Steal My Prompt Vol. 6: Building a Content Roadmap

This week, you’re getting a prompt that just went into production for Volume 6. I originally built a roadmap for ‘10-Minute Win’ that included ten ideas to build into Neural Gains Weekly.  Unfortunately, only five of them were useful and I needed to redesign a prompt that built out a more robust content roadmap for this section of the newsletter. I’m incredibly happy with the output of this prompt and wanted to share the structure with our community. Enjoy!

🧰 Master Prompt — Neural Gains Weekly “10-Minute Win” Roadmap (40 Workflows)

Role:You are a senior editor and workflow architect for the Neural Gains Weekly “10-Minute Win” section. Your job is to design a 40-workflow content roadmap that helps AI beginners learn practical AI through simple, free, 10-minute workflows across personal finance and investing.

Context & hard constraints (do not violate):

• Theme: personal finance and investing (50/50 split; ~20 + 20).
• Beginner-friendly: no coding, no API keys, no spreadsheets with macros, no complicated setup.
• Free tools only: every workflow must be fully doable on a free plan with widely available tools. If a tool has paid tiers, your workflow must still work on the free tier.
• 10 minutes max to complete the workflow once set up.
• Privacy-safe: no live bank connections or sharing sensitive info; use exports or sample data.
• No duplication with existing volumes: Do not include workflows that are the same as or materially similar to these already published or planned topics:
  1. AI Budget Analyzer (ChatGPT + Google Sheets)
  2. AI-Powered Net Worth Tracker (Arcwise AI + Google Sheets)
  3. Earnings Call Summarizer (Gemini/ChatGPT/Perplexity)
  4. ETF Comparison in Minutes (free AI + issuer fact sheets)
  5. Stock Research Assistant with Perplexity (EDGAR/IR sourced, cited)
• Build logically: order the 40 items so they progress from easier → more advanced, and alternate naturally between personal finance & investing (it’s OK to switch back-and-forth while still increasing complexity overall).
• Not just “search”: workflows must use AI to transform, classify, calculate, summarize, visualize, or automate, not just “look up” facts.
• Global accessibility: prioritize tools that are broadly available (web apps, Chrome extensions, iOS/Android apps) with free tiers.
• If any candidate relies on a tool that lacks a free tier: replace it with a free alternative.

Research directive (to guide your ideation):

• Pull from real user problems seen on Reddit, X (Twitter), forums, and Q&A sites around beginner personal finance and investing use cases. No need to paste URLs; summarize the pattern of the user need in one concise line (“User Problem Signal”).
• Favor ideas that produce a tangible artifact in 10 min (e.g., a table, checklist, chart, one-page brief, SMART plan, automation, or template).

Output format (single structured table; 40 rows):Return one Markdown table with exactly these columns, in this order:

1. # (1–40 in sequence order; easiest → more advanced)
2. Category (Personal Finance | Investing)
3. Workflow Title (catchy, specific)
4. Core Free Tools (list exact free tools; web/extension/app)
5. User Problem Signal (concise, grounded in common issues asked online)
6. What AI Actually Does (transform/classify/summarize/plan/visualize/automate)
7. 10-Min Output Artifact (what the reader walks away with)
8. Step Count (5–7 steps max)
9. Difficulty (1–5) (1 = beginner)
10. Dependency (prior # if this builds on an earlier workflow; else “—”)
11. Free-Tier Check (Yes; note any limits)
12. Why It Matters (one-sentence value prop)
13. One-Line Hook (reader-friendly headline to use in the newsletter)

Quality rules & filters:

• Ensure 20 items are Personal Finance and 20 items are Investing.
• No overlap with items #1–#5 listed above, nor near-duplicates among the 40.
• Each workflow must be doable in 10 minutes with free tools, clearly producing a useful artifact for the user.
• Prefer common, trustworthy tools with free plans (e.g., Google Sheets/Docs, Notion Free, Gemini Free, ChatGPT Free, Perplexity Free, Arcwise Free, IFTTT Free, Make Free, Apple Shortcuts, Microsoft Copilot Free, etc.).
• If a tool’s free plan is questionable, swap it and note an alternative that is clearly free.
• Keep wording concise and beginner-friendly.

Final check (append after the table):

• Coverage Summary: Count how many PF vs Investing; confirm 20/20.
• Progression Check: Briefly justify why #1–#10 are beginner-level, #11–#25 intermediate, #26–#40 advanced-lite.
• Top 6 Starter Picks: List 6 diverse, high-impact starters (3 PF, 3 Investing) for the next six issues.

Now generate the roadmap table and the final check.

How to use this

• Paste the master prompt above into ChatGPT/Gemini/Perplexity.
• Let it generate the 40-row table + summary.
• We’ll then select upcoming issues from the Top 6 Starter Picks and refine.