Why Most People Are Using ChatGPT Wrong

I used to treat ChatGPT like a magic 8-ball. Ask a question, get an answer, move on. I thought I was being productive—cranking out emails, drafting content, solving problems in seconds. But after six months of heavy use, I noticed something disturbing: my own thinking was getting lazier.

I wasn't learning anything. I wasn't developing better judgment. I was just outsourcing my brain to a machine and calling it efficiency. That's when I realized most people—myself included—are using ChatGPT completely wrong.

The problem isn't the tool. It's how we think about it. ChatGPT isn't an answer machine. It's a thinking partner. And that distinction changes everything about how you should use it.

The Answer Machine Trap

Here's how most people use ChatGPT:

• "Write me an email to my boss about the project delay."
• "Give me 10 blog post ideas about productivity."
• "What's the best way to learn Python?"
• "Summarize this article for me."

These prompts treat AI as a vending machine. Insert question, receive answer, done. It feels efficient. But there's a hidden cost: you're skipping the thinking that makes you smarter.

When you ask ChatGPT to write your email, you don't wrestle with how to frame the message. When you ask for blog ideas, you don't exercise your creative muscles. When you ask for the "best" way to learn something, you outsource judgment to a model that doesn't know your context.

The result? You get outputs without developing the mental models that create real expertise. You become dependent on the tool instead of enhanced by it.

The Thinking Partner Mindset

The shift is simple but profound: use ChatGPT to think better, not to think less.

A thinking partner doesn't give you answers—they help you find your own. They challenge your assumptions, offer different perspectives, and push you to articulate what you actually believe. That's how ChatGPT becomes genuinely valuable.

Instead of "Write me an email," try: "I need to tell my boss about a project delay. Here's the situation: [context]. What are three different ways I could frame this message, and what are the trade-offs of each?"

Instead of "Give me blog ideas," try: "I'm thinking about writing on productivity for entrepreneurs. Here are my current ideas: [list]. What's missing? What angles might resonate that I haven't considered?"

Instead of "What's the best way to learn Python?" try: "I want to learn Python for data analysis. I have 30 minutes a day and learn best by building projects. Here are two approaches I'm considering: [options]. Help me think through which might work better for my situation."

See the difference? You're not outsourcing the thinking. You're using AI to stress-test and expand your own thinking.

Five Ways to Use ChatGPT as a Thinking Partner

1. Challenge Your Assumptions

Before making a decision, ask ChatGPT to argue against your position. "I'm planning to [decision]. Play devil's advocate—what could go wrong? What am I not seeing?"

This isn't about getting the "right" answer. It's about surfacing blind spots you might have missed. I do this before major decisions, and it's saved me from several mistakes. For more on structured decision-making, check out The Decision Journal.

2. Explore Multiple Perspectives

When you're stuck, ask for viewpoints you haven't considered. "I'm trying to solve [problem]. How would a designer approach this? A behavioral economist? A minimalist?"

The goal isn't to blindly follow any perspective—it's to expand your solution space. Often the best answer comes from synthesizing multiple viewpoints into something new.

3. Rubber Duck Your Ideas

Programmers have a technique called "rubber duck debugging"—explaining code to a rubber duck to find bugs. ChatGPT is an excellent rubber duck.

"Here's my plan for [project]. I'll walk you through it step by step. After each step, ask me one clarifying question."

The act of explaining forces clarity. The questions reveal gaps. You end up with a better plan because you did the thinking, not because AI did it for you.

4. Build on Your Drafts

Instead of asking ChatGPT to write from scratch, write a rough draft yourself first. Then use AI to improve it.

"Here's my draft of [content]. What's unclear? What could be stronger? Give me specific suggestions, but don't rewrite it—I want to understand why."

This approach keeps you in the driver's seat. You learn from the feedback instead of just consuming the output. Your writing actually improves over time.

5. Learn the "Why" Behind Answers

When ChatGPT gives you information, don't stop there. Dig into the reasoning.

"You recommended [approach]. Walk me through the logic. What principles is this based on? When would this advice be wrong?"

Understanding the "why" builds transferable knowledge. Next time you face a similar situation, you'll have a mental model—not just a memorized answer.

The Real Skill: Knowing When to Think Yourself

Here's the uncomfortable truth: some tasks should stay slow.

There's value in struggling with a blank page. In wrestling with how to frame a difficult conversation. In sitting with a problem long enough that your subconscious finds a creative solution.

Not everything needs to be optimized. Sometimes the "inefficiency" is where the growth happens.

I now have a simple rule: if the task involves judgment I want to develop, I do it myself first. I might use ChatGPT afterward to refine or expand, but the initial thinking is mine.

For routine tasks that don't build skills I care about? Sure, let AI handle it. But for the thinking that matters—strategy, creativity, important communication—I want to stay sharp. As I wrote about in turning goals into systems, the process matters as much as the output.

The Judgment Gap Is the New Divide

Everyone has access to ChatGPT now. The tool is commoditized. What's not commoditized is judgment—knowing what questions to ask, how to evaluate answers, and when to trust your own thinking over the machine's.

People who use AI as an answer machine will become dependent on it. They'll struggle when the tool is unavailable, gives wrong information, or faces a novel situation it wasn't trained for.

People who use AI as a thinking partner will become sharper. They'll develop better questions, stronger mental models, and the ability to synthesize AI's capabilities with human judgment.

The gap between these two groups will only widen. Which side do you want to be on?

A Simple Framework to Start

Next time you open ChatGPT, pause before typing. Ask yourself:

• Am I trying to skip thinking, or enhance it?
• What do I already know or believe about this?
• What specific help would make my thinking better?

Then craft a prompt that treats AI as a collaborator, not a replacement. Share your context, your current thinking, your constraints. Ask for perspectives, trade-offs, challenges—not just answers.

It takes a bit more effort. But you'll get better outputs, develop stronger judgment, and actually learn something in the process.

That's the difference between using AI as a crutch and using it as a lever. One makes you weaker. The other makes you stronger.

Want to sharpen your thinking in other areas? Check out Learning How to Learn for science-backed techniques that compound over time, or explore 5 AI Tools Every Entrepreneur Should Use for practical applications beyond ChatGPT.

The Bottom Line

ChatGPT is one of the most powerful tools we've ever had access to. But power without wisdom is dangerous—not in a dramatic way, but in a slow, subtle way that atrophies the very capabilities that make us valuable.

Use AI to think better, not to think less. Treat it as a partner, not an oracle. Keep yourself in the loop, especially for the skills and judgment you want to develop.

The goal isn't to do more with AI. It's to become more with AI. That's a very different game—and it's the one worth playing.