Big Ideas

Short essays on thinking with AI — why conversation beats formulas, and how to use these tools without handing over your judgment.

These aren't tutorials — they're the ideas behind everything else on this site. Each one is a minute-long conversation about what AI is actually for: better questions, clearer thinking, and you staying the judge. New essays land here as the series grows.

Free19 lessons

1. 1Stop prompting. Start talking.You don't need magic words. You need a conversation.
2. 2You're probably using AI like GoogleType keywords, skim, close the tab — the biggest mistake new users make.
3. 3AI isn't replacing your thinkingUsed well, it does the opposite — it makes your thinking sharper.
4. 4The best prompt is a conversationPerfectionists craft one perfect prompt. Iterators just start — and win.
5. 5AI doesn't give you ideasThe good ideas were never in the machine. They were in you.
6. 6The blank page problemThe hardest part of making anything isn't the making. It's the starting.
7. 7Why AI feels smarter the longer you talkThe tenth answer is almost always better than the first. That's context, not magic.
8. 8AI literacy: the skill nobody is teachingSchools teach typing. Jobs teach software. But the skill that's about to matter most? Almost nobody is teaching it.
9. 9Don't outsource your judgmentThere are two things you can hand to AI: the work, and the thinking. Only one of those is safe to give away.
10. 10Dinner from what's already in the fridgeIt's 6:40, you haven't shopped, and the fridge is seven random things. Don't google a recipe — describe the fridge.
11. 11Dump your to-do list in. Seriously.Your list has groceries next to taxes next to a word that only made sense three weeks ago. Don't clean it up first. Dump it in as-is.
12. 12The message you've been avoidingThere's a message you've written forty times in your head and sent zero times. Five minutes. Let's go.
13. 13Before your next appointmentYou know the drive home, when you remember the three things you forgot to ask? Fix it in five minutes, the night before.
14. 14A week of dinners on a $100 budgetA hundred dollars, seven dinners, and no plan. Don't start with recipes. Start with the number — and what's already in your kitchen.
15. 15The letter you don't understandA bill, a notice, an insurance letter — full of words nobody uses out loud. Don't summarize your panic. Read it the actual letter.
16. 16Deciding between two thingsTwo phones. Two insurance plans. Two strollers. And forty browser tabs. Stop reading reviews — set up the comparison your way.
17. 17Six errands, one afternoonPharmacy, returns, groceries, the bank — and somehow you still drive past the same corner three times. Hand the whole afternoon over first.
18. 18That thing you never understood? Ask.Interest rates. Cloud storage. What a 401k actually is. You've nodded along for years — tonight, just ask.
19. 19How to know when NOT to trust AIYou don't need to fear AI, and you don't need to believe it. You need to know which moments call for which.