I asked ChatGPT how to make myself more indispensable at work — these are the 5 strategies and prompts that stood out the most

(Image credit: Shutterstock) Ever since I landed my first professional writing gig, I’ve adopted habits that could make me a crucial member of the team.Coming up with creative pitches my fellow writers could work with, supporting co-workers on assignments, helping however I can, and even breaking out of my comfort zone to record videos & co-host a podcast are just a few ways I’ve gone beyond my regular duties. For my current position, I still perform those assorted tasks and then some in an effort to prove my high merit to everyone around me.But there’s always room for improvement—there are plenty of methods one could employ to showcase just how reliable they are to their associates. With that goal in mind, I asked ChatGPT how anyone can use its digital assistant capabilities to make themselves indispensable as a worker.The chatbot sought to help me improve my skills with its aid and laid out several legit strategies that I’ll be sure to employ in the workplace for years to come.ChatGPT’s advice on the best tactics to employ with it to professionally excel (Image credit: Shutterstock)With my question in mind, ChatGPT acknowledged the fact that its assistance can help a professional augment some of the qualities that make them even more of a necessary component of their workplace:If the goal is to become hard to replace rather than simply more productive, ChatGPT is most useful when you use it to amplify the things humans are especially valuable for: judgment, communication, problem-solving, strategic thinking, and institutional knowledge.Following that proclamation, the chatbot laid out five winning strategies that made me consider implementing them for any situations fit for them in the future:Sign up to the Tom's AI Guide weekly newsletter summing up all the biggest AI news you need to know. Plus, analysis from our AI editors and tips on how to use the latest AI tools!Become the person who solves problems nobody else wants to tackle: Use ChatGPT as a thinking partner when you encounter a messy, ambiguous problem. Why it makes you valuable: You're not just completing assigned tasks. You're becoming someone colleagues turn to when something is difficult or unclear.Turn yourself into an exceptional communicator: Before sending an important email, presentation, proposal, Slack message, or report, have ChatGPT stress-test it. Why it makes you valuable: People who consistently make complicated ideas easy to understand become extremely useful—especially when they can communicate effectively across different teams.Build a personal "second brain" for your job: Instead of repeatedly figuring out the same things, use ChatGPT to turn your accumulated knowledge into reusable systems. Feed it things such as: meeting notes, project documentation, processes, past successful work, FAQs, lessons learned, templates, and performance feedback. Why it makes you valuable: You gradually become the person who knows how things actually get done, not merely what's written in the official documentation.Use ChatGPT to anticipate what your boss and team will need next: This is one of the biggest differences between being productive and being indispensable. Why it makes you valuable: You're developing the habit of staying one step ahead, rather than waiting for instructions.Use ChatGPT as a personal career strategist: Don't limit AI to today's workload. Use it to deliberately develop the capabilities that make you more valuable over time. Why it makes you valuable: You're deliberately moving toward work that requires judgment, ownership, relationships, creativity, and leadership—rather than simply using AI to produce more of the same output.ChatGPT’s approaches to bettering myself at work were themed around helping me present solutions to potential problems, improving the way I message different individuals, developing repeatable routines that pave the way for success, giving me a playbook to work off of in relation to my manager’s wants & needs and building the sort of skills that will benefit me in the long run.The best prompts to put into practice for each strategy (Image credit: Shutterstock)ChatGPT didn’t just stop at giving me proper advice on how to become more valuable at work—it also highlighted prompts for each of its five strategies that I and anyone else could utilize:I have this problem at work: [describe problem]. Act as a strategic problem-solving partner. Identify the root causes, what I'm overlooking, 5 possible solutions, the trade-offs of each, and the fastest, low-risk experiment I could run. Challenge my assumptions rather than simply agreeing with me.Review this message as if you're the person receiving it [paste message]. Tell me: What is unclear? What questions will the recipient probably have? What could be misinterpreted? What sounds unnecessarily complicated? What information is missing? Then rewrite it so it's concise, persuasive, and easy to act on while preserving my voice.Analyze these materials and identify recurring processes, decisions, mistakes, shortcuts, and best practices. Turn them into a practical playbook I can use in my day-to-day work.Here's what I accomplished: [include details]. Think like my manager. What problems, questions, or opportunities are likely to come up next? Identify: 5 things my manager may ask me. 5 potential problems I should address proactively. 5 opportunities I could pursue. Anything I should communicate before I'm asked. Prioritize the actions that would have the greatest impact.Here is my role, my responsibilities, the skills I currently have, and the work I've been doing: [include details]. Analyze what separates an average performer from an exceptional performer in this role. Identify the 5 capabilities that would make me significantly more valuable to my organization over the next 12 months. For each one, give me: A skill-building plan. Projects I could volunteer for. Ways to demonstrate the skill at work. Evidence I could collect to show my impact. Focus on capabilities that are difficult to automate and valuable to other people.Bottom lineChatGPT’s suggestions did a good job of not relegating it to simply doing everything for me at work—it made a concerted effort to produce practical strategies tied to using it to help me do the parts of my job that create maximum value.Based on the final framework it gave me (AI handles more of the execution → you take on more of the judgment → you solve bigger problems → more people depend on your expertise), I left with a much clearer picture of how to make good use of its capabilities to boost my standing among my colleagues and upper management.I certainly appreciate the fact that ChatGPT didn’t just tell me “work longer hours.” Follow Tom's Guide on Google News and add us as a preferred source to get our up-to-date news, analysis, and reviews in your feeds. Subscribe to Tom's Guide on YouTube and follow us on TikTok.More from Tom’s GuideI moved my ChatGPT context to Claude — and it actually workedA teen psychologist shares the #1 warning sign your child is emotionally dependent on AIThe guy who predicted the housing crisis is calling B.S. on the AI apocalypse — here’s why Elton Jones covers AI for Tom’s Guide, and tests all the latest models, from ChatGPT to Gemini to Claude to see which tools perform best — and how they can improve everyday productivity.He is also an experienced tech writer who has covered video games, mobile devices, headsets, and now artificial intelligence for over a decade. Since 2011, his work has appeared in publications including The Christian Post, Complex, TechRadar, Heavy, and ONE37pm, with a focus on clear, practical analysis.Today, Elton focuses on making AI more accessible by breaking down complex topics into useful, easy-to-understand insights for a wide range of readers.