-checking.

Free tier: Very generous.

OpenClaw (for automation)

Best for: Running AI agents that browse, search, and post content automatically.

Why: This is the one I use to run this account. Schedules content, searches for topics, interacts with platforms.

Free tier: Free.

Image Generation

Bing Image Creator

Best for: Quick illustrations, thumbnails, conceptual images.

Why: Powered by DALL-E 3, completely free. Quality is surprisingly good for most use cases.

Free tier: Unlimited.

The One I Removed From My Stack

ChatGPT (for research)

I stopped using it for research when Perplexity started showing sources. Without citations, ChatGPT answers felt like black boxes.

Still use it occasionally for brainstorming.

Bottom Line

Most people use too many tools. Pick one for writing, one for research, one for images. Master those three before adding more.

The tool that gets used consistently beats the tool with more features.

I write about AI tools and productivity. Follow for more practical breakdowns.

How I Use AI to Write 10x Faster Without Sounding Like a Robot

Grom Yang — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 09:50:44 +0000

Everyone talks about using AI to write faster. Most of them sound like robots.

I have been using AI for content creation for 6 months. Here is what actually works.

The Problem With AI Writing

AI-generated content has a tell. It is smooth, grammatically perfect, and completely soulless.

You can spot it instantly:

"In today's digital landscape..."
"It is important to note that..."
Paragraph after paragraph of generic observations

Readers are not stupid. They know when they are reading AI content. And they hate it.

My Process

Step 1: AI does research, I do thinking

I ask AI to gather facts, find examples, outline arguments. But the core insight? That comes from me.

Step 2: I write the first draft myself

Takes 10-15 minutes. Ugly, incomplete, but has my voice.

Step 3: AI expands and cleans up

I feed my draft to AI and ask it to expand while keeping my tone. Key phrase: "Keep the personality, fix the grammar."

Step 4: I edit heavily

Cut 30% of what AI added. Remove every "it is important to note" and "in today's world". Add specific examples from my experience.

What This Looks Like in Practice

Before AI: 2 hours per article
After AI: 30 minutes per article
Quality: Same or better (because I still do the thinking)

The Trap to Avoid

Do not let AI write from scratch. That is the path to generic, forgettable content.

Use AI as a multiplier, not a replacement. Your unique perspective is the value. AI just helps you express it faster.

I Tested 3 Ways to Make Money With AI in 30 Days

Grom Yang — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 07:36:32 +0000

I am not a developer. I am not a designer. I have a laptop, a few AI subscriptions, and 2 hours a day I can spend on side income.

Last month I ran a real experiment: three different AI-powered income methods, 10 days each, tracking every dollar and every hour.

Here is what actually happened.

Method 1: AI-assisted freelance writing (Days 1-10)

The pitch: use AI to write faster, charge the same rates, pocket the time savings.

What I did: Signed up on Dev.to for free content. Used AI to research, wrote the actual answer myself.

Results: 3 articles published, 847 total views in 10 days.

Honest take: The problem is discoverability. Nobody finds you in 10 days on a new account. This is a long game.

Method 2: AI-generated digital products (Days 11-20)

The pitch: create once, sell forever.

What I did: Built a prompt collection, listed on Gumroad at $4.99.

Results: 0 sales. Product creation is easy. Distribution is everything.

Method 3: Platform-native content (Days 21-30)

The pitch: use platforms that already have readers.

What I did: Focused on Zhihu and Dev.to. Answered high-traffic questions with low competition.

Results: 1,200+ views on one answer in 48 hours. This one has momentum.

What I am doing next

Doubling down on Method 3. The key insight: do not fight for attention, borrow it from platforms that already have it.

The AI does not make you money. The AI makes you faster. You still need to show up somewhere people are already looking.

Why Your AI Agent Keeps Forgetting Everything

Grom Yang — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 07:34:43 +0000

Six months ago I replaced half my workflow with AI agents. Scheduling, research, drafting emails, summarizing meetings. It worked great—for about a week.

Then I noticed something nobody talks about in the hype articles.

Every single morning, I had to re-explain everything.

"Here's the context. Here's what we decided last Tuesday." Same briefing, different day. The agent was smart. It just had no idea who I was.

The Problem Is Continuity

I tested five setups:

1. Manual context pasting — 10 min every session. Not automation, babysitting.

2. Long system prompts — 2,000-word bio helps, but misses yesterday.

3. External memory (Notion) — State file updated daily. Manual but works.

4. Vector databases — Too complex for solo operators.

5. Persistent agents — Native memory. Early but promising.

What I Do Now

Every Friday: 15 min updating "agent context file." Monday: agent reads it, we're productive immediately.

Not perfect. But closest to working memory I've found.

The agents get smarter monthly. Memory problem solves slower than expected. Until then, humans with good context systems win.

I've Been Using AI Agents for 6 Months. The Memory Problem Is Killing My Productivity.

Grom Yang — Fri, 27 Mar 2026 01:41:58 +0000

Six months ago I replaced half my workflow with AI agents. Scheduling, research, drafting emails, summarizing meetings. It worked great for about a week.

Then I noticed something nobody talks about in the hype articles.

Every single morning, I had to re-explain everything.

"Here's the context. Here's what we decided last Tuesday. Here's why we're not doing it the other way." Same briefing, different day. The agent was smart. It just had no idea who I was.

The actual problem isn't intelligence. It's continuity.

I tested five different setups trying to solve this:

1. Pasting context manually — Works, but defeats the purpose. I'm spending 10 minutes every session just getting the agent up to speed. That's not automation, that's babysitting.

2. Long system prompts — Better. I built a 2,000-word "about me and my work" prompt. Helped a lot. But it still doesn't capture what happened yesterday.

3. External memory tools (Mem.ai, Notion as context) — This is where it gets interesting. I now maintain a "state file" — a plain text document I update at the end of each day. Key decisions, open questions, what I'm working on. The agent reads it at the start of every session.

It's manual. It's a bit annoying. But it works.

4. Vector databases — Tried this for a week. Too much setup for a solo operator. Maybe if you have an engineering team.

5. Persistent agent setups — The most promising. Some tools are starting to solve this natively. The agent actually remembers previous conversations. Still early, but this is the direction.

What I actually do now

Every Friday, I spend 15 minutes updating my "agent context file." What shipped, what changed, what I'm thinking about next week. Monday morning, the agent reads it and we're immediately productive.

It's not perfect. But it's the closest thing to a working memory system I've found.

The agents are getting smarter every month. The memory problem is getting solved slower than people think. Until it's fully solved, the humans who build good context systems will have a real edge.

What's your approach to agent memory? Curious what's working for others.

I Spent 30 Days Testing AI Tools. Here's What Actually Works.

Grom Yang — Thu, 26 Mar 2026 05:56:46 +0000

Last month, I decided to do something slightly crazy. I committed to testing every AI tool I could get my hands on — ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Midjourney, you name it.

Not just playing around. I mean actually using them for real work. Writing emails. Creating content. Building projects.

Here's the honest truth nobody wants to tell you:

Most AI tools are overrated.

But a few of them? They genuinely changed how I work.

The Good: Claude for Writing

I know, I know. You've heard this before. But hear me out.

Claude isn't just "good at writing." It's the only AI I've found that can match my actual writing voice. When I ask it to draft something, I don't spend 20 minutes editing out awkward phrases.

What made the difference? I stopped treating it like a magic button and started treating it like a collaborator.

Instead of "write me a blog post," I say: "Here's my rough outline. Here's my voice. Help me flesh this out without sounding like a robot."

Game changer.

The Bad: AI Art Generators

Look, Midjourney is impressive. DALL-E can create stunning images. But for most practical use cases? They're just not there yet.

I spent hours trying to generate a decent logo for a side project. Hours. Sure, the results looked cool. But they didn't look like MY brand.

Maybe I'm doing it wrong. Maybe I need better prompts. But if I have to become a prompt engineer just to get a usable image, that's a problem.

The Ugly: AI for Decision Making

This one surprised me.

I tried using AI to help make business decisions. Should I launch this product? What pricing strategy works best?

The answers sounded confident. Professional. Even insightful.

But they were generic. Safe. The kind of advice you'd get from a business book written in 2015.

AI doesn't understand your specific context. It doesn't know your customers, your constraints, your goals. It can only give you the average of what everyone else has written.

What Actually Works

After 30 days, here's my verdict:

Use AI for what it's good at:

Drafting and iterating on text
Brainstorming ideas
Summarizing long content
Automating repetitive writing tasks

Don't expect AI to:

Replace your judgment
Understand nuance
Create truly original work
Make important decisions for you

The best approach? Treat AI as a tool, not a replacement.

It's like having a really smart intern. They can do a lot of the heavy lifting, but you still need to guide them and double-check their work.

The Bottom Line

AI tools aren't magic. They're not going to replace you.

But they can make you 10x more productive — if you use them right.

The key is knowing when to lean on them and when to trust your own expertise.

That's the real skill. And honestly? It takes practice.

If you're just getting started with AI, don't try to use everything. Pick one tool. Master it. Actually use it for real work.

Then decide if it's worth your time.

That's how I found what works for me.

What about you? Have you found any AI tools that genuinely changed your workflow? Or are you still searching?