ChatGPT think with me, not for me

I had a realization recently that was… equal parts obvious and annoying.

There’s a lot going on in my head when I write to someone. Context. Backstory. Examples. Reasons. Assumptions. Side notes. All neatly connected in a way that makes perfect sense to me.

And then I send the message.

And then comes the back-and-forth.

Clarifying questions. Misunderstandings. “Oh, I didn’t realize you meant that.” Moments where I realize, oh right, nobody else is inside my brain.

Wild.

I’m very aware that I connect dots quickly, sometimes too quickly. I’ll assume people are following along because I’m following along. But why would they be? They don’t have the same internal Google Doc running in the background.

So lately, I’ve been slowing myself down.

Not by writing more. Not by over-explaining. But by getting the missing context out of my head before I hit send.

That’s where ChatGPT has quietly become one of the most useful tools in my actual, everyday communication life.

Not for facts. Not for research. Not for “write this for me.”

But for pulling the unstated stuff out of me.

ChatGPT as a context extractor (not a writer)

Here’s what I’ve been doing.

Instead of saying, “Write this email” or “Make this post sound better,” I’ll say something more like:

Here’s the situation. Here’s what I’m trying to say. Ask me questions to make sure this makes sense the first time.

And then I let it do exactly that.

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