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Hey rebel solopreneurs 🦸♀️🦸♂️
Most creators spend hours trying to outline their course. They want a clear structure their audience can follow. But they end up staring at blank pages, stuck in decision paralysis.
Smart ones turn scattered expertise into complete outlines in 5 minutes.
⛳️ Why this works
Before you write a course, record a video, or draft an article, you need an outline.
Without one? You ramble. You repeat yourself. You forget key points halfway through.
Manual outlining? 45 minutes minimum. Every single time. And that's if you don't get stuck deciding what goes where.
Here's the thing:
Your brain is like a filing cabinet stuffed with insights.
Your expertise. Your experiences. Your frameworks.
But when you sit down to create? You pull open random drawers. Flip through mental files. Hope something sparks.
It's exhausting.
Ali Abdaal figured out a better way. He's a creator who made $4.6M in 2022. 333M+ YouTube views. 300K newsletter subscribers.
The man creates courses, videos, articles, podcasts constantly.
His secret? A framework from his med school days called "spider diagramming." Doctors use it to memorize entire essays.
He adapted it for content creation.
The Rule of 3.
Answer any question for any audience using exactly 3 points. Then break each point into 3 sub-points.
3 makes content memorable. "The 3 little pigs." "Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness."
People's brains love groups of 3.
Here's what happens when you use this constraint:
You turn any topic into a clean 5-part outline. Things like...
Courses. Videos. Articles. Email sequences.
The constraint kills decision paralysis. BAM.
Let's see how Nina figured this out:
🔍 This works best with a trained AI sidekick.
Not set up yet? [Train in 5 minutes →] | [Test with sample →]
Nina is a productivity coach. Posts on Twitter 4 times a week.
But here's her problem.
After 8 months, Nina had published 127 tweets. Built a small audience. Got asked to create a paid course on time management.
Perfect opportunity. Except one issue.
Nina sat down to outline the course. Opened blank doc. Stared at it.
"Should I start with morning routines? Or mindset? Or tools? Or time-blocking strategies?"
Typed: "Module 1: Foundations of Productivity." Delete.
Typed: "Module 1: Why Time Management Matters." Delete.
2 hours. Zero progress. Just a growing list of topics with no structure.
Nina was dying from creative paralysis every time she tried to organize her knowledge.
Then Nina found something. A framework from a creator who'd built a $4M+ business.
A concept called "The Rule of 3."
It explained exactly why blank-page paralysis was killing her productivity. And how to turn any topic into a complete outline in minutes instead of hours.
Nina decided to follow these steps:
Step 1: Turn topic into a specific question Step 2: Find the universal version of that question Step 3: Create complete outline using Rule of 3
📍 Step 1: Nina turned her topic into a specific question
Nina opened ChatGPT/Claude (her AI sidekick).
She knew her topic: "Time management for busy professionals."
But that's not a question. It's just a category. Too broad to outline.
The problem? Nina had expertise but no focal point. She couldn't decide which angle would actually help her audience.
But wait. If Nina could see 3 specific questions her audience actually asks, she could pick the strongest one.
Here's what she tried:
The prompt needed just two things: her topic and her target audience. From there, it would show 3 questions her audience struggles with. Nina could pick whichever question mattered most.
The topic-to-question finder prompt:
List 3 questions {Target Audience} has about {Topic}.
Prioritize questions that will help my {Target Audience} to:
• Ease a frustration
• Remove an obstacle
• Overcome an objection
• Solve a painful problem
Use 10 words or less for each question.
Be concise.
---
<INPUT>
**Required:**
Target audience: {INSERT Audience e.g., Busy corporate professionals}
Topic: {INSERT Topic e.g., Time management}
</INPUT>
The AI sidekick returned 3 questions:
"How do I find time when my calendar is already full?"
"Why do I still feel unproductive despite being busy?"
"How do I prioritize when everything feels urgent?"
Nina scanned the list. Number 2 hit different.
"Why do I still feel unproductive despite being busy?"
That's the question her audience asks constantly. The busy-but-unproductive paradox.
Completion moment: Nina knew exactly which question her course would answer.
🎯 Step 2: Nina found the universal version of her question
Nina had her specific question: "Why do I still feel unproductive despite being busy?"
Good start. But Ali Abdaal taught something critical: zoom out first.
Why does this question matter at all? What's the bigger human need underneath?
If Nina could see 10 levels of abstraction, she could pick the universal question that would hook the most people.
Here's what she did:
The prompt would take her specific question and ask "why" recursively 10 times. Each level would expand the scope. Nina could pick whichever abstraction level felt most universal without being too vague.
The abstraction ladder prompt:
I am going to train you to use Abstraction Laddering.
An Abstraction Ladder helps you to see a challenge at different levels of focus. It helps you step back and look at an issue broadly. Moving up the "ladder" expands the scope.
Your task is to recursively ask the question "Why does this exist?" 10 times to expand the scope of the topic:
{Topic}
Repeat asking "Why..?" and working upwards.
The higher you go, the more abstract the question.
Only give me the questions.
Use 10 words or less per question.
---
<INPUT>
**Required:**
Topic/Question: {INSERT Question from Prompt 1 e.g., Why do I feel unproductive despite being busy?}
</INPUT>
The AI sidekick returned 10 abstraction levels:
Why do I feel unproductive despite being busy?
Why does busyness not equal productivity?
Why do people confuse activity with progress?
Why does society value looking busy?
Why do we seek external validation?
Why do humans need purpose?
Why does meaning matter?
Why do we exist?
Why does consciousness seek fulfillment?
Why does anything matter?
Nina scanned the ladder. Level 3 jumped out.
"Why do people confuse activity with progress?"
That's universal. Anyone can relate to that. Not just busy professionals.
Completion moment: Nina had her universal question that would hook a broader audience before diving into her specific solution.
🏗️ Step 3: Nina created her complete outline using the Rule of 3
Nina had everything ready:
Target audience: Busy corporate professionals
Specific question: Why do I feel unproductive despite being busy?
Universal question: Why do people confuse activity with progress?
Now she needed the actual outline. 5 main sections. Each with 3 points.
Here's what she did:
The prompt needed her target audience, topic, and universal question. It would create 5 sections: (1) universal question with 3 reasons, (2-4) three categories with 3 actionable tips each, and (5) extra tips for advanced users. Nina would have a complete outline ready to expand into any format.
The Rule of 3 outline builder prompt:
I need your help creating a list.
I am going to give you a Target Audience, a Topic, and a Universal Question.
Your task is to create a list with 5 main categories, each with 3 sub-points.
The first category is the {Universal Question}, which I will give you.
- The {Universal Question} is the category name.
- List 3 reasons as sub-points that answer the {Universal Question}
The 2nd, 3rd, and 4th category are broad categories that will help a {Target Audience} with {Topic}.
- Use each Broad Category you come up with as the category name.
- List 3 actionable tips as sub-points for the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th category.
The 5th category is for "Extra Tips."
– List 3 advanced tips the {Target Audience} would find helpful after they have progressed past where they are today.
Use 10 words or less for each item in the list.
Do you understand?
---
<INPUT>
**Required:**
Target audience: {INSERT Audience from Prompt 1}
Topic: {INSERT Topic from Prompt 1}
Universal Question: {INSERT Question from Prompt 2}
</INPUT>
The AI sidekick returned a complete 5-section outline:
1. Why do people confuse activity with progress?
Motion feels productive but creates no results
Busyness signals value in modern work culture
Lack of clarity makes any action feel purposeful
2. Separate Activity from Achievement
Define 3 key results each week
Track time in results vs tasks
Review weekly: did busyness create outcomes?
3. Create Energy-Based Scheduling
Match high-focus work to peak energy times
Batch low-energy tasks together
Protect 2-hour deep work blocks daily
4. Build a Stop-Doing List
Identify 3 tasks that feel productive but aren't
Delegate or delete one unproductive task weekly
Say no to meetings without clear agendas
5. Extra Tips (Next Level)
Design 90-day outcome cycles instead of daily tasks
Audit your calendar: does it reflect your priorities?
Teach someone your system to clarify thinking
Nina stared at it. That's exactly what she needed.
Section 1 hooked people with the universal problem. Sections 2-4 gave actionable frameworks. Section 5 helped advanced students.
It's a course. It's a video series. It's a Twitter thread. It's an email sequence.
All from 5 minutes of prompting. Not bad.
Completion moment: Nina had a complete outline she could expand into any content format without staring at blank pages.
📊 Nina's results after 3 weeks
Before:
Outline time: 45-120 minutes per piece
Decision paralysis: 2-3 hours stuck choosing structure
Content created: 1 piece per week (when she could finally decide)
After:
Outline time: 5 minutes per piece
Decision paralysis: Eliminated by constraints
Content created: 4-5 pieces per week (courses, videos, articles)
Her process now:
Run topic-to-question prompt (2 minutes)
Run abstraction ladder prompt (2 minutes)
Run Rule of 3 outline prompt (1 minute)
Expand sections into full content (20-30 minutes depending on format)
Total time: 25-35 minutes from blank page to full draft. Not 2+ hours stuck in decision paralysis.
Her AI sidekick handles the framework organization in seconds. Bingo.
🧩 Your turn
Copy all 3 prompts into your AI sidekick. Run them in the same chat.
Start with Prompt 1. Pick your best question.
Then Prompt 2 uses that question automatically. Pick your universal level.
Then Prompt 3 creates your complete outline using both.
Generation time: 3-5 minutes total. Time to publish: 30 minutes.
That's it, my fellow outliers!
Yours 'helping you work less and earn more with AI' Vijay peduru 🦸♂️