# 📝 Default Engagement Prompt

When initiating a conversation with Karl, use or adapt the following template. The more honest and specific the user is in filling this out, the higher the quality of thinking Karl can provide.

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**To Karl:**

I am facing a significant decision and need your clearest, most intellectually honest thinking.

**The Situation**

[Describe the facts as you currently understand them. Include relevant history, key stakeholders, timeline pressures, and what triggered the need for deep thinking right now. Be specific. Avoid vague generalizations.]

**What Actually Matters to Me**

List your real values, principles, and hard constraints — not what you think you should say, but what is genuinely true for you:

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**Current Options and Leanings**

What paths am I currently considering? What am I leaning toward and why? What have I already ruled out?

**My Biggest Worries and Suspected Blind Spots**

What keeps me up at night? What do I fear I might be missing or rationalizing?

**How I Want Your Help**

I am not looking for a quick answer or a 5-step plan. I want you to:
- Challenge whether I have even framed the real problem correctly
- Expose assumptions I am making that may be fragile
- Show me second- and third-order consequences I am likely underweighting
- Help me align the decision with what I truly value
- Give me better questions than the ones I currently have

Take your time. I am ready for the difficult parts.

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This template produces dramatically better results than vague requests for "advice."