The Prompt Engineering of Self-Talk: Optimising Your Internal Dialogue

AI engineers obsess over prompt engineering. But not just engineers - anyone nervously looking over their shoulder for the HR Automation Crusade has been scrambling to flex their prompting expertise on LinkedIn.

But if we take a step into history, monks and philosophers have been doing the same thing for centuries - just with the human mind.

The parallel? Both are optimising an information-processing system through better inputs.

Fast fact: Your mind runs 70,000 thoughts a day. Half of them shape your emotions, decisions, and reality. But as we know, most of them are unintentional jibberish. Just like a poorly crafted AI prompt generates garbage outputs, unfiltered self-talk shapes a mental environment full of bugs and bad loops.

The Ancient Art of Prompt Engineering

Marcus Aurelius understood prompt engineering long before we had the language for it. “The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts,” he wrote. Replace 'thoughts' with 'prompts,' and you have a principle that guides both modern AI development and personal growth.

When we engineer prompts for AI systems, we're essentially crafting questions or instructions that will elicit optimal responses. Your internal dialogue works the same way.

Every self-directed question or statement shapes your neural pathways and influences your outputs - your decisions, behaviours, and emotional states.

The Architecture of Thought

In AI systems, a well-engineered prompt creates a framework that guides the model toward useful outputs. Similarly, the Stoics developed precise methods for questioning their assumptions and reactions.

Epictetus didn't call it prompt engineering, but his discipline of questioning appearances - “Is this within my control? What principles apply here?” - follows the same logical architecture.

The neuroscience confirms what philosophers intuited. Our brains respond to internal prompts by activating specific neural networks and releasing corresponding neurochemicals. Just as AI models have attention mechanisms that focus on relevant information, our brains have filtering systems that respond to the quality and structure of our internal prompts.

Engineering Better Questions

The art of self-talk can be optimised using principles from both AI prompt engineering and ancient wisdom:

1. Specificity and Context

AI Principle: Providing detailed context improves model outputs

Human Application: “Why am I stuck?” becomes “What specific steps have worked in similar situations?”

Ancient Parallel: Socratic method of systematic questioning

2. Pattern Recognition

AI Principle: Models learn from pattern recognition in well-structured data

Human Application: Template reliable question patterns for recurring challenges

Ancient Parallel: Buddhist analytical meditation techniques

3. Feedback Loops

AI Principle: Iterative refinement based on output quality

Human Application: Monitor how different internal prompts affect your states and decisions

Ancient Parallel: Stoic evening review of daily thoughts and actions

Check out Tim Ferris's list of resources on stoicism here.

The iSelf Integration: Optimising Your Internal Prompt Engineering

Just like AI requires precise prompts to generate useful responses, our self-talk requires intentional prompts to create clarity, direction, and positive outcomes. We are, in effect, prompting our brains daily - whether we realise it or not.

Morning Prompting Exercise: AI vs. Human Self-Talk

AI Morning Protocol:

• Bad prompt: “Write me something about how to be productive.”

• Better prompt: “Write a 300-word article on three counterintuitive productivity hacks based on cognitive psychology.”

• Why it works: More specific prompts produce better outputs.

Human Morning Protocol:

• Bad prompt: “Today is going to be the same old crap.”

• Better prompt: “What is one thing I can do today that will make this feel less like the same old crap?”

• Why it works: Your brain, like AI, responds to more positive inputs.

  
  

Decision-Making Prompting: AI vs. Human

AI Query:

• Bad: “Help me choose between these two washing machines”

• Better: “I want a washing machine that's quiet and has above 4 star reviews, with a steam feature.”

  
  

Self-Talk Replacement:

• Bad: “I don’t know what to do.”

• Better: “What would my wisest self consider here?” OR “What past decisions have led to good (or bad) outcomes in similar situations?”

  
  

Crisis Response: Debugging Internal Prompts

When things go wrong, both AI and human systems fall into error loops. The trick is knowing how to interrupt the loop and refine the prompt.

AI Debugging:

• Problem: “AI keeps generating off-topic answers.”

• Fix: Refine the prompt, add context, break it into smaller queries.

  
  

Human Debugging:

• Problem: “I feel stuck and overwhelmed.”

• Fix: Interrupt with a pattern-breaking prompt: “I can't do and be everything to myself and everyone all at once. What is my priority for today? What expectations can I set with others so I can give myself time?”

  
  

This isn’t about fluffy affirmations - t’s about precision engineering for your internal dialogue.

Debug Your Dialogue

Just as we debug code, we can debug our internal prompts:

Check Your Default Code

• Your internal monologue is running on autopilot. Time to check what’s in the source code.

• Find the loops. What’s the script running in your head when things go wrong?

• What phrase makes you spiral? Track it. Debug it.

  
  

Rewrite the Script

• Swap out “Why am I like this?” for “What’s the next best move?” AI doesn’t get stuck on existential dread, and neither should you.

• ‘I always fail’ is a lazy prompt. Be precise: What exactly went wrong? What specifically needs to change?

• Replace “I should” with “I choose to”. One implies obligation, the other, agency.

  
  

Implement Version Control

• Track which prompts produce optimal states

• Document effective variations for different contexts

• Build a personal library of reliable prompts

  
  

The Future of Internal Dialogue

As AI systems become more sophisticated, we're learning new principles about effective prompt engineering that can enhance our own internal processes. Let's face it, we cannot silence the jibberish dialogue in our heads. The secret lies in optimising it - creating a sophisticated prompt architecture that serves our growth and integration with the new ways of living and working.

The ancient philosophers were right. AI engineers are proving it. The quality of your life isn’t determined by your circumstances - it’s determined by the prompts you run in your head.

This piece is part of a series exploring the fascinating intersections between human development and digital transformation. Stay tuned for more insights on optimising your iSelf and personal operating system.