WEBVTT
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Welcome to the Optimizing Beyond podcast. I'm
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Josh Negron, and this show is all about sharing
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lessons, ideas, and strategies that sharpen your
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thinking, strengthen your habits, and push you
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to grow beyond comfort zones. Let's dive in.
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In episode 33, we talked about using AI as a
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thought partner. And in episode 35, we covered
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how to remain human while doing it. But today,
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we're not talking about productivity. We're actually
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talking about doing something completely different.
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We're talking about extreme awareness. I see
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so much on social media and YouTube about building
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a second brain with AI. someone who thinks like
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you, executes like you, and is an incredible
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top -notch executive assistant, often way cheaper.
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But what if the best use of AI isn't to just
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have another digital yes -man? What if it's about
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building a digital contrarian, someone you specifically
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build, challenge you, and make you think differently?
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Today, we're going to talk about how to build
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an AI mirror, one that can dismantle your ego,
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check your biases, and pressure test your logic
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before you go out there and implement it in the
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real world. And because it's AI and it can grow
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in its context and understanding, it can learn
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those more and more as you use it. So let's dive
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in. Now, we've talked about this before. The
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first step is going to be to break through the
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politeness protocol. Even if you're not building
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one to think differently, I think most of us
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have been annoyed with how polite and almost
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fawning that some of these AI models can be.
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You're like, okay. It wasn't that great of an
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idea. Stop. But we all know they're built to
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kind of do this because they have to be used
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by the masses. And so some people like to be
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told that their ideas are the best thing in the
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world. So the AI is kind of out of the box designed
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to do that. But if you're here, I'm wagering
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to say that you don't need that. So how do we
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prompt? the AI to cut all that fluff out. And
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I would say that even if you prompt all that
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fluffy stuff out, it more often than not does
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not think outside of the box or always directly
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challenge your ideas. So even if you get it to
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get the politeness out of the way, the yes man
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tendencies often are still there. So to get something
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like a full contrarian coach, or a persona that
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really does challenge what you're thinking, where
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it's coming from, and why, you really do have
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to get very specific on how you prompt it. So
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today we're going to cover five specific prompts
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that you can use today to get AI to potentially
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be more useful. for some of the things that you're
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looking to do. So if you listen to episode 13,
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this would be a version of taking extreme responsibility
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in a different way, in your thought process.
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So ultimately, the goal isn't to get AI to think
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like you, at least not in this context. For an
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executive assistant, sure, I get how that makes
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sense. But in this context, it's to get AI to
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think differently, similar to a business partner
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who's a different personality, usually opposite,
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and is able to challenge where your blind spots
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are, has strengths where your weaknesses are.
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So we're looking to build something. kind of
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like that. So why are we talking about it from
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a preparation standpoint? Well, for a couple
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reasons. The first one being that if you build
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it ahead of time, I venture to say it'll be more
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useful to you in the moment if you have a pinned
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chat or maybe a project, depending on what AI
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that you use on a regular basis, that you can
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program to handle things a certain way. Because
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when we're frustrated and emotions are high,
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that's likely the time that we're most sensitive
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to seeking validation for our ideas. If we think
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we're right, temptation is to go to somebody
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else and have them validate that we're right.
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It's only going to someone that you know is going
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to challenge your ideas, which out of the box,
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none of us want to do, but we know it is the
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best thing that you can do. Building an agent,
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a chat, a project, or a gem like this is a way
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to prepare for those moments. to where the prompt
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is already built, it's already set up, and you
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don't have to rely on a moment that you have
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high emotions to prompt an AI well when you're
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ticked at a situation or a circumstance or a
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person. We're basically taking our ego out, doing
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the prep work and laying the foundation here
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ahead of time, and have it ready for use when
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we need it most. But before we do that, let's
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talk about the philosophy just a little bit.
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Because really, what we're doing here is we're
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building ahead of time a tool that we'll use
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for self -reflection, growth, and challenge,
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challenging us. And really, that is a practice
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of humility. So if that's not the focus from
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the very beginning, the likelihood of you using
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this once you've built it is relatively zero.
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So if you're somebody who wants to grow the most
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and be challenged and open to challenging in
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these heightened sensitive moments, then you're
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ready to do this. So like I said, in order to
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do this the best, I've realized that building
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it ahead of time, kind of hemming yourself in
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in all the ways that you know you're going to
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try to worm your way out of it or argue your
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way through it, you know yourself best. So you
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can really hem this in with a careful prompt
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so that the AI knows your shenanigans before
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you do it. And that way, even if you do go in
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guns blazing, pleading your case, or telling
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the AI how horrible your coworker is, it's going
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to know and call you on your BS anyway. So you
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can do this in a normal individual chat. But
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I would encourage you to build a project or a
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gem instead because you can give these custom
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instructions, give it individual purpose on what
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it's for. And a lot of times, anytime that you
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do interact with that project or gem, it's going
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to filter through that understanding and never
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forget it. Whereas if a normal chat gets long
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enough, the context window could forget your
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initial prompt and its initial purpose and kind
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of diminish its effectiveness over time. Unfortunately,
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what's funny is any chat thread is going to adapt
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and get better over time because it's going to
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learn maybe your blind spots when it occurs more
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often and get stronger and better at recognizing
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those. But you don't want it to forget the very
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beginning, the very core purpose. So a gem and
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a project helps grow in its understanding as
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well while never forgetting the initial reason
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that it exists to begin with, which is arguably.
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a very niche use of AI. I don't think a large
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percentage of people who use AI use it for this
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purpose. And if you want to go a step even further,
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projects and gems do have the ability for you
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to upload additional knowledge as well. So if
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there's specific... meeting transcripts that
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you have of particular instances that are good
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examples for it to know what's going on, what
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you do and what your patterns are, then that
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would be a great thing to upload those transcripts
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or those meeting notes into those so that it
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fully understands things better. In this age
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where we have tools that record a lot of our
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Zoom meetings and those kinds of things, that's
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something that you could easily do and just help
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it gain a quicker understanding that it won't
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forget. as you interact with it. So once you
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build it to hold the line against your emotions
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and hold up that mirror to help you grow, how
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do we use it as a system to grow rather than
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to just punish us when we're frustrated? Because
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that doesn't seem like a very constructive thing.
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So how do we have it be like a coach, like somebody
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who's helping you, recognizing the frustration
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and the situation you're in? but also spurring
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you to move to the next step, to the next level,
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or to reconsider some things, reconsider some
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thoughts. So as part of the prompts, how should
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AI respond once you dump all your emotional garbage
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onto it to help you grow, to be that coach? And
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one of the things I love is to program it to
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ask questions. This does a couple things. The
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first one being that it helps you get more context
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and more understanding out. It also helps you
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to... kind of get it out, kind of get your story
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out, helps you in a way feel heard, even though
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this is an AI, it's not going to have the same
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effect as talking to a human, obviously. But
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in addition to that, it gives the agent more
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context in what's going on, more understanding,
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and is able to connect more dots before it just
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makes an assumption of like, oh, here you go
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again, your ego's out of control, and here's
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why. And what if it's not quite a perfect land
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in that assumption? So it's going to give it
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more context to make that better analysis of
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what might be going on. If it's got previous
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context from previous conversations, same thing.
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And so then I believe it can be the most helpful
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in its response. So essentially that second effect,
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the AI is going to be more accurate in its responses
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contextually to the situation at hand. Now, with
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my first point I just made a second ago, you
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might say, see, this is weird. Like this shouldn't
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replace the people in your life that should have
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this place to have these kinds of conversations.
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And I always talk about the people closest to
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you and how to curate those relationships and
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how critical they are. And I absolutely agree.
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So I don't think this should replace those relationships.
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So a couple of caveats on that. Number one, if
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you don't have somebody in your life that is
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this way and you're looking to cultivate and
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find those relationships, then this can be. a
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great tool to help you grow and be challenged
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until you get to that point. Secondly, if you
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do have these kinds of relationships, if they're
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high functioning mentor level relationships,
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or even an amazing business partner, and you
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guys are running fast together, at a certain
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point, their time is very valuable. And there's
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a difference between you coming to one of those
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with just your problem, no solutions, and essentially
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putting it all on them to help you think through
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a solution versus having a problem, working through
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some of that with these types of specific conversations
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on your own. You can do it with a pen and paper
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if you want, but AI is very interesting and interactive.
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Why wouldn't you leverage it? And there you can
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go with your mentor or your business partner
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and say, hey, I found this problem. Here are
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some ideas that I've brainstormed. What do you
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think? And I would argue this is way more honoring
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of their time. And this doesn't eliminate the
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human loop in your thought process and your decision
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-making. in the things that you're planning and
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learning from. So this lets your mentors and
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your friends, the people that you're running
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hard with, locked arms with, help you in a much
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more constructive way. rather than act like you're
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therapists. So as always, let's get a little
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practical here and let's look at these five prompts
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together so we can run through some of the context
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and understanding before you go on and run them
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through in your programmed agents. So the first
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one is kind of like an extreme ownership type
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of auditor, which is one that I've used before,
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especially in my meetings, maybe meetings that
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didn't go quite as well as I wanted to. So the
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prompt is, act as a radically candid executive
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coach. I'm gonna provide a transcript or summary
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of a stressful interaction. First, ask me one
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to two clarifying questions to ensure you have
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the full context. Once I answer, don't validate
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my feelings. Completely ignore the faults of
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the other people involved because I only control
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me. Tell me exactly where my ego got in the way,
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where my communication broke down, and give me
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three things I could have done better to lead
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this interaction. Man, what a powerful thing.
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Remembering that you are the only one that you
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can control. Sure, that other person might have
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gone completely out of line. However, what is
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something you could have done differently is
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really the only thing you can adjust and change.
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So let's just eliminate the other person as a
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factor or variable from the get -go. What is
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something that I could have done better is super,
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super powerful. The second one is the bias extraction
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engine. We all have blind spots. We all know
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it, but we don't see them because that's the
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nature of the problem. Analyze the following
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thought process, argument, or journal entry.
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Before giving feedback, ask me questions one
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at a time to clarify my core intent, then don't
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agree with me. Instead, list every cognitive
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bias, unverified assumption, or logical fallacy
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that I'm making. Point out exactly what I'm assuming
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to be an objective truth that might actually
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be a subjective emotion. This is, again, just
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a different way to get your thoughts going. Journaling
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is already effective way to get your thoughts
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out, but to have something analyze it and look
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at it differently can be really, really powerful.
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So I encourage you to play around with that to
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find out what are the blind spots that you might
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be operating under without even knowing it. Number
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three is the red team, which is like a devil's
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advocate. Now this can be very helpful for decisions.
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I'm going to pitch a decision I'm about to make.
00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:17.379
Your job is to act as a red team and completely
00:12:17.379 --> 00:12:20.279
dismantle it. First, ask any questions you need
00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:22.419
to fully understand the stakes of the context,
00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:25.440
and then give me the three strongest, most brutal
00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:28.340
arguments for why this plan will fail, what my
00:12:28.340 --> 00:12:31.240
blind spots are, and why my logic is flawed.
00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:34.840
Don't hold back or soften the blow. Again, challenging
00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:37.220
your ideas, your presuppositions, and really
00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:39.980
helping you refine them. Can be super, super
00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:42.519
powerful. All right, wrapping up. Number four,
00:12:42.659 --> 00:12:45.879
the contrarian persona. Act as an expert mentor
00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:49.679
who has the exact opposite strengths I do. A
00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:52.139
lot of times I share my personality assessments
00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:55.620
with my AI agents that I interact a lot with.
00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:58.200
So they know who I am in a lot of different ways.
00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:00.120
So if you haven't done that, you can describe
00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:03.059
yourself here. I'm highly blah, blah, blah, traits,
00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:05.580
fast moving, visionary, optimistic, big picture,
00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:08.600
whatever. Read this scenario. First, ask me what
00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:12.320
my ideal outcome is, then respond from the perspective
00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:15.200
of someone who is hyper -analytical, risk -adverse,
00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:18.259
and highly detail -oriented and skeptical. Show
00:13:18.259 --> 00:13:20.639
me the angles my natural personality completely
00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.539
missed. This is awesome. So if you have any personality
00:13:23.539 --> 00:13:25.919
assessments, this is really, really helpful that
00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:28.539
you can program into the knowledge of this agent
00:13:28.539 --> 00:13:32.379
to really help know how it needs to map the contrarian
00:13:32.379 --> 00:13:35.259
persona. Super easy. And lastly, number five.
00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:38.899
The say the quiet part out loud prompt. Read
00:13:38.899 --> 00:13:41.259
this conflict I'm having before you analyze it.
00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:44.480
Ask me to define what I think the other person's
00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:47.820
true motive is. Once I answer, look past my own
00:13:47.820 --> 00:13:50.700
justifications. Tell me what I'm actually afraid
00:13:50.700 --> 00:13:54.120
of, what I'm trying to avoid, and what hard truth
00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:57.500
about myself I'm pretending not to know. Whoa,
00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:00.720
pretty deep. But hey. It can be very interesting.
00:14:00.860 --> 00:14:03.379
If you're willing to go there, the answers can
00:14:03.379 --> 00:14:06.679
be wild. So this week, my challenge to you is
00:14:06.679 --> 00:14:09.659
take at least one of these prompts to build an
00:14:09.659 --> 00:14:12.559
AI mirror for yourself. If not, build all five.
00:14:12.679 --> 00:14:15.000
It can be pretty fun. And then just put yourself
00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:17.899
in the line of fire intentionally to refine and
00:14:17.899 --> 00:14:20.659
grow yourself. Similar to how iron sharpens iron
00:14:20.659 --> 00:14:23.879
in relationships, you can really do some interesting
00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:26.200
things to get yourself to think differently,
00:14:26.299 --> 00:14:28.799
to think outside of the box. which can be just
00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:32.860
another helpful brainstorming tool that is admittedly
00:14:32.860 --> 00:14:34.899
just a little more uncomfortable. So go on the
00:14:34.899 --> 00:14:36.980
show notes, I'll have these prompts pasted below,
00:14:37.100 --> 00:14:39.519
and you can just simply copy and paste them and
00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:41.620
add some additional context if you want. Now
00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:44.000
remember, like I said, when you open your preferred
00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.679
program, it is best to build a gem or a custom
00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:50.500
project to do this and give it these instructions
00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:53.190
in the custom instructions. And then you can
00:14:53.190 --> 00:14:55.269
have the chat from there. From that point, you
00:14:55.269 --> 00:14:57.990
can also upload all those documents, whether
00:14:57.990 --> 00:15:00.429
it's transcripts or your personality assessments
00:15:00.429 --> 00:15:01.889
and those kinds of things that you're wanting
00:15:01.889 --> 00:15:03.889
to share. And then I'd like you to test it on
00:15:03.889 --> 00:15:06.409
a real conflict or something that you're really
00:15:06.409 --> 00:15:09.080
wrestling through. Let's see if it works. So
00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:11.980
identify a situation that's less than ideal and
00:15:11.980 --> 00:15:14.940
specifically have a conversation with one of
00:15:14.940 --> 00:15:18.000
these five prompts to see if you can get any
00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:20.559
helpful insight to get to the other end of this
00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:23.080
situation. This can be a disagreement with your
00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:25.799
spouse, a frustrating meeting at work, maybe
00:15:25.799 --> 00:15:28.080
some conflict with a friend, a tense interaction
00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.240
with an employee, or weirdly enough, even a disagreement
00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:33.159
with someone on social media. It's debatable
00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:35.419
if that's worth your stress or not. But hey,
00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:37.500
asking yourself how you could grow from that
00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:40.759
scenario is arguably a noble effort. I wish you
00:15:40.759 --> 00:15:43.500
all the luck and some good growth opportunities
00:15:43.500 --> 00:15:45.860
from this exercise. And if you got some really
00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:47.740
interesting results, let me know in the comments.
00:15:47.820 --> 00:15:49.799
I'd love to know how it helped you out. Thanks
00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:51.559
for listening to the Optimizing Beyond podcast.
00:15:51.799 --> 00:15:53.980
Remember, growth happens when you take action.
00:15:54.120 --> 00:15:56.820
So subscribe, share this with a friend, and most
00:15:56.820 --> 00:15:59.259
importantly, put what you learned into practice.
00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.879
And until next time, keep moving forward, because
00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:04.940
as we know, daily anything changes everything.
00:00:02.109 --> 00:00:05.169
Welcome to the Optimizing Beyond podcast. I'm
00:00:05.169 --> 00:00:07.389
Josh Negron, and this show is all about sharing
00:00:07.389 --> 00:00:11.109
lessons, ideas, and strategies that sharpen your
00:00:11.109 --> 00:00:13.970
thinking, strengthen your habits, and push you
00:00:13.970 --> 00:00:17.050
to grow beyond comfort zones. Let's dive in.
00:00:21.609 --> 00:00:25.250
In episode 33, we talked about using AI as a
00:00:25.250 --> 00:00:27.929
thought partner. And in episode 35, we covered
00:00:27.929 --> 00:00:30.609
how to remain human while doing it. But today,
00:00:30.750 --> 00:00:33.210
we're not talking about productivity. We're actually
00:00:33.210 --> 00:00:35.030
talking about doing something completely different.
00:00:35.149 --> 00:00:37.729
We're talking about extreme awareness. I see
00:00:37.729 --> 00:00:40.409
so much on social media and YouTube about building
00:00:40.409 --> 00:00:43.500
a second brain with AI. someone who thinks like
00:00:43.500 --> 00:00:46.380
you, executes like you, and is an incredible
00:00:46.380 --> 00:00:49.679
top -notch executive assistant, often way cheaper.
00:00:49.880 --> 00:00:52.460
But what if the best use of AI isn't to just
00:00:52.460 --> 00:00:55.159
have another digital yes -man? What if it's about
00:00:55.159 --> 00:00:58.159
building a digital contrarian, someone you specifically
00:00:58.159 --> 00:01:00.899
build, challenge you, and make you think differently?
00:01:01.159 --> 00:01:03.259
Today, we're going to talk about how to build
00:01:03.259 --> 00:01:06.319
an AI mirror, one that can dismantle your ego,
00:01:06.829 --> 00:01:09.530
check your biases, and pressure test your logic
00:01:09.530 --> 00:01:11.650
before you go out there and implement it in the
00:01:11.650 --> 00:01:14.269
real world. And because it's AI and it can grow
00:01:14.269 --> 00:01:16.849
in its context and understanding, it can learn
00:01:16.849 --> 00:01:19.730
those more and more as you use it. So let's dive
00:01:19.730 --> 00:01:21.530
in. Now, we've talked about this before. The
00:01:21.530 --> 00:01:24.109
first step is going to be to break through the
00:01:24.109 --> 00:01:26.870
politeness protocol. Even if you're not building
00:01:26.870 --> 00:01:29.609
one to think differently, I think most of us
00:01:29.609 --> 00:01:32.329
have been annoyed with how polite and almost
00:01:32.329 --> 00:01:35.049
fawning that some of these AI models can be.
00:01:35.109 --> 00:01:36.890
You're like, okay. It wasn't that great of an
00:01:36.890 --> 00:01:39.730
idea. Stop. But we all know they're built to
00:01:39.730 --> 00:01:41.890
kind of do this because they have to be used
00:01:41.890 --> 00:01:44.810
by the masses. And so some people like to be
00:01:44.810 --> 00:01:46.969
told that their ideas are the best thing in the
00:01:46.969 --> 00:01:50.049
world. So the AI is kind of out of the box designed
00:01:50.049 --> 00:01:52.489
to do that. But if you're here, I'm wagering
00:01:52.489 --> 00:01:55.090
to say that you don't need that. So how do we
00:01:55.090 --> 00:01:58.299
prompt? the AI to cut all that fluff out. And
00:01:58.299 --> 00:02:01.079
I would say that even if you prompt all that
00:02:01.079 --> 00:02:03.739
fluffy stuff out, it more often than not does
00:02:03.739 --> 00:02:06.540
not think outside of the box or always directly
00:02:06.540 --> 00:02:09.520
challenge your ideas. So even if you get it to
00:02:09.520 --> 00:02:11.819
get the politeness out of the way, the yes man
00:02:11.819 --> 00:02:14.860
tendencies often are still there. So to get something
00:02:14.860 --> 00:02:18.469
like a full contrarian coach, or a persona that
00:02:18.469 --> 00:02:20.789
really does challenge what you're thinking, where
00:02:20.789 --> 00:02:23.009
it's coming from, and why, you really do have
00:02:23.009 --> 00:02:25.810
to get very specific on how you prompt it. So
00:02:25.810 --> 00:02:28.050
today we're going to cover five specific prompts
00:02:28.050 --> 00:02:30.150
that you can use today to get AI to potentially
00:02:30.150 --> 00:02:32.379
be more useful. for some of the things that you're
00:02:32.379 --> 00:02:34.500
looking to do. So if you listen to episode 13,
00:02:34.599 --> 00:02:37.180
this would be a version of taking extreme responsibility
00:02:37.180 --> 00:02:39.300
in a different way, in your thought process.
00:02:39.560 --> 00:02:42.139
So ultimately, the goal isn't to get AI to think
00:02:42.139 --> 00:02:44.379
like you, at least not in this context. For an
00:02:44.379 --> 00:02:46.240
executive assistant, sure, I get how that makes
00:02:46.240 --> 00:02:48.919
sense. But in this context, it's to get AI to
00:02:48.919 --> 00:02:51.699
think differently, similar to a business partner
00:02:51.699 --> 00:02:54.020
who's a different personality, usually opposite,
00:02:54.340 --> 00:02:56.419
and is able to challenge where your blind spots
00:02:56.419 --> 00:02:58.539
are, has strengths where your weaknesses are.
00:02:58.659 --> 00:03:01.020
So we're looking to build something. kind of
00:03:01.020 --> 00:03:03.099
like that. So why are we talking about it from
00:03:03.099 --> 00:03:05.360
a preparation standpoint? Well, for a couple
00:03:05.360 --> 00:03:08.539
reasons. The first one being that if you build
00:03:08.539 --> 00:03:11.479
it ahead of time, I venture to say it'll be more
00:03:11.479 --> 00:03:14.039
useful to you in the moment if you have a pinned
00:03:14.039 --> 00:03:17.400
chat or maybe a project, depending on what AI
00:03:17.400 --> 00:03:20.379
that you use on a regular basis, that you can
00:03:20.379 --> 00:03:22.740
program to handle things a certain way. Because
00:03:22.740 --> 00:03:25.000
when we're frustrated and emotions are high,
00:03:25.199 --> 00:03:28.939
that's likely the time that we're most sensitive
00:03:28.939 --> 00:03:31.979
to seeking validation for our ideas. If we think
00:03:31.979 --> 00:03:34.020
we're right, temptation is to go to somebody
00:03:34.020 --> 00:03:36.199
else and have them validate that we're right.
00:03:36.539 --> 00:03:38.719
It's only going to someone that you know is going
00:03:38.719 --> 00:03:40.979
to challenge your ideas, which out of the box,
00:03:41.080 --> 00:03:43.460
none of us want to do, but we know it is the
00:03:43.460 --> 00:03:46.000
best thing that you can do. Building an agent,
00:03:46.219 --> 00:03:49.979
a chat, a project, or a gem like this is a way
00:03:49.979 --> 00:03:52.550
to prepare for those moments. to where the prompt
00:03:52.550 --> 00:03:54.990
is already built, it's already set up, and you
00:03:54.990 --> 00:03:56.830
don't have to rely on a moment that you have
00:03:56.830 --> 00:03:59.610
high emotions to prompt an AI well when you're
00:03:59.610 --> 00:04:02.250
ticked at a situation or a circumstance or a
00:04:02.250 --> 00:04:05.289
person. We're basically taking our ego out, doing
00:04:05.289 --> 00:04:07.490
the prep work and laying the foundation here
00:04:07.490 --> 00:04:10.530
ahead of time, and have it ready for use when
00:04:10.530 --> 00:04:12.789
we need it most. But before we do that, let's
00:04:12.789 --> 00:04:14.650
talk about the philosophy just a little bit.
00:04:15.050 --> 00:04:17.350
Because really, what we're doing here is we're
00:04:17.350 --> 00:04:20.029
building ahead of time a tool that we'll use
00:04:20.029 --> 00:04:23.089
for self -reflection, growth, and challenge,
00:04:23.329 --> 00:04:27.029
challenging us. And really, that is a practice
00:04:27.029 --> 00:04:30.209
of humility. So if that's not the focus from
00:04:30.209 --> 00:04:32.750
the very beginning, the likelihood of you using
00:04:32.750 --> 00:04:35.269
this once you've built it is relatively zero.
00:04:35.449 --> 00:04:39.250
So if you're somebody who wants to grow the most
00:04:39.250 --> 00:04:42.430
and be challenged and open to challenging in
00:04:42.430 --> 00:04:45.360
these heightened sensitive moments, then you're
00:04:45.360 --> 00:04:47.459
ready to do this. So like I said, in order to
00:04:47.459 --> 00:04:49.600
do this the best, I've realized that building
00:04:49.600 --> 00:04:52.360
it ahead of time, kind of hemming yourself in
00:04:52.360 --> 00:04:54.279
in all the ways that you know you're going to
00:04:54.279 --> 00:04:56.959
try to worm your way out of it or argue your
00:04:56.959 --> 00:04:59.939
way through it, you know yourself best. So you
00:04:59.939 --> 00:05:02.060
can really hem this in with a careful prompt
00:05:02.060 --> 00:05:04.480
so that the AI knows your shenanigans before
00:05:04.480 --> 00:05:07.379
you do it. And that way, even if you do go in
00:05:07.379 --> 00:05:09.959
guns blazing, pleading your case, or telling
00:05:09.959 --> 00:05:13.079
the AI how horrible your coworker is, it's going
00:05:13.079 --> 00:05:15.420
to know and call you on your BS anyway. So you
00:05:15.420 --> 00:05:18.529
can do this in a normal individual chat. But
00:05:18.529 --> 00:05:21.509
I would encourage you to build a project or a
00:05:21.509 --> 00:05:24.149
gem instead because you can give these custom
00:05:24.149 --> 00:05:26.850
instructions, give it individual purpose on what
00:05:26.850 --> 00:05:29.829
it's for. And a lot of times, anytime that you
00:05:29.829 --> 00:05:32.329
do interact with that project or gem, it's going
00:05:32.329 --> 00:05:34.649
to filter through that understanding and never
00:05:34.649 --> 00:05:37.910
forget it. Whereas if a normal chat gets long
00:05:37.910 --> 00:05:40.689
enough, the context window could forget your
00:05:40.689 --> 00:05:43.410
initial prompt and its initial purpose and kind
00:05:43.410 --> 00:05:46.629
of diminish its effectiveness over time. Unfortunately,
00:05:46.670 --> 00:05:49.610
what's funny is any chat thread is going to adapt
00:05:49.610 --> 00:05:51.829
and get better over time because it's going to
00:05:51.829 --> 00:05:55.930
learn maybe your blind spots when it occurs more
00:05:55.930 --> 00:05:57.949
often and get stronger and better at recognizing
00:05:57.949 --> 00:06:00.689
those. But you don't want it to forget the very
00:06:00.689 --> 00:06:02.910
beginning, the very core purpose. So a gem and
00:06:02.910 --> 00:06:05.790
a project helps grow in its understanding as
00:06:05.790 --> 00:06:09.550
well while never forgetting the initial reason
00:06:09.550 --> 00:06:12.069
that it exists to begin with, which is arguably.
00:06:12.779 --> 00:06:16.279
a very niche use of AI. I don't think a large
00:06:16.279 --> 00:06:18.839
percentage of people who use AI use it for this
00:06:18.839 --> 00:06:21.180
purpose. And if you want to go a step even further,
00:06:21.439 --> 00:06:24.160
projects and gems do have the ability for you
00:06:24.160 --> 00:06:26.939
to upload additional knowledge as well. So if
00:06:26.939 --> 00:06:29.199
there's specific... meeting transcripts that
00:06:29.199 --> 00:06:32.759
you have of particular instances that are good
00:06:32.759 --> 00:06:35.819
examples for it to know what's going on, what
00:06:35.819 --> 00:06:38.139
you do and what your patterns are, then that
00:06:38.139 --> 00:06:40.860
would be a great thing to upload those transcripts
00:06:40.860 --> 00:06:43.819
or those meeting notes into those so that it
00:06:43.819 --> 00:06:46.639
fully understands things better. In this age
00:06:46.639 --> 00:06:49.079
where we have tools that record a lot of our
00:06:49.079 --> 00:06:50.959
Zoom meetings and those kinds of things, that's
00:06:50.959 --> 00:06:53.279
something that you could easily do and just help
00:06:53.279 --> 00:06:56.220
it gain a quicker understanding that it won't
00:06:56.220 --> 00:06:58.670
forget. as you interact with it. So once you
00:06:58.670 --> 00:07:01.069
build it to hold the line against your emotions
00:07:01.069 --> 00:07:03.430
and hold up that mirror to help you grow, how
00:07:03.430 --> 00:07:06.269
do we use it as a system to grow rather than
00:07:06.269 --> 00:07:08.790
to just punish us when we're frustrated? Because
00:07:08.790 --> 00:07:10.550
that doesn't seem like a very constructive thing.
00:07:10.730 --> 00:07:13.589
So how do we have it be like a coach, like somebody
00:07:13.589 --> 00:07:16.550
who's helping you, recognizing the frustration
00:07:16.550 --> 00:07:19.089
and the situation you're in? but also spurring
00:07:19.089 --> 00:07:21.569
you to move to the next step, to the next level,
00:07:21.589 --> 00:07:24.149
or to reconsider some things, reconsider some
00:07:24.149 --> 00:07:26.610
thoughts. So as part of the prompts, how should
00:07:26.610 --> 00:07:29.649
AI respond once you dump all your emotional garbage
00:07:29.649 --> 00:07:32.850
onto it to help you grow, to be that coach? And
00:07:32.850 --> 00:07:35.209
one of the things I love is to program it to
00:07:35.209 --> 00:07:37.550
ask questions. This does a couple things. The
00:07:37.550 --> 00:07:40.870
first one being that it helps you get more context
00:07:40.870 --> 00:07:43.410
and more understanding out. It also helps you
00:07:43.410 --> 00:07:46.170
to... kind of get it out, kind of get your story
00:07:46.170 --> 00:07:48.949
out, helps you in a way feel heard, even though
00:07:48.949 --> 00:07:50.930
this is an AI, it's not going to have the same
00:07:50.930 --> 00:07:53.569
effect as talking to a human, obviously. But
00:07:53.569 --> 00:07:56.430
in addition to that, it gives the agent more
00:07:56.430 --> 00:07:59.410
context in what's going on, more understanding,
00:07:59.589 --> 00:08:02.529
and is able to connect more dots before it just
00:08:02.529 --> 00:08:04.889
makes an assumption of like, oh, here you go
00:08:04.889 --> 00:08:06.790
again, your ego's out of control, and here's
00:08:06.790 --> 00:08:09.410
why. And what if it's not quite a perfect land
00:08:09.410 --> 00:08:11.810
in that assumption? So it's going to give it
00:08:11.810 --> 00:08:14.449
more context to make that better analysis of
00:08:14.449 --> 00:08:16.470
what might be going on. If it's got previous
00:08:16.470 --> 00:08:18.889
context from previous conversations, same thing.
00:08:18.970 --> 00:08:21.569
And so then I believe it can be the most helpful
00:08:21.569 --> 00:08:24.529
in its response. So essentially that second effect,
00:08:24.610 --> 00:08:27.449
the AI is going to be more accurate in its responses
00:08:27.449 --> 00:08:30.250
contextually to the situation at hand. Now, with
00:08:30.250 --> 00:08:31.889
my first point I just made a second ago, you
00:08:31.889 --> 00:08:34.330
might say, see, this is weird. Like this shouldn't
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replace the people in your life that should have
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this place to have these kinds of conversations.
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And I always talk about the people closest to
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you and how to curate those relationships and
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how critical they are. And I absolutely agree.
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So I don't think this should replace those relationships.
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So a couple of caveats on that. Number one, if
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you don't have somebody in your life that is
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this way and you're looking to cultivate and
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find those relationships, then this can be. a
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great tool to help you grow and be challenged
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until you get to that point. Secondly, if you
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do have these kinds of relationships, if they're
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high functioning mentor level relationships,
00:09:09.970 --> 00:09:12.370
or even an amazing business partner, and you
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guys are running fast together, at a certain
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point, their time is very valuable. And there's
00:09:17.509 --> 00:09:19.929
a difference between you coming to one of those
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with just your problem, no solutions, and essentially
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putting it all on them to help you think through
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a solution versus having a problem, working through
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some of that with these types of specific conversations
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on your own. You can do it with a pen and paper
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if you want, but AI is very interesting and interactive.
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Why wouldn't you leverage it? And there you can
00:09:40.159 --> 00:09:42.220
go with your mentor or your business partner
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and say, hey, I found this problem. Here are
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some ideas that I've brainstormed. What do you
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think? And I would argue this is way more honoring
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of their time. And this doesn't eliminate the
00:09:51.580 --> 00:09:54.759
human loop in your thought process and your decision
00:09:54.759 --> 00:09:57.389
-making. in the things that you're planning and
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learning from. So this lets your mentors and
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your friends, the people that you're running
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hard with, locked arms with, help you in a much
00:10:04.649 --> 00:10:07.460
more constructive way. rather than act like you're
00:10:07.460 --> 00:10:09.379
therapists. So as always, let's get a little
00:10:09.379 --> 00:10:11.700
practical here and let's look at these five prompts
00:10:11.700 --> 00:10:13.759
together so we can run through some of the context
00:10:13.759 --> 00:10:16.620
and understanding before you go on and run them
00:10:16.620 --> 00:10:18.639
through in your programmed agents. So the first
00:10:18.639 --> 00:10:21.220
one is kind of like an extreme ownership type
00:10:21.220 --> 00:10:23.600
of auditor, which is one that I've used before,
00:10:23.779 --> 00:10:26.279
especially in my meetings, maybe meetings that
00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:28.639
didn't go quite as well as I wanted to. So the
00:10:28.639 --> 00:10:31.100
prompt is, act as a radically candid executive
00:10:31.100 --> 00:10:33.960
coach. I'm gonna provide a transcript or summary
00:10:33.960 --> 00:10:36.639
of a stressful interaction. First, ask me one
00:10:36.639 --> 00:10:39.100
to two clarifying questions to ensure you have
00:10:39.100 --> 00:10:41.679
the full context. Once I answer, don't validate
00:10:41.679 --> 00:10:44.200
my feelings. Completely ignore the faults of
00:10:44.200 --> 00:10:46.740
the other people involved because I only control
00:10:46.740 --> 00:10:49.840
me. Tell me exactly where my ego got in the way,
00:10:49.940 --> 00:10:52.039
where my communication broke down, and give me
00:10:52.039 --> 00:10:54.179
three things I could have done better to lead
00:10:54.179 --> 00:10:57.240
this interaction. Man, what a powerful thing.
00:10:57.970 --> 00:11:00.009
Remembering that you are the only one that you
00:11:00.009 --> 00:11:02.230
can control. Sure, that other person might have
00:11:02.230 --> 00:11:05.049
gone completely out of line. However, what is
00:11:05.049 --> 00:11:07.009
something you could have done differently is
00:11:07.009 --> 00:11:09.070
really the only thing you can adjust and change.
00:11:09.409 --> 00:11:11.889
So let's just eliminate the other person as a
00:11:11.889 --> 00:11:14.049
factor or variable from the get -go. What is
00:11:14.049 --> 00:11:16.049
something that I could have done better is super,
00:11:16.110 --> 00:11:19.350
super powerful. The second one is the bias extraction
00:11:19.350 --> 00:11:21.669
engine. We all have blind spots. We all know
00:11:21.669 --> 00:11:23.549
it, but we don't see them because that's the
00:11:23.549 --> 00:11:25.529
nature of the problem. Analyze the following
00:11:25.529 --> 00:11:27.870
thought process, argument, or journal entry.
00:11:28.009 --> 00:11:30.389
Before giving feedback, ask me questions one
00:11:30.389 --> 00:11:34.149
at a time to clarify my core intent, then don't
00:11:34.149 --> 00:11:36.929
agree with me. Instead, list every cognitive
00:11:36.929 --> 00:11:40.809
bias, unverified assumption, or logical fallacy
00:11:40.809 --> 00:11:43.639
that I'm making. Point out exactly what I'm assuming
00:11:43.639 --> 00:11:46.200
to be an objective truth that might actually
00:11:46.200 --> 00:11:49.000
be a subjective emotion. This is, again, just
00:11:49.000 --> 00:11:52.139
a different way to get your thoughts going. Journaling
00:11:52.139 --> 00:11:54.559
is already effective way to get your thoughts
00:11:54.559 --> 00:11:57.200
out, but to have something analyze it and look
00:11:57.200 --> 00:11:59.399
at it differently can be really, really powerful.
00:11:59.600 --> 00:12:01.600
So I encourage you to play around with that to
00:12:01.600 --> 00:12:03.980
find out what are the blind spots that you might
00:12:03.980 --> 00:12:06.299
be operating under without even knowing it. Number
00:12:06.299 --> 00:12:08.860
three is the red team, which is like a devil's
00:12:08.860 --> 00:12:11.440
advocate. Now this can be very helpful for decisions.
00:12:11.759 --> 00:12:14.039
I'm going to pitch a decision I'm about to make.
00:12:14.200 --> 00:12:17.379
Your job is to act as a red team and completely
00:12:17.379 --> 00:12:20.279
dismantle it. First, ask any questions you need
00:12:20.279 --> 00:12:22.419
to fully understand the stakes of the context,
00:12:22.639 --> 00:12:25.440
and then give me the three strongest, most brutal
00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:28.340
arguments for why this plan will fail, what my
00:12:28.340 --> 00:12:31.240
blind spots are, and why my logic is flawed.
00:12:31.600 --> 00:12:34.840
Don't hold back or soften the blow. Again, challenging
00:12:34.840 --> 00:12:37.220
your ideas, your presuppositions, and really
00:12:37.220 --> 00:12:39.980
helping you refine them. Can be super, super
00:12:39.980 --> 00:12:42.519
powerful. All right, wrapping up. Number four,
00:12:42.659 --> 00:12:45.879
the contrarian persona. Act as an expert mentor
00:12:45.879 --> 00:12:49.679
who has the exact opposite strengths I do. A
00:12:49.679 --> 00:12:52.139
lot of times I share my personality assessments
00:12:52.139 --> 00:12:55.620
with my AI agents that I interact a lot with.
00:12:55.679 --> 00:12:58.200
So they know who I am in a lot of different ways.
00:12:58.360 --> 00:13:00.120
So if you haven't done that, you can describe
00:13:00.120 --> 00:13:03.059
yourself here. I'm highly blah, blah, blah, traits,
00:13:03.360 --> 00:13:05.580
fast moving, visionary, optimistic, big picture,
00:13:05.700 --> 00:13:08.600
whatever. Read this scenario. First, ask me what
00:13:08.600 --> 00:13:12.320
my ideal outcome is, then respond from the perspective
00:13:12.320 --> 00:13:15.200
of someone who is hyper -analytical, risk -adverse,
00:13:15.360 --> 00:13:18.259
and highly detail -oriented and skeptical. Show
00:13:18.259 --> 00:13:20.639
me the angles my natural personality completely
00:13:20.639 --> 00:13:23.539
missed. This is awesome. So if you have any personality
00:13:23.539 --> 00:13:25.919
assessments, this is really, really helpful that
00:13:25.919 --> 00:13:28.539
you can program into the knowledge of this agent
00:13:28.539 --> 00:13:32.379
to really help know how it needs to map the contrarian
00:13:32.379 --> 00:13:35.259
persona. Super easy. And lastly, number five.
00:13:35.639 --> 00:13:38.899
The say the quiet part out loud prompt. Read
00:13:38.899 --> 00:13:41.259
this conflict I'm having before you analyze it.
00:13:41.279 --> 00:13:44.480
Ask me to define what I think the other person's
00:13:44.480 --> 00:13:47.820
true motive is. Once I answer, look past my own
00:13:47.820 --> 00:13:50.700
justifications. Tell me what I'm actually afraid
00:13:50.700 --> 00:13:54.120
of, what I'm trying to avoid, and what hard truth
00:13:54.120 --> 00:13:57.500
about myself I'm pretending not to know. Whoa,
00:13:57.840 --> 00:14:00.720
pretty deep. But hey. It can be very interesting.
00:14:00.860 --> 00:14:03.379
If you're willing to go there, the answers can
00:14:03.379 --> 00:14:06.679
be wild. So this week, my challenge to you is
00:14:06.679 --> 00:14:09.659
take at least one of these prompts to build an
00:14:09.659 --> 00:14:12.559
AI mirror for yourself. If not, build all five.
00:14:12.679 --> 00:14:15.000
It can be pretty fun. And then just put yourself
00:14:15.000 --> 00:14:17.899
in the line of fire intentionally to refine and
00:14:17.899 --> 00:14:20.659
grow yourself. Similar to how iron sharpens iron
00:14:20.659 --> 00:14:23.879
in relationships, you can really do some interesting
00:14:23.879 --> 00:14:26.200
things to get yourself to think differently,
00:14:26.299 --> 00:14:28.799
to think outside of the box. which can be just
00:14:28.799 --> 00:14:32.860
another helpful brainstorming tool that is admittedly
00:14:32.860 --> 00:14:34.899
just a little more uncomfortable. So go on the
00:14:34.899 --> 00:14:36.980
show notes, I'll have these prompts pasted below,
00:14:37.100 --> 00:14:39.519
and you can just simply copy and paste them and
00:14:39.519 --> 00:14:41.620
add some additional context if you want. Now
00:14:41.620 --> 00:14:44.000
remember, like I said, when you open your preferred
00:14:44.000 --> 00:14:47.679
program, it is best to build a gem or a custom
00:14:47.679 --> 00:14:50.500
project to do this and give it these instructions
00:14:50.500 --> 00:14:53.190
in the custom instructions. And then you can
00:14:53.190 --> 00:14:55.269
have the chat from there. From that point, you
00:14:55.269 --> 00:14:57.990
can also upload all those documents, whether
00:14:57.990 --> 00:15:00.429
it's transcripts or your personality assessments
00:15:00.429 --> 00:15:01.889
and those kinds of things that you're wanting
00:15:01.889 --> 00:15:03.889
to share. And then I'd like you to test it on
00:15:03.889 --> 00:15:06.409
a real conflict or something that you're really
00:15:06.409 --> 00:15:09.080
wrestling through. Let's see if it works. So
00:15:09.080 --> 00:15:11.980
identify a situation that's less than ideal and
00:15:11.980 --> 00:15:14.940
specifically have a conversation with one of
00:15:14.940 --> 00:15:18.000
these five prompts to see if you can get any
00:15:18.000 --> 00:15:20.559
helpful insight to get to the other end of this
00:15:20.559 --> 00:15:23.080
situation. This can be a disagreement with your
00:15:23.080 --> 00:15:25.799
spouse, a frustrating meeting at work, maybe
00:15:25.799 --> 00:15:28.080
some conflict with a friend, a tense interaction
00:15:28.080 --> 00:15:31.240
with an employee, or weirdly enough, even a disagreement
00:15:31.240 --> 00:15:33.159
with someone on social media. It's debatable
00:15:33.159 --> 00:15:35.419
if that's worth your stress or not. But hey,
00:15:35.519 --> 00:15:37.500
asking yourself how you could grow from that
00:15:37.500 --> 00:15:40.759
scenario is arguably a noble effort. I wish you
00:15:40.759 --> 00:15:43.500
all the luck and some good growth opportunities
00:15:43.500 --> 00:15:45.860
from this exercise. And if you got some really
00:15:45.860 --> 00:15:47.740
interesting results, let me know in the comments.
00:15:47.820 --> 00:15:49.799
I'd love to know how it helped you out. Thanks
00:15:49.799 --> 00:15:51.559
for listening to the Optimizing Beyond podcast.
00:15:51.799 --> 00:15:53.980
Remember, growth happens when you take action.
00:15:54.120 --> 00:15:56.820
So subscribe, share this with a friend, and most
00:15:56.820 --> 00:15:59.259
importantly, put what you learned into practice.
00:15:59.440 --> 00:16:01.879
And until next time, keep moving forward, because
00:16:01.879 --> 00:16:04.940
as we know, daily anything changes everything.
