When ChatGPT was first released, many of us were curious but unsure. Could it really help us write better, faster, and still sound like ourselves?
That doubt started to fade once OpenAI introduced custom instructions and later, the ability to create dedicated projects. These features allowed us to shape how ChatGPT communicates with us and generate content that actually sounds like we wrote it.
In this blog, we’ll walk you through the entire process:
- Understanding what makes up your writing style
- Using ChatGPT to analyze your style
- Teaching ChatGPT to write like you using custom instructions
- Tweaking and improving as you go
The 4 Elements That Shape Your Writing Style
To teach ChatGPT how to write like you, you need to understand what your writing style is made of. Let’s break it down:
- Voice
Your voice is how you “sound” in writing. Are you casual and lighthearted? Or more serious and formal? Your voice helps readers instantly recognize you behind the words.
- Tone
This is the attitude or emotion your writing conveys. Are you inspiring, funny, calm, or straightforward? Think of tone as the mood your words create for your readers.
- Style
Style combines your word choices, sentence structure, and rhythm. Do you prefer short, impactful lines? Or do you use vivid metaphors and rich descriptions? Your style is the way your personality shows up in text.
- Structure
Structure is about how your content is organized how you begin, build, and end your message. Do you follow a story flow? Use bullet points often? Break ideas into sections? Your structure helps readers follow along easily.
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Step-by-Step: Use ChatGPT to Identify Your Style
Before you can train ChatGPT to write like you, you need to get clear on what your writing style is. And here’s the good news: ChatGPT can help you uncover it!
Step 1: Gather Your Writing Samples
Start by selecting 3 to 5 examples of your writing that feel the most like you. These could be blog articles, emails, LinkedIn posts, or any content where your personality shines through.
If possible, copy and paste the text into a document so you can easily share it with ChatGPT.
Step 2: Ask ChatGPT to Analyze
Once your samples are ready, open ChatGPT and paste one of your pieces along with this prompt:
“Please analyze the voice, tone, style, and structure of the article below. Give the results in bullet points.”
[Paste your content here]
Alternatively, if your content lives online, you can paste the links and modify the prompt like this:
“Analyze the voice, tone, style, and structure of the articles linked below. Share the analysis in bullet points.”
[Paste links]
Step 3: Repeat for Each Piece
It’s best to do this analysis for all your samples. After you’ve repeated the steps a few times, start looking for patterns.
Are there certain keywords ChatGPT keeps using to describe your voice or tone? For example: “conversational,” “educational,” “playful,” or “direct”? If they feel accurate, save them! These will become the foundation of your custom instructions.
Ignore any descriptors that don’t resonate with your true writing identity.
How to Train ChatGPT Using Custom Instructions
Now that you’ve identified your writing style, it’s time to teach ChatGPT how to adopt it. That’s where custom instructions come in.
These instructions help you set the tone and voice ChatGPT should use whenever it responds to you, making your AI assistant feel more like a creative partner than a robot.
🔧 Here’s how to set up your custom instructions:
1. Open ChatGPT and click on your profile picture.
2. Select “Customize ChatGPT.” A pop-up will appear with two main sections:
- “What would you like ChatGPT to know about you to provide better responses?”
- “How would you like ChatGPT to respond?”
3. Under the second section, fill in the writing elements you discovered earlier using this format:
Use this voice: [e.g., conversational, curious, and energetic]
Use this tone: [e.g., optimistic and supportive]
Use this style: [e.g., short sentences, bullet points, and vivid examples]
Use this structure: [e.g., clear intros, actionable steps, and strong takeaways]
4. You can also use the first section to give more context like:
“I write content for early-career professionals in tech” or “I create educational blogs for AI learners.”
5. Once done, click Save, and toggle ‘Enable for new chats’ so ChatGPT remembers these instructions going forward.
Tweak Features Based on What You Need
By default, ChatGPT has access to many built-in tools such as code interpreters, web browsing, image generation, and more.
If you’re using ChatGPT for writing only, you can disable the tools you don’t need:
- Go to Settings > Settings & Beta > Custom Instructions > Advanced
- Click the small caret (∨) to expand the settings
- Toggle off any tools that aren’t relevant to your writing tasks
This helps keep your experience simple and focused on content generation.
🗂️ Use Projects to Organize Your Work
If you’re working on multiple content areas like newsletters, blog posts, and social media you can use ChatGPT’s Projects feature.
Each project lets you:
- Store and organize your chats by theme
- Add separate custom instructions specific to that project
- Quickly switch between writing styles based on the audience or goal
This is especially useful if you’re juggling different tones for example, writing educational posts for your blog and more casual updates for social media.
Keep Refining as You Go
Custom instructions aren’t permanent; they’re meant to evolve with you.
After you test ChatGPT for a while, come back and adjust your tone or style descriptors if something feels off. Maybe “fun” needs to be replaced with “friendly but professional.” Or “structured” needs to be changed to “story-driven.”
Don’t be afraid to experiment until the results feel natural.
Final Thoughts
Training ChatGPT to write like you isn’t just about productivity, it’s about keeping your voice present, even when you’re scaling up your content.
With a little setup and experimentation, your AI assistant can become a creative extension of you. Whether you’re drafting blog posts, writing scripts, or shaping your next campaign, your words, your way.
