My daughter and I like to watch the tv sitcom Friends after dinner.
In one episode, Joey – the loveable yet flaky friend – gets a visit from an encyclopedia salesman. The salesman asks him, “Do your friends ever have a conversation and you just nod along even though you’re not really sure what they’re talking about?”
The camera zooms in on Joey’s face as he thinks back to the times he didn’t get what his friends were saying.
We see different vignettes where Joey nods along with his friends even though he clearly doesn’t understand what’s going on.
And now the salesman has Joey right where he wants him.
Feeling like he’s missing something.
That more information is the answer.
Joey ends up buying the “V” volume because it’s all he can afford.
Of course, this doesn’t solve the problem.
Information is never the solution to being confused.
Information is not what’s needed to make real change.
We are about to get hit by a tidal wave of AI-generated information.
We are using AI to outsource and automate the stuff that takes us hours, days, and weeks to create.
Let’s not outsource our thinking.
It takes effort to figure things out. To get clear on what we’re actually thinking.
So many of our thoughts are muddled. Inside our heads, they don’t need to stand up to examination and they can keep on being murky and unclear.
It’s when we want to articulate them that we see how much we’re not sure of.
This is especially true if you force yourself to think and take action without relying too much on other people’s ideas.
Thinking for yourself takes effort.
When I’m trying to deliberately sort out my thinking – through writing like this – I often rub my eyes and forehead for a bit of relief.
Our brains love to conserve energy.
This kind of effortful thinking takes a lot of energy.
Enter AI to help us conserve more.
Now more than ever, thinking for yourself is subversive.
With AI doing a lot of the work that takes effort, it’s supposed to free us up to do the things that are uniquely human. What those things are is debatable.
For example, you no longer need to spend time and energy creating a marketing campaign.
AI will create the whole thing in a matter of hours. The copy, graphics, website, video (with your realistic avatar delivering the message).
It’s supposed to be freeing us up for the things that only we, as humans, can do.
But working through the process is often where we learn the most.
We may not enjoy it in the moment but it can be very fulfilling.
Now the process will be to direct AI to do the projects for us.
We’re saving all this time. Isn’t that great?
Time-saving is a fallacy.
We know from past experience that we do not, in fact, save time with the introduction and adoption of ‘time-saving’ technologies. (You only have to look as far as the device you’re reading this on for a good example.)
Technology disrupts the way we do things and a whole new system emerges that we need to expend even more energy to maintain.
We are already overloaded with information, perpetually distracted. Having AI produce more of almost everything faster is not going to save us time…
Unless you slow down and take the time to figure out what you think.
Figure out how you will use AI to intentionally work more on what is most meaningful for you and your business.
You’re here so for you that’s injecting more humanity into this artificial world.
It’s time…
To be bold.
To be discerning.
To consume less.
To be transparent.
To be more present.
To think critically and deeply.
To ask meaningful questions.
To be more you than ever before.
To have more in-person conversations.
To focus radically on what matters to you.
To be messily human.
What does this look like?
Show up more fully as yourself.
A medium where I can see and hear you gives me a better idea of who you are.
Create videos and podcasts where you are being yourself and sharing your thoughts.
Ease up on the how-to because that’s easier to replicate.
Write without assistance.
Stretch and share your thinking by writing long-form and publish regularly so you can help others think more deeply.
Create a newsletter and well-thought-out articles on your site that contain your particular style of thinking. Do this without AI as much as possible.
Be more personal on social.
Raw and messy is the way to go on social media. I don’t mean performative vulnerability where you share deep dark secrets or terrible experiences. More that you don’t want to be too polished and be willing to post imperfect or incomplete thinking. Your expertise and experience will still shine through.
Go local + more intimate.
Consider how you include more real-life interactions in your business. This will be easier and more consistent if you attract local clients.
Have more thought-provoking conversations with small groups of people who care about the same things you do.
While online business makes it possible to work with people anywhere in the world, there’s nothing more powerful than in-person connection and conversations to fuel your humanity.
How in the world will you find time to do this?
These things are no longer nice-to-haves.
This stuff is important and urgent.
Always.
Drop anything that doesn’t fuel what’s inherently human.
You’ll have to figure out what that means to you but once you do, be strident about nurturing and protecting it.
I think that’s what we need most right now.