#28 One Simple Habit That Improves Business, Relationships, and AI Results
Do you know the ostrich joke?
There is a real problem with not being specific when you ask for something.
Stefan has a favorite joke on this topic that makes the idea stick.
A man walks into a bar with an ostrich.
He orders a steak and fries for himself, three for the ostrich. One beer for him, four for the ostrich. Dessert comes and the ostrich gets five portions.
The waiter finally snaps. “Sir, what’s with the ostrich?”
The man sighs. “This is why you need to be specific.”
“Specific about what?”
“My request. I met a magic fish and got one wish.”
“So what did you ask for?”
“A little birdie with long legs and an endless appetite.”
😱
The point is to be very specific about your requests. If you say something, would ten people understand the same thing, or would each person understand something different?
An entrepreneur says “improve performance,” so everyone works on different things and nothing really improves.
A client asks for a “modern” website, then hates the result because no one agreed on what “modern” meant.
A company asks a vendor for “fast delivery,” no deadline is set, and the whole thing turns into an argument later.
We see this more clearly with AI. Some people say AI produces poor results, but the reality is that, most of the time, their requests are not specific enough. One of the benefits of AI is to train us, humans, to be more specific. To learn how to better express our intentions.
Practice being specific every day, starting with small things. Be clearer in your AI requests, with your colleagues, and in your relationship with the people closest to you.
In our relationship it goes like this:
Monica casually says, “I’m hungry.”
Stefan now has a problem to solve. Is she slightly hungry, or is food required immediately for everyone’s safety?
Instead of asking “how hungry are you”, you can ask “on a scale from one to ten, how hungry are you?”
Now we know if this was a mild comment or an emergency situation.
The same question applies to any desire. “On a scale from one to ten, how much do you want this?”
This is just one example of being specific.
We invite you to find your own ways of being specific, just in case you ever meet a magic fish and you might avoid a major mistake.
Love and Wisdom,
Monica and Stefan
More from Monica, Stefan and the Inspired Life Circle team.
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