Your state
Why it matters.
Most failed ventures built something nobody asked for — politely. Three honest customer conversations cost an afternoon and save months.
What success looks like.
- Three structured conversations about a real problem, not a pitch.
- Needs separated from politeness in a written summary.
- One customer problem written so a stranger could act on it.
The component skills.
Typical mistakes.
- — Pitching instead of asking.
- — Hearing politeness as validation — 'nice idea' is not a need.
- — Recording afterwards from memory instead of during.
Practise — activities that produce artifacts.
The open-question script ~30 min
Write five questions about the customer's problem that can't be answered yes/no ('Walk me through the last time this happened…'). Test them on one person.
Artifact: The tested question script
Record, don't sell ~25 min
In one conversation, catch yourself every time you start pitching and return to asking. Note each relapse — they're the point of the exercise.
Artifact: The conversation notes + relapse count
Missions — do it for real.
Mentors for this capability.
Matched from real, opted-in Lifelong Careers members through the Mentor Intelligence Network — with their trust states shown as stored. Source-listed is not the same as verified.
No opted-in mentors match this capability yet — none are invented. See the Mentors view or the full directory.
How assessment works.
Every submission gets a transparent first-pass against the mission's rubric — what was looked for and what was observed. Verified state requires a real review; the system never upgrades self-reported evidence on its own.
clarity
Short sentences, concrete words, no unexplained jargon
audience_fit
Words and comparisons the audience can follow
question_handling
Answers with point-reason-example; unknowns admitted openly
completeness
All parts of the task covered — nothing skipped or assumed away
evidence_quality
An observable artifact: worksheet, receipt, photo reference, recording note
Accepted evidence: mission_submission, mentor_review, observed_application, work_sample.
Stated plainly — what this doesn't do
- — Submissions are private, self-reported evidence — they never become verified without a real review.
- — Mentor review for capabilities arrives in a later phase of this module.
Source: Lifelong Careers MY LIFE SKILLS Module Master Specification v1.0 §4 · v1 · last checked 2026-11-01 · your data rights