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The Brutal Editing Prompt Every Creator Should Use
Skipping feedback is like skipping a map on a road trip, you will get lost.
Miroslav Novohradsky
June 28, 2025
In partnership with
You know that sinking feeling after you hit publish?
The one where you stare at your screen, refreshing stats, waiting for… something.
A comment. A share. A sign that someone (anyone) actually cared.
But all you get is silence.
Yes, this is me, more times than I’d like to admit.
And for the longest time, I thought it meant I wasn’t good enough. That maybe I just didn’t “have it.”
But that wasn’t it at all.
The problem wasn’t my ideas; it was that no one had challenged them before I put them out into the world.
Not my friends (too nice). Not my audience (too silent). Not even myself (too attached).
That’s when I built a simple little habit that changed everything.
I started using a prompt. Not just any prompt, but one that forced brutal, uncomfortable, honest feedback.
It stung, but it worked.
Let me show you how it works and why it might be the single best editing tool you’ve never used.
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The Moment I Realized Friends Lie
I asked my best friend what she thought about my new piece.
“It’s great!” she said, smiling.
It wasn’t.
Later that week, I showed the same piece to someone I barely knew—someone who didn’t care about my feelings. Their reply?
“It’s a little generic. Why should I care?”
That hit me like a truck.
But it was also the most valuable feedback I’d received all year.
The Hidden Trap of Polite People
Friends, partners, even teammates, they mean well. They’ll soften their critique to protect your feelings.
But that sugarcoating is poison to your growth.
What you need isn’t kindness. It’s clarity.
Let me introduce you to: The Brutal Feedback Loop.
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Why Use This Prompt?
Because content that doesn’t resonate is content that dies.
And content that dies quietly is worse than content that fails loudly.
You don’t want polite silence, you want to be told what’s wrong so you can fix it.
This prompt forces your work through the fire before the world sees it. You’ll come out the other side stronger and so will your writing.
The Prompt
“Pretend you’re my harshest critic and most skeptical reader. Go through my content like you want to hate it. Which parts feel bland, bloated, or too obvious? Where am I making claims without proof? What would make you click away? What objections am I ignoring? Be ruthless and specific. Point out anything I should cut, reword, or rethink. Make me regret asking—but help me publish something sharper, stronger, and more real. Here’s the content: [insert your post, draft, or excerpt].”
Tips for Better Results
1. Use a separate document. Don’t paste your piece into the same thread. People give better feedback when they’re reading your content in a clean space.
2. Ask the right person. Choose someone who isn’t afraid to hurt your feelings. Or use AI to simulate that harsh critic - LLMs don’t care about sparing your ego.
3. Follow up. Once you get the feedback, reply to it. Push deeper. Ask, “What else?” or “Can you clarify this part?” Make it a dialogue, not a dump.
4. Don’t defend - revise. If someone says, “This line feels off,” don’t argue. Rework it. See how it feels. Nine times out of ten, they’re right.
Best Use Cases
Before publishing a newsletter
While editing a YouTube script
Prepping a blog post or Twitter thread
Reviewing a product launch email
Workshopping a course outline
Basically, any time you’re about to hit “publish” on something that matters.
Why This Works (Even With AI)
AI tools like ChatGPT are great at analysis, but only when you give them a powerful prompt.
Generic prompts get generic results. “Is this good?” gets a polite nod.
But when you tell the AI to become your harshest critic, you unlock something rare: emotional distance and brutal specificity.
That’s where the gold is.
Why Most YouTube Channels Fail
Most new YouTubes are trying to find out what works.
But the smart creators, the unicorns of YouTube success, plan ahead.
This is a huge difference.
Your channel needs a strategy centered on your unique angle, clear themes, and specific topics that proclaim, “Hey, world, I'm awesome, and here’s why!”
Most people think feedback slows you down.
It doesn’t.
Skipping feedback is like skipping a map on a road trip; you will get lost. And it’ll take ten times longer to reach your goal.
So use this prompt. Make it a habit. Before you ship anything, force it through the Brutal Feedback Loop.
It’ll hurt.
That’s the point.
And it might just be the best writing partner you’ve ever had.
Thanks for reading!
Best,
Miroslav from The Zilahut
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