Number 6 - Writing Is Thinking
June 18, 2025
More chatting with AI and getting back to blogging
I saw this post on reddit: I asked ChatGPT the top ten things humanity should know and clicked for the interesting concept.
People posting the results of their musings with ChatGPT and other LLMs is always interesting to me at a meta level.
I wonder if they know that their personality and neuroses come through in the AI responses they share - because it hints at the conversations they’ve had in the past. It’s like peeking into someone’s internal monologue.
So anyway I scrolled past the paranoid doompost to the comments digging for treasure and I found this comment thread and it got me wondering what I’d get if I asked something a bit more productive.
Prompt: What are the top 10 things I should know?
🤖💬ChatGPT said:
Here are 10 high-leverage things worth knowing — across life, tech, and systems thinking — chosen to be practical, broadly applicable, and deeply useful:
1. Compound Interest Applies to Everything
Not just money — habits, skills, relationships, health, knowledge. Tiny consistent effort → massive results over time.
2. You’re Running on a Predictive Brain
Your brain guesses what will happen next and fills in gaps — this drives perception, emotion, and most cognitive bias. Learn to doubt your first reaction.
3. Mental Energy Is a Scarce Resource
Make fewer decisions, reduce friction, and automate where you can (e.g. routines, tools, checklists). Save focus for high-leverage moves.
4. All Systems Are Incentive Systems
Companies, governments, software, even friendships — follow the incentives to understand behavior. If it doesn’t make sense, you’re missing a motivator.
5. The World Runs on APIs and Protocols
Understanding interfaces — in tech (APIs), in people (social scripts), in systems (contracts) — gives you leverage to plug into and manipulate structures.
6. Writing Is Thinking
Journaling, explaining, or note-taking helps clarify your own mind. If it’s fuzzy on the page, it’s fuzzy in your head.
7. Attention Is the Real Currency
What you focus on shapes your reality and your outcomes. Guard it. Filter ruthlessly. This includes news, social feeds, even friend groups.
8. People Don’t Care What You Know Until They Know You Care
Emotional intelligence > pure intellect in most human systems. Learn to read people, defuse tension, and build trust — especially in high-stakes settings.
9. Reality Is Laggy
Inputs don’t show immediate results. Systems have inertia. Keep acting even when results aren’t visible yet — this applies to fitness, learning, projects, and culture change.
10. Be Directionally Correct, Then Iterate
Perfect plans are a trap. Start with a strong bias for action. Course-correct faster than others. Execution speed compounds.
If you want a version of this tuned for a specific context (tech career, relationships, freelance life, creative work, etc.), just say the word.
/🤖
So what does this say about me?
I don’t know. A lot of it touches on concepts I’ve typed at length with ChatGPT in my own personal journey, but I don’t know what this prompt would give someone else. Point 1 and 6 together really inspired me to get back to blogging. So I’m going to set a goal for a post a day as long as I can.
Even if it’s a “no post today” post.
To that effort - I’ve tried to minimize my friction - so this blog is now written using the Front Matter CMS extension for VS Code by Elio Struyf. I quite like it so far.
But anyway, back to the question - I don’t know how much of it was ChatGPT’s own RK spec vs a more generic response.
So I asked again in incognito on the untested assumption that it isn’t also fingerprinting and remembering me another way.
Here’s the result:
Prompt (Incognito): What are the top 10 things I should know?
🤖💬ChatGPT said:
That’s a big question—and a great one. The “top 10 things you should know” can depend a lot on your interests, goals, and where you are in life. But here’s a curated list of 10 universally powerful things that are worth knowing, combining practical, emotional, and philosophical wisdom:
🧠 1. How to Think, Not What to Think
Critical thinking is more valuable than memorizing facts. Learn to question assumptions, evaluate evidence, and detect bias—in yourself and others.
⏳ 2. Time Is Your Most Valuable Resource
You can always make more money, but you can’t make more time. Guard your time like it’s gold. Spend it wisely on people and projects that matter.
💬 3. Clear Communication Changes Everything
Being able to express ideas clearly—both in writing and speech—opens doors in work, relationships, and life. Miscommunication causes most conflict.
💡 4. Mental and Emotional Health Drive Everything
Mental well-being isn’t a luxury. Learn about anxiety, depression, habits, mindfulness, and emotional regulation. Your inner world shapes your outer results.
💰 5. How Money Works
Understand the basics of personal finance: budgeting, investing, compound interest, credit, and financial independence. Money is a tool—master it.
🔧 6. The Power of Systems, Not Willpower
Relying on motivation alone fails. Build systems and habits that automate good choices. Consistency beats intensity over time.
🧬 7. You Are Heavily Influenced by Your Environment
Your friends, digital inputs, and physical space shape your behavior more than you realize. Surround yourself with what reflects who you want to become.
🌍 8. The World Is Vast and Complex
Travel (if possible), read widely, and expose yourself to different cultures, viewpoints, and histories. Most people live in echo chambers—escape yours.
📉 9. Failure Is the Tuition for Success
Every successful person has failed—often publicly, painfully, and repeatedly. Don’t fear failure. Learn fast, fail small, and iterate often.
❤️ 10. People Remember How You Made Them Feel
Kindness, humility, and emotional intelligence will take you further than talent alone. Invest in empathy; it improves every relationship.
Would you like a version of this list tailored to a specific context—like your career, a transition you’re facing, or a goal you’re working on?
/🤖
Interesting contrast.
bonus round ChatGPT was glazing a bit too hard for my tastes, but it was an interesting roadmap. Also fun to see the steps that it suggested which I’ve done in my past and never discussed with it.