AI is for you if…
Our unique potential for AI is less about what we're doing and more about where we are when we're doing it.
I’ll start with a quick step back into the writing process.
The idea behind this post struck me hard and quick, but took a while to write (and by write I mean ponder). It was just that, though it was a list I really think said something, it was missing the kernel. The center of the oomph. And as The Kids Aren’t Alright played over and over in my head this morning, I think I found it.
It’s safe to say AI is hitting a level of ubiquity. You’ve heard a lot of “I use it for everything”, and you’ll probably hear more (that’s my recommendation at least, accounting for your own code of ethics, which I hope is obvious).
One of the optimistic angles underpinning “I use it for everything”, is this: Anyone who approaches AI with the right balance for their tastes is going to live better for it. I believe that, and even if I’m wrong, I think it’s the only worthwhile stance to take.
Whether you’re looking to gain time, money or a greater satiation of curiosity, it’s all relative. We’re entering the stage where the “should I” questions become the ones that hold us up. Because once we know we can do something, that’s always the next question.
This stage is where we find the real learning curve. Where we start to ascend beyond what other people can teach us and teach from within our own circumstance. Where our use of AI becomes less about what we do and more about where we are when we’re doing it.
And if we could shed off our labels, we could find a whole new level of ways where AI can really bring us value. Likely a much more inclusive list than you might have thought.
AI is for you if…
It’s almost 0% about who we are. AI has infiltrated anything digital. It’s in operating systems and browsers and mobile apps. The blue sky is as blue for an administrative assistant as it is for a marketer or a bar owner or a professional photographer.
And yet sweeping statements about AI’s capabilities for roles or groups can serve to make us feel like we’ve fallen short (when we’re in those roles or groups). Without ever taking into account the theory or relativity. Because we’re always in a different place, and the place we’re in has a bearing on how AI helps us gain what we’re looking to gain.
If that’s the lens we look through, AI stands to help you if:
1. You feel like you work too much
When we feel like we work too much, it comes with a dissatisfaction for the job. And often when we’re dissatisfied with the job, it’s because we’re dissatisfied with the tasks. And no one says you need to offload the good parts of your job, if there are any. Just trying for the time-sucking (and potentially soul-sucking) parts goes a long way as a mantra.
2. You have more ideas than time
At any given point, I bounce between 3-4 things (I’m working on it). An open flood gate of ideas can be just as much a blessing as a curse. Not only does it shine a light on our limitations, but it adds another level of anxiety around untried (or unvetted) things—a whole lot of should to feel bad about.
AI can have a strong effect on our ability to go from idea to shipment. It can also help you to organize, prune, reposition, and delete.
3. You struggle to know where to start
For some of us, the starting line can feel like an upward climb.
And when we don’t start, we don’t build momentum. AI can be the scaffolding for a pressure-free first draft, a nudge toward structure. It helps reduce the emotional friction between the idea and the action.
4. You’ve hit a plateau in a specific area
Whether it’s professional or hobby, hard skill or soft, we’re bound to find ourselves in the rut. A place where we don’t know where to go next on the macro-level. Is it learning we need or practice? What’s the thing I need to go into the next direction.
AI helps us to gain awareness about where we want to go, and become a valuable partner as we stretch and reframe ourselves.
5. You secretly want a creative partner
You don’t need to create alone. But it’s always a juggling act to not ask too much of others.
But AI as a creative partner gives you at the very least, a sounding board. If you ask the right questions, it can spark ideas. And if you come at it from just the right angle, AI can even become a guide in being the best collaborator we can.
6. You obsess over the right words
I’m not saying this because AI can skip out the right words 100% of the time. I’m saying these for those who obsess over the right words 100% of the time. That’s 95% too much, and equates to a lot more brain power than we ever stop to think about. Something as simple as letting Gemini spit out the inane follow-up shows how AI can help us from obsessing where obsessing is detrimental.
7. You crave better boundaries with your own brain
The looming to-do list, the half-finished draft, the email we meant to write, thinking about the work is more tiring than getting through it half the time. The same goes for the drama, the blockage or the emotionally trying.
AI can help with the process of reclaiming mental space. We can say things that we’re afraid to say (use discretion), and when we do it can externalize the loop, give us the right amount of distance, and lay the foundation for us to create momentum.
Which means we’re always in a different place
One of the weird things that’s come with AI is the new light that’s been shined onto our strengths and limitations. We now have this gap between expectation and reality. And it’s only been insinuated, but we’ll be here for perpetuity—that’s just how wildly impactful and viable AI is as a technology.
But even in the face of that impact, it doesn’t change where we’re coming from. In both the physical and metaphysical sense, where we are is the most human thing we have.
As we navigate from any Point A to Point B (or even if we’re floating), we face one or several challenges:
Implementation challenges: Struggling to make meaningful change and then have that change stick.
Quality and authenticity concerns: Scrutinizing whether our goals and output are fake or misaligned to our voice.
Creative roadblocks: Finding it hard to maintain originality, or even to strive for it.
Mistrust in output: Anxious about inaccuracies, our responses and whether we’re even looking at the right things.
Which means our problems and frustrations are operating from a base of one (or multiple) of these areas. It’s a never-ending game, but it’s also perhaps the most important game for embracing the best sides of AI.
But that’s the spirit of creativity. And one that we can unleash to attack the way we operate and find something better.
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