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Think Before Asking AI

By Joe Templin · July 20, 2026 · 2 min read

“Don’t outsource your thinking.”  -Mark Manson

AI is a spectacular tool that can do the work of several people more efficiently, if directed properly.

I liken AI to a teenager working in my office.  At first they know nothing and will screw up almost any task you give them, so you have to be unquestionably direct and strict with orders and be ready to say “no” and ask for better with clarification over and over again as it learns.  As you learn to manage better, as you are more exact with your prompts and the body of experience grows, your AI can in a few months become develop into a ten year experienced assistant that understands you and can integrate with you properly.

But you still need to do the thinking.  Yes, AI can go and pull data and sources for me like a research assistant on a dozen energy drinks but if I didn’t think about the problem properly it’s still just wasted time and energy.  Efficiency in a wrong area doesn’t get anything meaningful done, nor generate any profit.  Productivity does not go up from wasted effort or resources poorly deployed.

Think.  Think hard, struggle, question your logic and assumptions.  Do the metacognitive work and understand the thinking and logic and biases in your skull before you hand a bunch of circuits the iterative boring work.  Think, then outsource effort.

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