I've Always Talked to Myself. Turns Out, There's a Name for It.

I talk to myself. Constantly. Not just in the car — everywhere. In the kitchen, at my desk, mid-thought, mid-sentence, mid-decision. It’s just how my brain works. Always has been.

For most of my life, I thought it was a quirk. Maybe a little eccentric. Something to laugh off.

Then someone introduced me to the work of a Russian psychologist named Lev Vygotsky — and I found out it’s not a quirk at all. It’s actually how humans are wired to think.

Vygotsky Called It “Private Speech”

Vygotsky studied the way young children talk out loud to themselves while they work. Not to anyone in particular — just narrating, processing, figuring things out in real time. Most people assumed kids grew out of it. Vygotsky said no. He said we internalize it as we get older, but the function never goes away.

When we’re under pressure, working through something hard, navigating a real decision — the voice comes back out.

It’s thinking made audible. And it’s not a sign that something is wrong with you. It’s a sign that your brain is doing exactly what it’s supposed to do.

When I read that, my immediate reaction was: that’s me. I’ve always talked to myself.

The Tool That Finally Fit

At some point I started talking out loud via my phone. Then via a microphone at my desktop. And eventually, I was talking out loud — the way I always have — directly to Claude.

What I noticed wasn’t dramatic. There was no single lightbulb moment. What I remember is the feeling of immediacy. Of not just getting a second opinion, but something closer to having myself sitting on my own shoulder.

That phrase might sound odd. Let me explain what I mean.

Private speech — the kind Vygotsky described — was never really about talking to someone else. It was about externalizing your own thinking so you could hear it, examine it, work with it. What happened when I started talking out loud to Claude is that same thing, except now the externalized thought could talk back.

It’s still me. It’s just me with a mirror that responds.

This Is What Claude Is Actually Built For

Most people come to AI expecting a search engine that talks. They type in a question and wait for an answer. Very transactional. And yes, it can do that — but that’s like using a grand piano to play Chopsticks. (Not that there’s anything wrong with Chopsticks. You do you.)

What Claude is designed for, at its core, is to be a thinking partner. To reason with you. To hold the thread, push back when something doesn’t land, notice what you haven’t said yet. To help you get to the thing you’re actually trying to figure out.

Which means what I’d been doing intuitively — talking out loud, aiming my thoughts at a microphone — turned out to be exactly the right use of the tool. Not because I was being strategic about it. Because the way I’ve always thought maps almost perfectly onto what Claude is built to receive.

I didn’t adapt to the tool. The tool was finally built for me.

What This Means for You

If you’re a solopreneur — especially if you’re the only person in your business, making decisions alone, thinking alone — this might land for you the way it landed for me.

You don’t need more information. You probably have plenty of that. What you might be missing is someone to think with. A thinking partner who can receive your messy, half-formed, out-loud thoughts and help you move forward.

That someone doesn’t have to be another person.

Try this: next time you’re stuck on something, don’t type your question into Claude. Talk it out. Say what you’re wrestling with. Say what you’ve already tried. Say what feels off. Talk the way you’d talk to yourself — because that’s private speech, and it’s your brain’s natural problem-solving mode.

Then aim it at Claude. And see what comes back.

You might find, like I did, that you haven’t changed how you think at all. You’ve just finally found something that can think along with you.

Want to explore more?

Check out my free AI Tools Database and Resource Center at AITools.carenglasser.com