The method
Four questions, then the cut.
The opening of every piece of work here, and it runs before any tool. About twenty minutes, on your phone, ending in one page you keep.
Most people don't need more input. They need less — and four questions nobody has asked them properly.
Asked in this order
- Q1What do you want?
- Q2Why do you want that?
- Q3What don't you want?
- Q4What gives you meaning?
How it runs
- 01InnerThe personThe four questions, in order, one at a time. What do you want, why do you want that, what don't you want, and what gives you meaning.
- 02The cutSubtractionNothing gets added. Everything that isn't signal gets named out loud and struck, and what survives is what you actually work with.
- 03OuterThe worldOnly now, and only two questions. What can you actually do — evidenced, not credentialed — and whose problem does that solve.
- 04The harnessWhat you leave withOne page, in your words, dated. Not a plan. Something you can carry, and re-run against when the work changes.
Why this isn't Ikigai.
| Ikigai | This |
|---|---|
| Four circles converging on a centre | Four movements, subtractive first |
| Starts with what you love | Starts with what you want — and what you don't |
| Meaning is one circle of four | Meaning is what the others get measured against |
| A diagram you fill in | A conversation someone runs you through |
A client described these four questions, in this order, in a written recommendation about a photography commission in 2013. They are the oldest thing here, and they did not start in AI work.
You can run it on yourself, right now.
Start itTwenty minutes. Nothing is sent anywhere — it stays in your browser.