We\u2019ve all been there\u2014that moment when you realize you\u2019re in way over your head. For me, it happened during my first briefing with a smart light vendor, when it became painfully obvious that I couldn\u2019t tell a standard A19 bulb from a BR30 can light.<\/p>\n
Clearly I needed help, fast. A crash course right then and there\u2014something that would give me a solid baseline knowledge of lighting before I publicly embarrassed myself again. This particular knowledge crisis took place way back in 2019, before ChatGPT, Claude, and Gemini existed. That left me at the mercy of Google, or even (gasp!) my local public library branch.<\/p>\n
But now that we do have ChatGPT and all the other AI chatbots at our disposal, there\u2019s an easy prompt that can help you level up from \u201cdunce\u201d in almost any topic in just 10 minutes.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m talking about the \u201c80\/20\u201d prompt, which is derived from the 80\/20 rule (aka the Pareto principle<\/a>) that says 80 percent of results come from only 20 percent of the causes. The 80\/20 rule has been used in fields ranging from business<\/a> (e.g., \u201c80 percent of your earnings come from 20 percent of your customers\u201d) to cooking<\/a>. And as AI prompt engineers quickly discovered<\/a>, it can also be applied to learning new skills.<\/p>\n There are many versions of the 80\/20 AI prompt, but here\u2019s a common one I\u2019ve seen floating around:<\/p>\n I want to learn [TOPIC]. I don\u2019t need to become an expert\u2014I just want a solid working understanding. Identify the most important 20% of concepts, terms, or ideas that will give me about 80% of what I need to know. Teach me those first, in plain language.<\/p>\n And here\u2019s an even shorter version:<\/p>\n What\u2019s the 20% of [TOPIC] I should learn first to understand 80% of it?<\/p>\n This prompt gets the AI to prioritize the most vital 20 percent of a given subject that will get you 80 percent familiar, while also making it clear that you\u2019re not looking for a master\u2019s degree.\u00a0You just need some basic grounding on the topic and you need it quickly.<\/p>\n I tried this prompt using ChatGPT GPT-5.5 Instant for my previous light bulb conundrum and got a primer that I wish I\u2019d had back then. Here\u2019s a representative snippet of ChatGPT\u2019s reply:<\/p>\n A19 = the \u201cnormal lamp bulb\u201d<\/p>\n This is the standard bulb shape used in:<\/p>\n table lamps<\/p>\n floor lamps<\/p>\n many ceiling fixtures<\/p>\n basic sconces<\/p>\n The \u201c19\u201d refers to size.<\/p>\n If someone says:<\/p>\n \u201cThis fixture takes A19 bulbs\u201d<\/p>\n they mean: standard household light bulbs.<\/p>\n That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n Phew! Not expert-level knowledge, to be sure, but enough to get me through my next meeting without making a fool of myself.<\/p>\n Next I tried something a tad trickier: quantum mechanics. (I was an English major in college, so I know less about molecules than I did about light bulbs back in the day.) Here\u2019s a small portion of what I got:<\/p>\n A quantum object is described by a wavefunction<\/p>\n This is the central idea.<\/p>\n A particle (like an electron) is not just a tiny marble with a definite position and speed.<\/p>\n Instead, it\u2019s described by something called a wavefunction, which encodes:<\/p>\n where it might be<\/p>\n what it might do<\/p>\n the probabilities of different outcomes<\/p>\n You can think of the wavefunction as a \u201ccloud of possibilities.\u201d<\/p>\n