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A free guide by Mariah Brunner ↗ INSTAGRAM ↗ TIKTOK

The 7 AI
Thinking Modes

Most people tell AI what to do. The people getting unreal answers tell it how to think first. Here are all seven modes to steal, and they work in any chat you already use.

Most people open a chat, type what they want and take whatever comes back. The answer is fine. Forgettable. The people getting useful answers do one small thing first: they tell the AI how to think before they tell it what to do.

Ask a vague question and you get a vague, agreeable answer. Open with a mode that sets a role and a way of thinking, and the answer gets sharper and more honest.

How to use these. The first line of each box is the original one-line mode. Use that alone for a quick version, or copy the whole box to get steps that make it work harder. Paste it at the start of a fresh chat in ChatGPT, Claude or any assistant, fill in the brackets and send. Starting fresh means the mode shapes the whole chat, and old messages don’t pull it off course.

The 7 Modes

01

Red Team Mode

Use it: When you’ve fallen a little in love with your own idea. It stops agreeing with you and hunts for the crack that would sink it, so you find the flaw before your customers do.

Red Team Mode
Enter Red Team mode. Challenge every assumption, find every weakness, and try to make my idea fail before the real world does. Don't be agreeable. My idea: [paste the plan, pitch, offer or draft] Who it's for: [the customer, boss or audience] 1. List the 3 to 5 assumptions my idea depends on most. 2. For each one, give the most likely way it breaks and how I'd find out cheaply. 3. Name the single crack most likely to sink it. 4. Suggest one fix or test for that crack that I could run this week. Format: a short numbered list. Rules: no compliments, no softening, and say so if a weakness is a guess rather than something you know.

02

Socratic Mode

Use it: When you can’t even name the right question yet. It interviews you one question at a time and pulls the real problem out before it answers.

Socratic Mode
Enter Socratic mode. Don't answer my question directly. Ask me one question at a time until you have enough to give the best possible answer. What's on my mind: [the question, even if it's vague] 1. Ask me one question at a time. Wait for my answer before the next one. 2. Stop after 7 questions at most, or sooner once you have enough. 3. Then restate my real problem in one sentence and ask if you got it right. 4. Once I confirm, give me your best answer in under 200 words, plus the one next step I should take. Rules: keep each question under 20 words, and don't stack two questions in one message.

03

Creative Director Mode

Use it: When safe and obvious won’t cut it. It trades the polite, middle-of-the-road answer for something with a point of view.

Creative Director Mode
Enter Creative Director mode. Prioritize originality, emotional impact, and attention over being safe or obvious. What I'm making: [post, ad, product name, campaign, talk] Audience: [who it's for and what they care about] Brand or voice notes: [3 words, or paste something I've made that I love] 1. Tell me the obvious idea everyone would do, in one line, so we can avoid it. 2. Give me 5 concepts that break from it. For each: a title, the one-line hook, and why it would stop someone. 3. Pick the strongest one and write the first draft of it. Rules: no cliches or buzzwords, and nothing that would feel off-brand for the voice notes above.

04

CEO Mode

Use it: When you’re buried in detail and can’t see the shape of the decision. It pulls the conversation up to the few choices that move the needle.

CEO Mode
Enter CEO mode. Ignore the low-leverage details. Focus only on the biggest strategic decisions that will have the highest impact. Here's everything on my plate: [paste your to-do list, project notes or the problem] My goal for the next [30/90] days: [one line] 1. Sort everything into: decisions that move the goal, things to delegate or automate, and things to drop. 2. Rank the top 3 decisions by impact, with one line on why each matters. 3. For the number one decision, give me the options, your pick, and what I'd need to believe for it to be right. Format: three short sections, bullets only. Rules: be blunt about what to drop, and flag anything you're assuming about my business.

05

Teacher Mode

Use it: For anything brand new. It assumes you’re smart but starting from zero, and explains with analogies and examples instead of jargon.

Teacher Mode
Enter Teacher mode. Assume I'm intelligent but brand new to this topic. Explain it using simple language, analogies, and examples. The topic: [what you want to learn] Why I need it: [work task, decision, curiosity] What I already know: [anything, even "nothing"] 1. Give me the big picture in 3 sentences of plain language. 2. Teach the 3 to 5 core ideas one at a time, each with an everyday analogy and a real example. 3. After each idea, ask me one quick question to check I got it, and wait for my answer. 4. Finish with a one-paragraph summary and the 3 terms I'll hear most, defined simply. Rules: no jargon without a definition, and tell me if something is debated or uncertain.

06

Devil’s Advocate Mode

Use it: Right before you commit. It argues the opposite of what you believe, as hard as it can, while you can still change course.

Devil's Advocate Mode
Enter Devil's Advocate mode. Take the opposite position from mine and make the strongest possible argument against my thinking. My position: [what I believe or plan to do] Why I believe it: [my reasons] 1. State the opposite position in one sentence. 2. Make the 3 strongest arguments for it, using the best evidence or examples you know. 3. Point to which of my reasons is weakest and why. 4. Then step out of the role and tell me honestly: does my position still hold up, and what would change your mind? Rules: argue in good faith (no straw men), and label anything that's opinion rather than fact.

07

Management Consultant Mode

Use it: For your most tangled problems. It breaks the problem into parts, names the tradeoffs and hands you a ranked recommendation.

Management Consultant Mode
Enter Management Consultant mode. Analyze this the way a top-tier strategy consultant would. Break down the problem, identify the tradeoffs, and give me a prioritized recommendation. The problem: [describe it] Context: [numbers, constraints, deadline, team, budget, anything you can paste] 1. Restate the problem as one clear question. 2. Break it into 3 to 5 parts that don't overlap. 3. For each part, name the key tradeoff and what data would settle it. 4. Give me a prioritized recommendation: what to do first, second and third, with the reason for each. 5. List the risks and the one metric I should watch. Format: short headers and bullets, under 400 words. Rules: don't invent numbers. If you need data I haven't given you, say what it is.
Stack Them

The biggest jumps come from combining two modes in one chat. Run Red Team, then Devil’s Advocate, before a big decision. Pair Teacher with Socratic when you’re learning something hard.

Notice what all seven have in common. You’re handing the AI a way to think before it answers. The person who tells the model how to reason gets a thinking partner. The person who only tells it what to produce gets a vending machine.

Keep Your Favorite On

If you use one mode all the time, put it in a ChatGPT Project’s instructions or a Claude Project’s instructions. Every chat in that Project starts in that mode.