Mostly Human #60: I Named My Inner Critic Bob

Hey beautiful human,

It has been a whirlwind of a week.

I'm writing this on the weekend, after two days of getting my ducks in a row. All my ducks ducked. Everything ducked and covered.

(I don't even know what I'm saying anymore...)

Summer School went on sale this week.

It's the thing Emily Worden and I built for people job hunting right now, and it's the first launch I've ever coordinated.

Watching someone else's launch: fun.

Being the person who's supposed to remember the launch: a lot less fun.

If you've been out there looking lately, you already know why we built it. The market is rough, and it's especially rough if you've got a couple of decades of experience and a resume that says so.

I learn things by doing them wrong first.

I skip steps. I get lit up by the fun part and go sailing right past the boring part that makes the fun part possible.

Emily catches those. Every time.

She'll ask one calm little question and I'll realize I never built the thing her question depends on.

Which is why I don't do this by myself anymore.

This founder thing is a seesaw.

One minute I'm confident. Clear. Excited about what's coming, able to see the whole shape of it.

Ten minutes later I'm haranguing myself for being an idiot who thought she could actually do this.

Same day. Same desk. Same brain.

I don't know if that's a personal failing or my own stuff or just the twisted wreckage of my psyche doing what it does.

I've come to expect it.

I have not come to welcome it.

There are partnerships brewing right now that I'm properly excited about. Different people, different shapes, all of them folx I actually want to be in a room with.

And then there's Friday.

The Friday jam sessions in Joy Prompt Club have turned into something I didn't plan. Different generations, different backgrounds, nobody in the same spot.

Here's what came up last week.

One woman has had the same email address for 30 years and is scared to leave it, because her entire life is in that account.

One paid somebody to rewrite her LinkedIn, and now her headline says she does "AI-assisted workflows," and she's terrified someone's going to ask her what that means.

One wants to build a thing to do the monthly books for her two businesses, because doing it herself makes her eyes bleed.

Nobody gets taught at. Nobody has to know how to do any of it before they show up.

It's scheduled for 45 minutes. We went 62.

Which end of the seesaw are you on today?

Hit reply and tell me. I read every one.

Radical Remembering

Here's what I keep forgetting: the part of me that thinks I'm an idiot has never once checked my work.

It doesn't know about the storefront I built. Or the landing page. Or the community I set up for somebody else who'd been sitting on it for six months. Or the 60 issues of this thing. Or the certification I went out and got because I decided nobody would listen to me without one.

It has no data. It just shows up around 4pm with an opinion.

And we hand it a job it never earned. Quality control. Final say. Veto power.

It's welcome to stay. It is not in charge.

Last Week's Shenanigans

Four again this week. If you're new here, this is where I share the stuffs I encountered on the interwebs that touch, move, inspire, or simply make me snort-laugh.

Music + history = yes, please

There's supposedly an ancient death code buried in Stairway to Heaven, and it's been turning up for centuries - Mozart, Frozen 2, all of it. Maybe the lads in Zeppelin were hinting at something deeper than just a spring-clean for the May Queen.

One of those weird little bits of history and music that I love. The connections are everywhere once you know what to look (listen) for.

Unmasking Matty

A guy I'm now following who shows what it looks like when he takes the mask off on the way home from work.

These are called stims, and I'm intimately familiar with them now that I know I have ADHD. Anyone who's been on a Zoom with me can expect mine to show up as song lyrics and movie lines. Part of the joy of running my own business is that I don't have to suppress that anymore.

Anyone who doesn't like it doesn't have to work with me.

Negative self-talk begone

I stumbled across this today while writing this very section and in it went.

As a feral feminist in my 50s, it makes complete sense to me. I think I shall name it Maurice. Or Bob. Probably Bob.

In defense of whimsy

I support and uphold the message of this 10 second video completely and entirely. Unreservedly. 11/10. No notes. 2 thumbs up.

Prompt O' the Week

The freebie and ROCO Prompt O' the Week have merged. One section now, one prompt a week, printed in full. No download, no teaser, no "the rest is inside."

Most weeks it'll come from Joy Prompt Club. Some weeks it'll be whatever I was poking at instead of doing my actual work.

This one's from JPC. It went up on a Wednesday, which in there means it's a Learn prompt.

Tell AI Where You Need to Land First

Most of us prompt forward.

"Here's my situation. Here's what's going on. Here's the context. What should I do?"

AI spends three paragraphs exploring options with you. You read through them. You pick. You ask follow-ups. Twenty minutes later, you have something usable.

Try the opposite. Start with where you need to land.

"I need to send a polite no by end of day without burning the relationship. Help me get there."

"I need a one-paragraph version of this update for my boss. The goal is she walks away knowing exactly what changed and nothing else. Help me write it."

"I need to leave this conversation with my contractor with a clear timeline and no hard feelings. Help me figure out what to say."

Notice the difference. You're not asking AI to explore. You're asking it to work backwards from a defined destination.

This works because it strips out everything that doesn't serve the ending. No options you don't need. No exploratory paths. No "depending on your priorities..." caveats.

You decided your priorities when you named the destination.

Try this today.

ROLE: Strategic collaborator who works backwards from outcomes

OBJECTIVE: Help me get from where I am to [the specific result I need]

CONTEXT: [your situation in 2-3 sentences]

OUTPUT: Work backwards from the result. Tell me what I need to do, say, or send to get there. Skip anything that doesn't directly move me toward the outcome.

Apply it this week

Use this for anything where you already know what you need - you just don't know how to get there.

"I need to end this meeting on time without seeming abrupt."

"I need to ask for an extension without sounding flaky."

"I need this proposal to land as confident, not desperate."

"I need to say no to this lunch without making it weird."

You're not asking AI to figure out what you want. You already know. You're asking it to plot the route.

Want to go deeper?

After AI gives you the path, add: "What's the shortest version of this? Cut anything that isn't essential."

You'll be amazed how much was extra.

The Scoop, The Skinny, The Lowdown

Three quick hits, every week. The Scoop: one AI word, decoded. The Skinny: one move you can steal today. The Lowdown: one tool, one honest verdict, from my own use. A word, a move, a verdict. In and out.

The Scoop

Prompt engineering

Somebody adds "Prompt Engineer" to their LinkedIn and suddenly you feel a little smaller, like there was a class you missed.

There was no class.

Prompt engineering is a lab coat thrown over a plain little thing: you tell the AI who to be, what you want, and what a good answer looks like. You did something harder the last time you explained a task to a brand-new hire who'd never touched it.

So when a guy wants ninety-seven bucks to teach you "prompt engineering," know what you're buying. You're paying him to say what you mean on purpose. You've been doing that since kindergarten.

The Skinny

Make it be your Emily

Up in the opener I told you about Emily. She asks me one calm little question and I realize I never built the thing her question needs.

You can rent that. Any chatbot. Free.

Before it answers you, drop this in: "What am I not asking that I should be? What would somebody who's done this a hundred times check that I'd walk right past?"

Back come the questions you didn't know to ask. Use it on a launch, a lease, a doctor's visit, a trip you've never taken. Anywhere you don't know what you don't know. Which, first time out, is everywhere.

The Lowdown

This week: Lovable

You want to build a little app or a landing page and you don't write code. This is the one. You tell it what you want in plain words, it builds the thing, then you boss it around until it's right. Easiest vibe coding tool I've put my hands on, and I've put my hands on a bunch.

Half the freebies I've handed you were born in there. The Bored Button. The Yes Check. I described it, it built it, I fiddled, done.

Newest thing I love: I don't have to leave my chatbot anymore. I sit in ChatGPT or Claude, think the whole thing out loud where my brain actually works, and it builds the app right there in Lovable while I stay put. And I like the humans running the company, which still counts for something.

Now the catch, because there's always a catch. Lovable runs on credits, and you already know how I feel about credits (see: Town). Anything that bills me in credits instead of a flat monthly gets the side-eye. But I'll give it this: Lovable is honest about it. It shows you what each build cost, right there in your history. Do a little planning before you start mashing buttons and you keep the burn low.

Cost: free to poke around and see if you like it. Pro runs $25 USD a month, the Business step-up is $50. Extra credits are about $20 for another hundred. Credits and prices wander, so check the live page before you hand over a card.

Verdict: the gentlest way into building your own thing that I've found. Plan first, then build, and keep one eye on the meter.

What's Coming Up

Summer School with Em & Deb: Session 1

Tuesday, August 4 | 11 AM CT / 12 PM ET

Session one: Don't Waste Time on the Wrong Jobs. You'll find roles that actually fit, get clear on what employers are really after, and build a search strategy that holds up, instead of the spray-and-pray most of us fall into. Emily and I run it live.

$47 for the session, or take all four for $177. Replays included either way.

Grab your seat

Sound Like You - Girl Tech HQ

Tuesday, August 4 | 1 PM CT (free)

You ask AI for a little help with a message and it hands you back "I hope this email finds you well." Nobody says that. You sure don't. Right after Summer School I'm heading over to Girl Tech HQ to fix exactly that, so what it writes actually sounds like you. Free. You'll just hop into the Skool community, which is also free and packed with women building things.

Join us

Em & Deb: LIVE on LinkedIn

Thursday, August 6 | 11 AM CT / 12 PM ET (free, 30 min)

The job market is weird, so Emily Worden and I are going live for half an hour to say so out loud. This week: "overqualified," the polite word for the thing nobody will say to your face. Is it your age or your positioning, and how do you tell them apart? Free. No slides. Considerably less organized than a webinar. Bring your questions, because the chat is always the best part.

Attend

Prompt Along: AI Improv

Tuesday, August 18 | 7-8 PM CDT

Prompt Along: AI Improv is my new free monthly session. One hour. No script. You bring the questions and the curiosity (and that problem you've been avoiding), and we prompt through it live, together.

Think improv, not lecture. "Yes, and" energy. The room runs the show.

First one is Tuesday, August 18, 7:00-8:00 PM CDT. It's free. Come play. And bring your friends; the more the merrier!

Save your spot

That's it for this week.

Summer School opens Tuesday. The build is finally done and the doors actually open.

Here's your assignment this week, and it's the opposite of a to-do. Do one thing for yourself for no payoff at all. No ROI, nothing to show for it after. Just because it makes you happy.

Get the good chocolate. Put on something loud and dance badly in the kitchen. Watch the show with zero redeeming value and enjoy every second of it.

Then reply and brag to me about the least productive thing you did all week. Those are my favorite emails to get.

💜

Take care of yourself, take care of each other,

Deb

Mostly Human #60: I Named My Inner Critic Bob

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