What I wish I knew about ChatGPT 5 from the start

Hey there!

So... I don’t know about you, but ChatGPT 5 and I haven't exactly been vibing.

For weeks, I've been getting these outputs that just feel off and confusing.

Sometimes brilliant, sometimes like it was written by someone who barely understood the assignment.

The inconsistency was crazy because I couldn't figure out what I was doing differently between the good days and the bad days.

I started wondering if maybe I just didn't get it. Like everyone else had figured out some secret handshake with this new model and I was still out here speaking the wrong language.

Turns out, I kind of was.

I was treating ChatGPT 5 like it was ChatGPT 4. But this model thinks differently. It needs different things from you.

It's like getting a new colleague who's brilliant but needs way more context than your previous teammate did.

You can't just assume they know what you mean—you have to actually explain it.

Once I started approaching it that way, things started to fall into place.

A few things that made the biggest difference:

Setting the quality bar. I realized I was getting wildly different quality because I wasn't telling it what "good" actually looks like. Now I always include a few examples or specific criteria. Like if I'm writing something, I'll paste bits of my previous work and say "match this energy, avoid these phrases." The outputs are so much more consistent now.

Asking it to explain its thinking first. Even on simple tasks. Just a quick "walk me through your approach before you answer" makes such a difference. It slows down, thinks more clearly, and I can catch problems before they turn into full outputs I have to redo.

The iterate-revise loop. I basically never even acknowledge the first draft anymore. I ask for it, then immediately follow up with "critique this against what I asked for, fix the weak spots, give me version 2." ChatGPT 5 needs those reminders way more than previous models did.

For anything important, I manually switch to Thinking mode now. Takes a few extra seconds but the quality jump is real.

Also, make sure to use the new “Branch“ feature to branch out your chats like your life depends on it, because if you are, like me, a crazy idea person that wants to act on everything, it kind of does!

I just recorded a full tutorial for my YouTube Channel walking through everything I've learned—with best tips & tricks that I have discovered so far.

Plus there's a Google Doc with all the hacks and the prompts that you can just download and play with.

If you've been feeling frustrated with this model, I think it'll help. At the very least you'll know you're not the only one who found this transition weird.

Your Al Solopreneur Bestie,

Elena