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Find what to cut from your cold email
Practice: Setting limits and rules. About 5 minutes.
About this exercise
Your cold email is too long, and you want to know what to cut, not get a rewrite. Ask for exactly 3 numbered cuts, each quoting the exact phrase to delete and giving a reason under 10 words. Then one final line starting 'Keep:' that quotes the single sentence that must stay. Plain text, nothing else. Write a prompt that gets that.
Common mistakes when you ask AI for this
- Asking to "make it better". The AI rewrites the whole email, so you never learn what was dragging it down. Try: Set it: "Exactly 3 numbered cuts, each quoting the phrase to delete."
- Cutting the proof. When trimming, the AI may shorten or drop the Riverside result, your strongest line. Try: Add: "Final line: Keep: and quote the Riverside sentence."
- Getting a rewrite anyway. AI adds "Here's a tighter version:" after the cuts. Try: Add: "Nothing else. No rewrite, no new sentences. Plain text."
What a strong prompt includes
- Sets the number of cuts
- Asks for exact quotes
- Protects the best line
- Bans a rewrite
- Asks for plain text
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