What do you do?
If you’ve never had a good answer to that question, this free exercise if for you.
So… What Do You Do?
If you've never had a good answer to that question, this free exercise is for you.
[VIDEO 1 — welcome, ~2 min]
You know the question. Someone asks it at a party, or across a table, and you feel yourself start sorting — which one do they want? Half a second too long goes by, and out comes "oh, I do a lot of things."
That's what we're fixing. By the end of this you'll have one plain sentence that opens the conversation instead of ending it, and somewhere to put everything else you do.
I'm glad you're here.
Set aside about half an hour and do this in one sitting. It's not the kind of thing that survives being picked up and put down.
One thing before you start, and it's the difference between this working and not working: answer the questions the way you'd answer a friend who asked. Not the way you'd fill out a form. Ramble if you want to. The part you'd normally trim — the tangent, the story that seems beside the point — is usually where the good material is hiding. And if you can talk your answers instead of typing them, do. Things come out truer when we say them.
There's no wrong way to do this and nobody's watching.
First — do you have Claude set up?
If you've used Claude or ChatGPT before, you're all set. Keep scrolling.
If you haven't, here's a five-minute walkthrough. It's free, there's no credit card, and you'll be fine.
[VIDEO 2 — setting up Claude, ~5 min]
Why you freeze
[VIDEO 3 — the demonstration, ~6 min]
Here's the short version of what's in that video.
The freeze isn't a confidence problem. It's what happens when you're sorting several real things in half a second and run out of runway before you land on one.
And the fix isn't picking one thing and abandoning the rest. It's understanding that your other work doesn't belong in the opening line — it belongs in the second slot, as proof. In the opening line, four things sound like scatter. Right after it, the same four things sound like depth.
One sentence per room. Not one sentence for your life.
Picking one door isn't hiding the others. It's the only way anyone gets in.
The exercise
Copy everything in the box below and paste it into Claude. Then answer its questions honestly — it interviews you before it gives you anything, and your answers are where the good stuff comes from.
Don't try to sound impressive. Sound like yourself.
[COPY BUTTON + PROMPT BLOCK]
You are helping me answer one question well: "So… what do you do?" [REPLACE THIS WHOLE BLOCK WITH THE FULL PROMPT TEXT] Start with question one. Nothing else first.
If the button doesn't work on your device, tap and hold inside the box above, then choose Select All.
Want it on paper? Download the PDF — same thing, for keeping next to your laptop.
It'll ask you eight questions, then work with you in passes. Answer the fifth one — the one about what you've actually done — without trimming. Most of us have spent years shortening that list so we don't seem like a lot. This is the one place where all of it helps you.
Say it out loud
When it gives you three options, don't analyze them. Read all three out loud.
One will feel different in your mouth. That's the one. Not the cleverest — the one you could say to a stranger at a dinner party without hearing yourself perform.
If they all feel stiff, say so. Tell it "these sound too corporate, make them plainer." That's a real note, not you being difficult. Plain beats clever every time.
Then do the same with the whole thing once it's assembled. Where you stumble, the words aren't yours yet. Fix those.
And don't memorize it word for word. Memorize the beats. Recited sounds like recited.
One room at a time
What you just built is one room's version.
I have one for a cocktail party where nobody knows me, and a different one for talking about the candle company I run with my daughter. Same woman. Same work. Different door, because a different person is standing in front of me.
This is the part that took me forty years to understand. I kept looking for the sentence — one answer, permanent, covering everything. There isn't one. There was never going to be one. What there is, is a door per room, and the freedom to pick the right one without feeling like you've lied about the rest.
When you're ready, run it again for a second room. It goes faster the second time. I've done it.
Come tell me
I'd love to see what you landed on.
[BUTTON: Tell me your sentence] [BUTTON: Join the group]