Hohenja The AI Routing Card
A Hohenja field guide

Every AI has a dial.
Most people never touch it.

ChatGPT, Claude, and the rest all work the same way underneath: the harder you let them think, the slower and more expensive the answer. Ask a light question on the heavy setting and you wait for nothing. Ask a heavy question on the light setting and you get a shallow answer that sounds right.

The fix isn't a better AI. It's knowing which setting fits which task — before you type.

The one idea: route the task, not the topic. The same project — your job, your business, your kitchen — contains heavy tasks and light ones. Set the dial per task, and the tools you already pay for go a lot further.

The Three Tiers

Tier 1
Think Hard
Best model · thinking turned ON

When being wrong is expensive

  • Comparing two contracts or insurance policies
  • A business decision with real money at stake
  • Figuring out why the numbers don't balance
  • College financial-aid or tax-season strategy
Slowest and costliest. Save it for what deserves it.
Tier 2
Get It Done
Standard model · default settings

Real work with a known shape

  • Drafting the email, the resume, the newsletter
  • Turning meeting notes into a plan
  • Building the spreadsheet or the itinerary
  • Lesson plans, proposals, product descriptions
The workhorse. Most of your week lives here.
Tier 3
Quick Polish
Fast model · thinking OFF

One right-enough answer

  • Fix the grammar, tighten the paragraph
  • Summarize the article, translate the note
  • Caption for the post, subject line for the email
  • Scale the recipe, reformat the list
Fast and cheap. Never overpay for a spellchecker.

Where the dial actually is

In ChatGPT: the model picker at the top of the chat. Higher models and "thinking" options are the heavy settings; the fast/auto options are the light ones.

In Claude: the model menu in the chat box. Opus with extended thinking is the heavy setting; Sonnet is the workhorse; Haiku is quick polish.

That's it. The dial was there the whole time — it just never introduced itself.

The Four Routing Rules

1 · Route the task, not the topic.

Planning your daughter's wedding budget is Tier 1. Drafting the invitations is Tier 2. Fixing a typo in them is Tier 3. Same wedding.

2 · Stay where your history is.

An AI that already knows your project is worth more than a "smarter" one starting cold. Re-explaining everything is the most expensive step nobody counts.

3 · Start cheap, escalate.

When unsure, try the lighter tier first. A weak answer costs you seconds. Defaulting to the heavy setting for everything costs you all year.

4 · Finish the thought before switching.

Set the dial before the task starts, and let the task end before you change tools. Switching mid-stream throws away the context you just built.

Want this mapped to your actual work?

A routing card built for your role, your business, or your household — which tasks go where, on the tools you already have. That's a conversation.

Talk to Hohenja