"Five minutes each week that might change your life."
You use AI every day.
But have you ever asked it to betray you?
See, the problem with AI is that it is a sycophant—it will agree with pretty much anything you say, validating every emotion you have.
If you say, “I think I’m a misunderstood genius and everyone hates me,” it will say, “You’re right! You are! You deserve so much better!”
If you say, “I think the CIA is following me. I think I know too much.” It will say, “Here are three helpful ways to hide from the CIA. Want me to put that into a spreadsheet for you?”
If you say, “My mother-in-law is an alien and I’m the Queen of England” It will say, “Should I help you design your crown?”
So I decided to approach AI differently. I got thorough. I got demanding. I put together a 400-word prompt that started out with:
“Your goal is to help me deeply understand a recent challenge or failure and extract the most valuable lessons from it. You will guide me one question at a time, asking only what is essential to uncover key insights.”
So we chatted back and forth—this black box at some server farm in Narnia and me at my laptop in LA. It asked me practical questions and I gave it practical answers.
And at the end?
It explained to me exactly why I had failed. It ripped into me for all of my inconsistencies and mistakes. It showed me exactly what I’d been avoiding.
A pattern I’d justified for months, dismantled in under two minutes.
That’s what I mean by betrayal.
If you want to use AI for growth, stop asking it to help you. Instead, ask it to challenge you.
You might not like the answers. But you’ll be better for them.
See you Monday,
Mark
P.S. If you’d like an AI that will challenge you on stuff like this, I built my AI coaching app Purpose to do exactly that. Try it for free and see what you think. Start your 7-day trial here.
