#4 What do you actually want?

Some of the questions I found myself asking when I started to build Pippi were not only about how I can get faster at what I am already doing. But what am I actually trying to build toward?

It turns out that question is harder than it looks and way more important than anything that comes after it.

None of the AI systems I tried asked me that. They mostly assumed I wanted to get more things done faster or without me being in the loop at all. Not saying that is wrong, but just for me that is not the whole story.

The Invisible Questions

Everything and everyone is racing right now and there are some questions that are invisible in the race.

What does it mean to think well with AI rather than just faster? What is the mind actually doing when it does its best work?

These are not new questions. Socrates was asking what it means to think well and what the mind actually does at its best 2400 years ago. What is different now is that AI amplifies whatever you bring to it.

But it starts with the uncomfortable place of exploring what you really want. It is so much easier to help someone who knows what they want and where they are heading. It is even more important with AI. Give it a clear direction.

Build the Brain First

This is what I mean by building the brain first. Before the automations, the commands and any other clever stuff.

You can use Claude to ask you all the questions it needs to understand where you are and where you are heading. What you actually care about, your development and performance goals, your strengths, your growth areas and so on.

You need to spend enough time on this part because everything else will be downstream from it. High quality in, high quality out.

And from here, are you willing to see the gap between your intention and your actions?