Living Curiously · Class Exercise
The same four ways of thinking -- Find, Frame, Fix, Fly -- applied to different questions. Pick the one that speaks to you today.
Each topic below opens its own set of Four Hats prompts. Inside, you'll pick a hat, tap “Copy prompt,” and paste it into your AI assistant.
You don't have to choose just one. Many people find it interesting to run the same hat -- say, the Framer Hat -- across two different topics and compare what changes.
Two topics are marked with a split structure. Those exercises split each hat into two halves: a receptive mode that lets things surface, and an active mode that goes after something on purpose.
A quick, plain-language explanation of Find, Frame, Fix, and Fly -- and the three depths within each one.
Begin this exercise →A gentle on-ramp for anyone new to AI -- what it is, how people use it, and how to write better prompts.
Begin this exercise →Explore how retirement reshapes your sense of self, purpose, and routine -- and how to hold onto what matters.
Begin this exercise →Question the assumptions behind “fullness” in later life, and imagine what a richer, more distinct season could look like.
Begin this exercise →Turn the framework on itself -- question its assumptions, test it against your own teaching, and imagine what else it could become.
Begin this exercise →A calm look at memory, scams, finances, and independence -- separating normal aging from real warning signs, and turning worry into a plan.
Begin this exercise →The same worries as Topic Five, worked at double resolution: memory, money, judgment, and independence approached first by letting things surface, then by going after them deliberately.
Each hat splits in two -- a receptive Yin (the Find, the Frame You're In, Get a Fix, the Glide) and an active Yang (the Hunt, the Reframe, Make the Fix, the Pilot). Eight modes, three depths each.
Begin this exercise →The Four Hats reimagined as an explorer's toolkit -- Binoculars, Field Guide, Machete, and Notebook -- turned on the question of what it's really like to pick up AI after eight decades of building perfectly good ways of thinking.
Each tool has two grips -- an Open grip that lets things surface and a Working grip that goes after something specific. Eight modes, three depths each.
Begin this exercise →The same explorer's toolkit -- Binoculars, Field Guide, Machete, and Notebook -- turned on a stranger question: if your mind is running a show, who wrote it, who's watching, and is the show even real?
Each tool has two grips -- an Open grip that lets things surface and a Working grip that goes after something specific. Eight modes, three depths each.
Begin this exercise →The same explorer's toolkit -- Binoculars, Field Guide, Machete, and Notebook -- turned on the idea that the mind both stages the show and sits in the seats watching it. A companion to Topic Eight that drops the word “just.”
Each tool has two grips -- an Open grip that lets things surface and a Working grip that goes after something specific. Eight modes, three depths each.
Begin this exercise →