Ask ChatGPT for ten ideas and count what actually comes back. Six solid concepts, then four reruns wearing a different outfit. “Weekly check-in email” and “regular update newsletter” are not two ideas. They’re one idea in two costumes.
A Redditor posting as u/Ok_Negotiation_2587 laid this out in r/ChatGPTPromptGenius, and once you see the pattern you can’t unsee it. Ask for ten names, ten hooks, ten angles for a post. Somewhere around the sixth or seventh item, the list starts repeating itself in softer, rephrased words.
Here’s the quick version, for anyone who wants the fix before the explanation.
⚡ Quick Version
- 🔢 The number in your request gets followed more literally than “good” or “different” ever does.
- ✂️ A better prompt tells the model to stop when real ideas run out, and admit the count.
- 🧩 A follow-up prompt forces new ideas to explain how they differ from the ones you already have.
Why Ten Becomes Six
This Redditor’s read on the problem is sharp. Ask ChatGPT for a number, and that number becomes the part of the instruction it takes most seriously. More seriously than “good.” More seriously than “different.” The model has a quota to hit, and it hits it, even after the genuinely distinct ideas run out.
That’s where the padding comes in. Each filler idea looks fine sitting on its own. “Behind-the-scenes post” reads differently than “show your process.” Put them side by side, though, and they’re the same idea wearing two names.
You only catch it when you try to actually choose between two options that turn out to be one option.
The Old Prompt vs The Fix
The old way is the obvious one: “Give me 10 ideas for X.” It works, technically. You get ten items back. Nobody told the model that ten was a ceiling, not a target, so it treats ten like a promise it has to keep no matter what.
The fix flips the instruction. Instead of demanding a count, it demands honesty about the count:
Give me as many genuinely different ideas as you can, up to 10. Two ideas count as the same if one is a variation, a rewording, or a smaller version of the other. Stop when you run out, and tell me how many you stopped at.
The original poster says this version usually stops somewhere between five and seven. That shorter list is the real one.
Three Prompts, In Order
- Start with the honest count. Use the prompt above first. It resets the model’s priority from “hit the number” to “tell the truth about the number,” which is most of the fix in one sentence.
- Expand without duplicating. Once the first list runs dry, paste it back in and ask for more, with a rule attached that keeps the model honest:
Here are the ideas so far: [paste list]. Give me 5 more that don’t overlap with any of them. For each one, say in one line which existing idea it’s closest to and why it’s different.
That “closest to and why it’s different” line does the real work. If the model can’t explain the difference, you’re looking at a duplicate. You see it immediately instead of three steps into using it.
- Audit before you commit. Before picking from a list you’re about to actually use, run one more pass:
Group these ideas into clusters of ones that are basically the same. How many actually different ideas are there?
This step turns a list of ten into an honest count of however many ideas actually exist. That number might be four, might be eight, but it’s finally real.
None of this is specific to blog post angles. The same three prompts work on product names, subject lines, interview questions, anything where you’re asking a model to brainstorm against a number. The number is always the part it obeys first, so the fix is always the same.
Worth Stealing
This contributor saved the first prompt as a snippet in a browser extension they built, triggered by typing “//” so it never has to be retyped. You don’t need the same tool to copy the habit. A text expander, a notes app, even a pinned message to yourself works fine.
One commenter on the thread added a smaller but relatable gripe: their Claude morning briefing had three separate errors that same day, a fair reminder that none of these tools are flawless, they just fail in different spots.
Try the honest-count prompt next time you need options for a post, a subject line, or a name. Count how many it actually stops at. That number is the real answer, and it’s usually smaller and more useful than ten.
Ask ChatGPT for 10 ideas and you get about 6, plus 4 rewordings of them
by u/Ok_Negotiation_2587 in ChatGPTPromptGenius