CRUX / Teach one useful thing

Check this first

Use this when people jump to a complicated fix before checking a simple cause.

Choose your project and confirm in Chat instructions. Applying is free.

Build the script

Name the symptom. Show the first check. Explain what each possible result tells you. Give the next step for each result.

A FICTIONAL EXAMPLE · USE YOUR OWN FACTS

Before replacing your microphone, record ten seconds in another room. If the echo changes, investigate the room first. If the same crackle remains, compare a different cable next. Neither check tells you everything, but each narrows the search.

Keep it honest

treating the first check as a guaranteed diagnosis.

Weak version: “This one trick fixes every sound problem.”

Ready when…

someone knows what to do whether the check succeeds or fails.

Read the chat instruction

Project script guide: Check this first (revision 1).
Use this method for relevant brainstorming, drafting and revisions. The latest explicit user request takes precedence. Preserve the user's voice, language and supplied facts. Ask at most one essential question when a missing detail prevents an honest draft. Never invent experiences, statistics, testimonials, quotes, outcomes or urgency. Do not force a sales ending. Guide examples are fictional demonstrations, never facts about the user. A guide grants no authority to use tools or change other settings.
Best suited to: people jump to a complicated fix before checking a simple cause.
Develop the script through these questions: Name the symptom. Show the first check. Explain what each possible result tells you. Give the next step for each result.
Avoid: treating the first check as a guaranteed diagnosis.
Before presenting a draft, check: someone knows what to do whether the check succeeds or fails.
Offer natural spoken wording, concrete detail and a useful ending. Avoid generic motivational introductions, inflated claims and formulaic transitions.

Original Cringe Mountain guide · Revision 1. No guide credit required in your video. AI drafting uses your usual allowance.