This post outlines the core principles and curriculum of the Pharos Digital Dojo White Belt Theory course, a perpetually free program designed to transform the “overwhelmed observer” into an “empowered advocate” of ChatGPT. If you’ve been hesitant about using ChatGPT in your business, this course provides the essential confidence and practical fundamentals you need to get started.
Our “ChatGPT White Belt Theory: The Foundational Course for Confident AI Use” is a pre-requisite for our paid programs.
This is a deep dive into the foundational mindset and skills—not a fast track to advanced prompt engineering. We are focused on establishing a solid rhythm and understanding before moving forward.
💡 The White Belt Philosophy: Confidence Over Hype
The White Belt level is intentionally designed to be perpetually free. This approach serves two primary purposes:
- Mutual Assessment: It allows the program to ensure participants are a good fit for the learning environment, while giving participants the chance to see if the program’s structure and philosophy fit their needs.
- A Safe Space for Entrepreneurs: This is a zero-pressure environment. There are no deadlines, and you are encouraged to “fall on your face” and learn without consequence. You should only advance to the next level when you are 100% confident in the value you’ve received and have achieved initial, tangible leverage.
The program focuses specifically on mastering ChatGPT, although the communication principles taught can be applied to other AI tools.
The Core AI Mindset Shift
One of the most critical lessons of the White Belt is redefining AI’s role. AI is not a threat to your job or business; it is a powerful, new layer of leverage that enhances your existing human capabilities and expertise. The key is “Brilliance In, Brilliance Out”: if you are a smart person who knows your stuff, ChatGPT helps you come across as smarter, more confident, and enables you to do more useful things.
Success with ChatGPT hinges on two factors:
- Effective Communication: ChatGPT is a large language model; you don’t need to learn coding or a mysterious interface—you need to learn how to communicate with it effectively.
- Curiosity: Curiosity is the most critical ingredient for success. If you are not a curious person, the program will be frustrating.
The goal of the entire White Belt stage of ChatGPT Mastery is to give you the confidence to take action and not freeze.
🧭 Program Structure and Progression
The Pharos Digital Dojo allows participants to advance at their own pace. However, rushing is strongly discouraged; it’s recommended to spend at least one month per belt level to ensure proper learning, practice, and confidence building.
The program is structured with different tracks tailored to specific goals:
- Leader Track: For owners and managers.
- Team Track: For employees (only accessible if the leader is in the program).
- Advanced Innovator Track: For those on the cutting edge (requires prerequisites from other tracks).
Live Calls and Community Engagement
The program includes live practice calls (currently Monday mornings, 11:00 AM Eastern time). These calls include dedicated practice time for White, Yellow, and Orange Belts, followed by an “Ask Me Anything” (AMA) session. Active participation is required; these are video conference calls, and you should be prepared to be on camera and talk.
For questions and support outside of the calls, the LinkedIn group is the primary forum. Sharing questions here is highly encouraged, as it benefits the entire community.
✅ The Five White Belt Completion Badges
To complete the White Belt level and qualify for the next, you must earn five badges. These badges require simple, practical application to build a foundation of rhythm and confidence.
1. Mindset Badge
The Mindset badge is about the simplest action needed to break the ice and move from “I should use it” to “I have used it”.
- The Task: Log in to ChatGPT and type in a simple prompt (e.g., “Can you help me a simple introduction to prove to the world that I have at least used you once?”).
- Completion: Share the resulting conversation link in the community using the share button within the ChatGPT interface (not the URL from your browser bar).
2. Skillset Badge
This badge establishes the fundamental skill of effective communication using a simple framework.
- The Framework: The three-part prompt: Role, Task, and Output.
- The Task: Draft one low-risk social media post or an internal team email using this three-part prompt. The content should be low-effort and non-critical.
- Crucial Note on Vetting Content: You are the adult in the conversation. Before anything created by ChatGPT leaves your desk, you must vet it and confirm its accuracy. ChatGPT can hallucinate and make mistakes, just like an intern.
Advanced Tip for Clarity: XML Tags
For more complex prompts, the use of XML-like tags (<role>, </role>, <task>, </task>, <output>), and </output> is demonstrated to give ChatGPT clarity around the boundaries of each section of your prompt.
3. Gearset Badge
The Gearset badge focuses on customizing the tool to your personal workflow for efficiency.
- The Task: Set up and customize your ChatGPT workspace. This includes:
- Saving a link to ChatGPT for one-click access (e.g., desktop shortcut or bookmark).
- Configuring Customization and Personalization settings.
Key Customization Steps (Paid Account Recommended)
Under Settings ($21/month paid account is recommended but not mandatory for all steps):
- System Settings: Change between light/dark mode, accent color, and language.
- Personalization (Custom Instructions): This is the most useful part. Here, you can:
- Define its personality or tone (e.g., cynical, supportive, candid).
- Give it rules, such as starting brief and expanding on request.
- State what is important to you (e.g., always prioritize accuracy, then clarity, then brevity, then style).
- Define your occupation, nickname, and what you do.
- Manage memory and reference saved memories.
4. Community Badge
This badge promotes engagement and collaborative learning. The best way to learn something is to teach it, and sharing questions benefits everyone.
- The Task: Share a single post in the community. This must be either:
- A question about something you are still confused about.
- Your single biggest takeaway from the course or prerequisite content.
5. Attitude Badge
The final badge focuses on building a consistent rhythm and a positive perspective towards the tool.
- The Task: Use ChatGPT for simple problem-solving over three consecutive days. The problem doesn’t need to be complicated.
- Completion: Confidently state that you have completed this three days in a row. This is about understanding the rhythm of interaction.
🛠️ ChatGPT Advanced Tips Covered
The White Belt course also introduces several quick, basic formatting tips to improve your interactions and help with downstream formatting.
- Contained Text Blocks: Use triple quotes (“””) to denote a contained block of text or context you are pasting in. This clearly tells ChatGPT to treat that text separately from the instructions.
- Headings and Subheadings: Use a single asterisk (*) for a main heading and a double asterisk (**) for a subheading. This helps format the output for easier copying and pasting into a Google Doc or Word.
- Role-Playing and Voice: Experiment with assigning ChatGPT a role (e.g., “act as a journalist”) or asking it to adopt a specific voice (e.g., “make it read like something Yoda would write”). The entire White Belt should feel like play.
- Exploring Features: Explore features like image creation, web search, and GPTs (specialized versions). You cannot break the system by clicking around.
The White Belt is the critical step to break free from being an “overwhelmed observer”and gain the confidence to make AI a genuine layer of leverage in your business.
▶️ Ready to stop watching and start doing?
You can find the guided White Belt program details at pharosbusiness.com/digital-dojo.