The Brutal Truth Prompt Pack
A free guide by Kamran Imam — Instagram · TikTok · YouTube
AI has one advantage over everyone else who gives you feedback: it has no stake in your feelings, your friendship, or your next invoice. That neutrality is wasted on flattery — by default, AI is trained to be agreeable. These six prompts switch that off. Fair warning: they only work if you actually want the answer.
The setup line
Start each of these chats with it:
For this conversation: optimize for accuracy over my comfort. No softening, no compliment sandwiches, no 'that said, you're doing great.' If the honest answer is unflattering, give it straight. I'm asking because flattery is free everywhere else.1. The brutal truth
The classic:
Based on everything I tell you (and everything in memory, if you have it): what's the brutal truth about what's holding me back in [area]? Not the comfortable answer — the one a sharp observer would see in a week that I've avoided for years.With memory on, this prompt has genuine ammunition. Without it, paste real material first: your last month’s plans vs outcomes, your writing, your calendar.
2. The blind spot
Here's my plan/work/thinking: [paste]. What am I not seeing? Specifically: the assumption I don't know I'm making, the risk I've rated too low because it's unpleasant, and the feedback people around me probably have but haven't said.3. The outside view
Strip my story from the facts: [describe your situation with numbers, no narrative]. If these were someone else's facts, what would you conclude? Where does my narrative flatter the data?The inside view runs on hope; the outside view runs on base rates. The gap between them is usually the truth.
4. The mirror
For your work:
Review this [writing/plan/profile/pitch] as my most demanding critic — someone rooting for the WORK, not for me: [paste]. What's genuinely good (be specific, no participation trophies)? What's weak that I probably know is weak? What's weak that I can't see? What would you cut entirely?5. The eulogy
For a project you can’t let go of:
I've been [doing project] for [time] with [honest results]. Write two eulogies: one for the project if I kill it today — what it taught, what it cost, why ending was right; one for the next year of my time if I keep going for the wrong reasons. Then tell me which eulogy is more likely to be read.Sunk cost is unbeatable in your own head and strangely feeble on paper.
6. The annual review you never get
Quarterly is better:
Interview me one question at a time like a review with a boss who pays attention: what did I say mattered this quarter, what did I actually spend time on, where's the gap, what pattern keeps repeating from last review, and what's the one change with the highest return? Then write the review summary — including the part a kind manager would hesitate to put in writing.The aftercare rule
These prompts produce one of two reactions — “ouch, fair” (act on it) or “that’s actually wrong” (also valuable — defending yourself against a specific critique clarifies what you believe). What’s not allowed is the third reaction: closing the tab and never running it again. Truth you don’t act on is just self-harm with extra steps. Take ONE item from any of these, make it this week’s fix, re-run next month.
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