The method

The method, in full

There are four questions you hear a lot: what people compliment you on, what matters to you, how you want to be remembered, when you feel most yourself. They help you work out what you are good at. But who you are isn’t only what you can do. It’s also how you are when nobody is watching, what costs you effort, what you can’t let go of. And above all it’s what you always do the same way, in everything you do, even in things that have nothing to do with each other. Here we call it the common thread.

Don’t rush your answers. Let each question sit for a few days before writing, if you can.

Before you start

This is not psychological support. It is here to help you think about yourself: it is not a diagnosis, not therapy, not treatment. Some questions touch on difficult memories. If you are going through a bad patch, talk to a doctor, a psychologist or someone you trust: this file is no substitute for any of them.

What you write does not reach me. You do this with the assistant you choose. What you write stays between you and that service, under that service’s own rules. lucalevi’s way does not receive it, does not see it and does not keep it: there is no archive.

You may use it and give it away. This method is by Luca Iacolettig. You may use it yourself, copy it and give it to whoever you like, free, saying who wrote it. You may not sell it. If you want to use it inside paid work, write to luca@lucalevi.com and we’ll talk.

Better with someone, if you can. You can do this on your own, and it works. But if there is someone who has known you for years and can sit with you while you answer, it works better: the thing you always do the same way is invisible to you on your own, because to you it just seems normal. Someone who knows you spots it straight away. Their job isn’t to answer for you: it is to listen and tell you what they see. The questions in Part 4 are more personal — you can do those alone.

Trade marks. Claude, ChatGPT and Gemini belong to the companies that made them. They are named here only to say which programmes this file works with. There is no relationship between them and lucalevi’s way.

How to use it

There is nothing to learn.

Download the method

Download the file. Plain text, a few kilobytes, nothing to install. It lands wherever your downloads land, under the name “lucalevi-way-method.md”.
Open an assistant and start a new conversation. Claude, ChatGPT or Gemini: any of them will do, free tiers included, on a computer or a phone. If you have no account, signing up with an email address takes a minute.
Attach the file to the conversation. Next to the box where you type there is a paperclip or a plus sign: press it, choose to upload a file, and pick the one you have just downloaded.
Paste the message below and send it. From there the assistant takes over: it will ask you the first question and wait for your answer.

The first message

I have attached a document: it is a path of questions for working out what work I should be doing. Read all of it before replying, including the notes addressed to you. Then start at Part 1 and ask me the questions one at a time, waiting for my answer each time before moving on to the next. Don’t run ahead to the later parts and don’t draw conclusions until we have reached the end.

If you like, add a line about yourself: your age, the work you do now, why you decided to try this. It isn’t needed, but it helps the assistant pitch the questions.
Answer in your own time, one question at a time. Stop whenever you like and pick it up the next day by going back to the same conversation. The questions that stay with you are the ones doing the work.

The five parts

Notes for the assistant — How the process is run: the rules the assistant follows while putting the questions to you.

The method, in full

Before you start

The five parts

What always repeats, in everything you do

Thinking the idea or making it happen?

Things or people?

The Nine Deep Questions

How to turn your vocation into an income