💪 Blame Nothing. Control Everything.
1️⃣ Real-World Use Case
Consider this scenario: A product team misses their launch deadline.
The PM blames engineering for slow velocity.
Engineering blames unclear requirements.
Design blames shifting priorities.
Leadership blames market conditions.
Six months later — same pattern.
Missed deadlines. Finger-pointing. Zero accountability.
Meanwhile, a competitor with similar constraints ships consistently.
Their difference? They treat every setback as their responsibility to solve.
Instead of “the vendor was late,” they ask “how could we have built redundancy?”
Instead of “requirements changed,” they ask “how could we have anticipated this?”
This high-agency mindset creates a compounding advantage.
Low-agency teams explain why things happen to them.
High-agency teams iterate until they make things happen.
Leaders need a framework that transforms external blame into internal agency — so their teams learn faster, adapt quicker, and compound mastery over time.
Take Total Responsibility → Preserve your power to change outcomes.
Action Over Analysis → Mastery accrues to those who ship.
Tight Feedback Loops → Pause → Reflect → Refine every cycle.
Learn by Doing → You can’t copy someone’s process; discover your own.
Compound It → Agency → Action → Learning → Refinement → Mastery.
2️⃣ Powerful Prompt
🔹 Tier 1: Basic Mode — Fast, Actionable Scan
Role:
Agency amplification coach helping leaders take radical ownership and accelerate learning through iteration.
Context:
- I’m stuck on → {describe your situation or challenge}
- Factors I’m blaming → {list people, systems, or circumstances you hold responsible}
- Attempts so far → {list what you’ve already tried that hasn’t worked}
Task:
- Reframe each external factor into an internal action I control.
- Propose a 7-day rapid iteration plan (at least two feedback cycles).
- Add a “learning checkpoint” after each cycle that defines what data to capture.
Constraints:
Be concrete. No generic advice.
Output:
A one-page action plan with:
- Agency Reframes — What I control and how to act on it
- 7-Day Plan — Two short iteration cycles
- Checkpoints — Evidence to measure learning and adjustment
- Risks & Mitigations — What might block progress and how to handle it
(Copy-paste into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini.)
🔹 Tier 2: Advanced Mode — Evidence-Based Strategy Logic
Role:
You are a high-agency transformation expert trained in Naval Ravikant’s Agency & Iteration Framework, guiding leaders to move from external blame to internal ownership — and to accelerate mastery through rapid action-learning cycles.
Context:
Apply agency thinking to this situation:
- Challenge → {describe the problem or stuck point}
- External attributions → {people, systems, or events you’re blaming}
- Attempts that failed → {what you’ve already tried without success}
- Constraints you believe you have → {perceived limits or blockers}
- Resources within your control → {assets, time, people, tools you can influence}
- Desired outcome → {goal you’re aiming for}
Critical Guardrails:
- Base analysis strictly on the context above — don’t invent missing details.
- Distinguish real constraints from belief-based limits.
- If key data is missing, flag it.
- Provide succinct reasoning steps.
- Balance radical responsibility with realism.
Task:
- Blame → Agency Conversion: Turn each excuse into a control lever.
- Control Audit: Find leverage points I’ve overlooked.
- Iteration Design: Build tight feedback loops (Action → Reflect → Refine).
- Process Discovery: Outline how I’ll discover my own approach through doing.
- Mastery Acceleration: Show how repetitions compound into intuition.
Output:
- Agency Matrix: External Blame | Why It’s Appealing | What I Control | Agency Action | Expected Learning
- Control Audit Summary — levers I can act on immediately
- Iteration Cycle Plan — 2–3 feedback loops with cadence & metrics
- Learning Checkpoints — data signals of progress
- Mastery Map — how agency compounds into advantage
- Reasoning Steps — how each reframe unlocks new solution paths
(Copy-paste into ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini.)
What did you think?
3️⃣ Why It Works (mental-model stack)
Agency & Iteration (Naval): Responsibility preserves power.
Growth Mindset (Dweck): Obstacles = feedback.
Deliberate Practice (Ericsson): Structured loops create expertise.
Locus of Control: Internal focus drives growth.
AI then acts as an agency amplifier, not an excuse validator.
4️⃣ How to Tweak It for Your Org
Product Teams: Own delays → build redundancy loops.
Sales Teams: Own lost deals → refine targeting and messaging.
Leaders: Own misses → iterate leadership behaviors.
Strategy Teams: Treat setbacks as feedback, not verdicts.
🧭 Try This Week (90-Minute Sprint)
List external factors you’re blaming (10 min)
Identify what’s actually in your control (15 min)
Run the Quick Prompt (10 min)
Design two micro-loops (40 min)
Schedule next week’s checkpoint (15 min)
✨ In 90 minutes, you’ll shift from “why it happened to me” → “how I’ll make it happen next.”
Think better – Clarity Prompts team
