Prompting Mindset 101
The 90% of prompting that happens before you type a word.
Here's the uncomfortable truth: the difference between mediocre AI output and breathtaking AI output isn't the model. It's the user's metacognition — their ability to externalize their thinking BEFORE they touch the keyboard.
When experts solve problems, they spend most of their time understanding the problem, not solving it. Newell & Simon proved this in 1972 — and it applies double to prompting. The cheap fix everyone reaches for is iteration: type something vague, scan the output, hope it improves on re-roll. That's a 4× token tax and an 80% quality cap.
The real skill is front-loading. Before you type, you decide: who's the speaker, who's the audience, what specifically must the output look like, what must it avoid. The prompt then writes itself in 30 seconds — and the result is night-and-day better.