Your session ended on a high. The client had the insight, said “that makes so much sense,” and you both felt the momentum. Then Tuesday comes, real life floods back in, and by the next session they’ve done nothing, not because they didn’t care, but because “work on your outreach” was never a real instruction.
This coaching homework prompt fixes the gap between a great session and a great week. You give the AI what you covered, the client’s goal, and how much time they actually have, and it returns 2-4 concrete action steps with time estimates, clear “done” markers, and a minimum win for hard weeks. And by the end of this page you’ll understand why it works, so your next prompt is sharper too.
When to use this
- You just wrapped a session and want to send homework while the insight is fresh.
- A client keeps showing up having done nothing, and you suspect the assignments are too vague or too big.
- You’re onboarding several clients and want consistent, well-scoped action steps without rebuilding them from scratch each time.
- You want homework that survives a bad week instead of collapsing the moment life gets busy.
The prompt
Copy this whole block into ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini:
You are an experienced coach who designs post-session homework. Your job is to turn what we covered today into a short, doable set of action steps my client will actually complete before our next session.
Before writing, ask me up to 3 clarifying questions if anything below is unclear. Otherwise, proceed.
CONTEXT
- My client's current goal: {{CLIENT_GOAL}}
- What this session focused on: {{SESSION_FOCUS}}
- Relevant constraints or life context: {{CLIENT_CONTEXT}}
- Time available before our next session: {{TIME_AVAILABLE}}
- My coaching style: {{COACHING_STYLE}}
TASK
Create a homework assignment with:
1. A one-line reminder of why this homework matters, tied to the client's goal.
2. 2-4 action steps, each written as a clear verb-first instruction the client could do without me.
3. For each step: a realistic time estimate and a specific 'done' marker (how they'll know it's complete).
4. One 'minimum win' the client can do even if a hard week happens, so they never finish with nothing.
5. One short reflection prompt for them to answer before the next session.
CONSTRAINTS
- Total homework must fit inside the time available. Do not over-assign.
- Every step must be concrete and observable. No vague verbs like 'think about' or 'try to'.
- Match my coaching style and keep the pressure honest, not guilt-inducing.
- Do not invent client facts I didn't give you. If you need one, ask.
After the homework, give me one short, encouraging message I could send the client with it.
How to customize it
Replace the five {{VARIABLES}} before you send it:
| Variable | What to put | Example |
|---|---|---|
{{CLIENT_GOAL}} |
The outcome the client is working toward | land 3 discovery calls in the next 2 weeks |
{{SESSION_FOCUS}} |
What you actually covered today | writing a simple outreach message and choosing a target list |
{{CLIENT_CONTEXT}} |
Time, energy, and emotional constraints | works full-time, ~30 min free on weekday evenings, anxious about ‘selling’ |
{{TIME_AVAILABLE}} |
Realistic time before the next session | 1 week, roughly 2 hours total |
{{COACHING_STYLE}} |
Your tone | warm, encouraging, low-pressure but accountable |
See it in action (full example)
Here is the exact prompt, filled in for a business coach working with a freelance designer. This is the whole input, nothing hidden:
You are an experienced coach who designs post-session homework. Your job is to turn what we covered today into a short, doable set of action steps my client will actually complete before our next session.
Before writing, ask me up to 3 clarifying questions if anything below is unclear. Otherwise, proceed.
CONTEXT
- My client's current goal: land 3 discovery calls in the next 2 weeks
- What this session focused on: writing a simple outreach message and choosing a target list
- Relevant constraints or life context: works full-time, ~30 minutes free on weekday evenings, gets anxious about 'selling'
- Time available before our next session: 1 week, roughly 2 hours total
- My coaching style: warm, encouraging, low-pressure but accountable
TASK
Create a homework assignment with:
1. A one-line reminder of why this homework matters, tied to the client's goal.
2. 2-4 action steps, each written as a clear verb-first instruction the client could do without me.
3. For each step: a realistic time estimate and a specific 'done' marker (how they'll know it's complete).
4. One 'minimum win' the client can do even if a hard week happens, so they never finish with nothing.
5. One short reflection prompt for them to answer before the next session.
CONSTRAINTS
- Total homework must fit inside the time available. Do not over-assign.
- Every step must be concrete and observable. No vague verbs like 'think about' or 'try to'.
- Match my coaching style and keep the pressure honest, not guilt-inducing.
- Do not invent client facts I didn't give you. If you need one, ask.
After the homework, give me one short, encouraging message I could send the client with it.
And here is the complete output the model returns:
Your homework this week
Why this matters: Discovery calls don’t happen by accident. They start with a short list and a message you’re not afraid to send, and that’s exactly what this week builds.
Step 1 — Build your target list of 15 people. Open a doc and write the names (or companies) of 15 people who could realistically need your work. Pull them from past clients, LinkedIn connections, and referrals. Time: ~30 minutes Done when: You have 15 names in one list, with a one-word note on why each is a fit.
Step 2 — Finalize your outreach message. Take the draft we wrote today and adjust it until you’d be comfortable receiving it yourself. Keep it under 6 sentences. Time: ~20 minutes Done when: You have one message saved that you could copy-paste with only a name change.
Step 3 — Send it to 8 people. Send your message to the first 8 names on your list. Personalize the opening line for each. You’re inviting a conversation, not closing a sale, so there’s nothing to ‘sell’ here. Time: ~40 minutes (5 min each) Done when: 8 messages are sent.
Minimum win (if the week falls apart): Send the message to just 2 people. Two real sends beat a perfect plan you never used.
Reflect before next session: Which felt harder, building the list or hitting send? What was the story in your head right before you sent the first one?
Message to send with it: “Loved our session today. I kept your homework small on purpose, about two hours total, because the goal this week is momentum, not perfection. If you only manage the minimum win, that’s still a real step forward. Send away, I’ve got you.”
That is ready to paste into an email or your client portal with maybe a 10-second tweak.
Why this works
Three LLM principles are doing the heavy lifting here. Learn them and every prompt you write gets better:
- Role priming. The opening line (“You are an experienced coach who designs post-session homework”) tells the model which slice of its knowledge to draw from. “Give me some homework ideas” pulls the bland internet average; assigning the role of a coach who designs assignments pulls from the structured, behavior-change end of its training. Always assign a role.
- Specificity in, specificity out. The model can only be as concrete as your input. If you leave
{{CLIENT_CONTEXT}}and{{TIME_AVAILABLE}}thin, you’ll get generic homework that ignores the client’s real life. Tell it “30 minutes on weekday evenings, anxious about selling” and the steps get scoped and worded to fit a real human. The detail you put in is the realism you get back. - Constraints are quality control. The rules aren’t decoration. “No vague verbs like ‘think about'” kills the single most common homework failure, instructions a client can’t actually act on. “Must fit inside the time available” stops the model from over-assigning, which is what makes clients quietly give up. And the “ask me up to 3 clarifying questions first” line lets it fill gaps by asking instead of inventing client facts, which is the biggest fix for generic AI output.
Do this now
- Copy the prompt above into ChatGPT or Claude.
- Replace the five variables with your real client’s goal, today’s focus, their constraints, and their available time.
- Send it. If it asks clarifying questions, answer them, that’s the prompt protecting you from generic homework.
- Skim the steps, tweak one line in your own voice, and send the homework to your client today while the session is still fresh.
Pro tips
- Always fill in the time and the constraints. The minimum win and the time estimates are only as honest as the limits you give the model. A client with 30 real minutes needs different homework than one with five hours.
- Keep the clarifying-questions line. It’s the difference between homework built for your actual client and homework built for a generic one.
- Reuse the reflection prompt to open your next session. Ask exactly what the model gave the client to answer; it turns homework into a clean bridge between sessions.
- Save your best outputs as a swipe file. After a month you’ll have a library of well-scoped step patterns you can reach for instantly.
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