Practical Guides

    Five-Minute Pre-Conversation Prep (Atlas Method)

    A five-minute drill to run before any hard conversation — one page, four prompts, lifted directly from the Atlas Model.

    April 15, 20264 min readBy Keith Lisenbee, LCSW, LCP

    Use this five-minute drill before any conversation that matters. It is the Atlas Model in four prompts.

    The four prompts

    1. SEE: What is actually happening here, described as a camera would? Strip the story.
    2. UNDERSTAND (them): What is the most generous, plausible reading of why they are acting this way?
    3. UNDERSTAND (you): What do I actually want to come out of this conversation? Name the deeper want, not the surface ask.
    4. MOVE: What is the smallest specific request or sentence I can offer that fits all three above?

    Run it once. The conversation will be different. Run it five times across different relationships. You will be different.

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