Turn Disorganized Thoughts into a Coherent Outline
Feeling stuck because you have too many ideas, or worse, feel like you have too few, so you don’t know where to start?
AI can help by organinizing a bunch of disconnected thoughts into an outline, AI can help by turning your jumble of thoughts into a structured outline, providing a foundation for your project.
🎯 Objective:
You want to organize a bunch of disconnected ideas, maybe from multiple different documents, into a logical outline. The final outline will provide a clear roadmap for further work, such as drafting documents, preparing presentations, or organizing a legal argument.
⚙️ Solution:
Capture Your Thoughts: the goal here is just to collect your thoughts in one place. Don't worry about organizing right now, and don't worry about repeating yourself. Just try to put everything in a pile. It's ok if it's messy.
Voice memo method: Record your thoughts while walking or during a brainstorming session using an app like Otter, Voice Memos, or any other transcription tool.
Random notes: Collect all notes (from notepads, sticky notes, or text files) into a single document.
Transcribe and Prepare Your Raw Input: If using a voice memo, transcribe your recording using a speech-to-text tool like Otter.ai or a built-in transcription tool in your phone. If you have a collection of written notes, gather them in one place—like a Word document or note-taking app.
Feed Raw Input to the AI for Summarization: Provide your AI tool (like ChatGPT or any summarization-focused AI) with your transcript or notes. Ask the AI to summarize the key points.
Identify Missed or Unclear Issues: Spot missing issues: Ask the AI to review the summary or outline for any missing or unclear issues.
Refine the Outline: Review the outline and any feedback provided by the AI. Repeat steps 3–5 as necessary until you are satisfied with the result.
📝 Sample Prompts
Initial prompt:
Follow-up prompt:
🚀 Take it to the next level:
Add detail to each point: Once the outline is done, you can ask the AI to flesh out specific sections with more detail. Sample Prompt:
Check for clarity and consistency: Ask the AI to ensure that the overall outline is clear and cohesive. Sample Prompt:
Follow-up prompt:
Compare with best practices: You can also prompt the AI to compare your outline with common structures used in legal writing, academic papers, or business plans.
⚠️ Keep in mind:
Review for accuracy: AI tools may misinterpret voice transcriptions or miss nuances. Always review the AI-generated content carefully to ensure it accurately reflects your ideas.
Legal and ethical considerations: If working with sensitive or confidential material, ensure that the AI tool and transcription service you use meet appropriate privacy and security standards.
Iterative process: Don't expect a perfect result on the first pass. Be prepared to refine the outline multiple times to ensure it captures all your key points effectively.
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