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AI Will Never Be Able to Replace This

I’ve been paying attention to AI and using it to help with my business strategies and planning. While I still have misgivings, I feel I need to understand this technology and the role it plays now and in the future.

For those of us who LOVE ideas, AI is a no-holds-barred spree of possibility. The plans! The ideas! It’s all so…vomitously overwhelming.

For someone who loves ideas and loves executing on them, more ideas are not valuable to me. It gets vomitous when I am hosed with so many possibilities that I am paralyzed. I have pages and pages of ideas for promoting Her Lisbon Colors. So many that they are rendered useless. I’m left not with a great plan but with more confusion than when I started. We don’t need AI to trigger indecision swirl, do we?

If you like floating endlessly in idea land, great. Enjoy that! If you want the deep satisfaction of bringing ideas to life, read on.

Using AI for project vetting and development

I recently used ChatGPT to bounce my idea of a limited series Stumbling Toward Genius podcast based on the themes of my novel. Chat was super helpful for:

  • Discerning whether this was a good idea or not given my goals. (I always tell it to not fluff me up or flatter me but give me real data.)
  • I gave it the topics I had and asked what be interesting to my listeners.
  • I asked what was missing or needed strengthening. This prompt gave me the most helpful input. It offered new perspectives and challenged me.
  • Deciding to go ahead with a limited series of short episodes, I generated a table of contents for my podcast based on my existing topics.
  • Chat also gave me ideas for how to post the podcasts on YouTube as well.

I’ve got scripts that I drafted as social media posts, I have a plan and I have all the ideas for how to implement.

What’s missing? I’ll wait while you guess…

That’s right! Actually taking action on these genius ideas and plans. How’s that going to happen?

I can do what I usually do – set a deadline. These are often based around travel. I leave for Lisbon and Paris on September 25th, so ideally all episodes would be done and published/scheduled.

As a seasoned coach and maker of things and experiences, I know I can do this. But what about other projects that have a higher emotional burn? The stuff that I’m scared to do? For that, I need support. Someone to help make me do what I say I want to do. And I suspect you need that kind of support, too.

Here’s where AI completely fails

I’ve coached hundreds of creatives over 25 years, and almost every single client has cited accountability as the main reason they hire me. Sure, they need a thought partner, a hand-holder, an emotional support person. All of that is valuable. And, super important is someone there on a regular basis to make sure they actually do what they say they will do.

There is nothing wrong with needing this. We all need accountability. We are human, complex, messy, distractible, and emotional. 

There will always be the weeks when the shit hits the fan. Contrary to what we’d like to believe, there is no ‘normal’ week. Always, always, always there will be something planned or unplanned that disrupts our ‘write every day from 8-10’ schedule. What happens then? More ideas from AI will not save your bacon.

This is where my clients thrive with me. I am always helping my writers and artists:

  • adjust expectations
  • process disappointment
  • reset according to current conditions
  • make satisfying progress on their terms.

No AI can do that in any meaningful way.

AI Cannot Replace This

AI will never be able to replicate what happens in a 1:1 or group coaching environment. Group coaching has the power of the collective. I’ve been leading versions of my popular Write ON for a decade now, and I am 100% certain that the magic and connection that happens there is not in AI’s skill set.

Many of us join groups not for the leader, but for the companions who will travel alongside us. We gain so much from others’ experiences.

Working alongside others helps us:

  • normalize the ups and downs of the creative life
  • learn from how others do it – a springboard to reflect on our own processes
  • gather valuable resources we would not have found otherwise
  • and quite simply but quite powerful – have more fun.

In Write ON, we work in weekly sprints. We focus on gathering insights on how we best navigate the ebb and flow of our creative lives. I coach us through it, week by week. And, I paddle alongside with my own project, sharing the challenges and wins in real time.

And guess what happens at the end of our Write ON cycle? A ton of progress, that’s for sure. Here’s something AI will never deliver to you: 

  • confidence in your abilities
  • satisfaction that comes from doing the work
  • personal and creative empowerment that you’ve cultivated by showing up
  • earned experience and wisdom that you can apply to anything you create in the future.

I’m not worried that AI will replace me and my coaching. Sure, you can ask AI for ideas and even a detailed plan. But someone alongside you helping you grow and glow as you make your beautiful things, that’s for us humans.

Enrollment is open for Write ON, which starts later this month. We have a few spots left – I cap enrollment so there’s no chance to hide in a sea of participants.

This is a 16-week adventure for those with a project they need a container for. It’s a small group, so there’s no back row to hide in, no ‘falling behind’ and no wasting your money on another program that gets you nowhere.

It’s fun, effective and just the right amount of demanding. Get all the details here.

P.S. This article was entirely written by me, Cynthia Morris. AI helped slightly with Grammarly, but mostly I ignore those suggestions.

P.P.S. Please do not use AI to outsource your writing! Guess what? It shows! I can tell when someone’s social media posts are written by AI. AI is great for marketing, interpreting legal documents and wasting a lot of your time sucked into screen mode.

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Your Artist Knows the Way and It’s Time to Claim That

Sometimes I feel guilty that in the realm of writing and creating, I really know what works for me and what doesn’t. Owning my process and honoring it reduces SO much stress.

I trust myself, and I know how to manage the inner and outer obstacles of making. This allows me to focus on the real work = the very challenging work of writing a good novel!

But then I remember that guilt does no good, and that I have devoted my entire professional life to helping others feel this kind of creative empowerment. I want this kind of confidence for everyone.

My work as a coach focuses on helping people know, love, and trust their own creative process. Sure, people hire me to help them with their writing. But we do that by helping them clarify and honor their own whackadoodle ways of getting things done.

Your Artist Knows the Way

I’ve taken everything I know about how we can honor our creative habits and put it into a program I am certain you will love.

Cynthia Morris creativity coach Your Artist Knows the Way

Your Artist Knows the Way is a free program on Substack. In it, I guide you through writing your own manual for your artist. What do they love? What do they need to create more easily? You’ll find out and capture it in a way that will change your creativity forever.

You’ve probably read plenty of how-to books on productivity and creativity. You’ve possibly failed to stick with their advice and been left feeling like it’s your fault.

I believe the way to being satisfied with our creative output is to know our artist inside and out.

Your Artist Knows the Way is not another how-to program. It’s a know-you process designed to help you release your abundant creativity in fun, empowering ways. 

Each month features a different theme, with three invitations. You can get a free subscription, or you can upgrade to paid interaction with me, discounts on coaching with me, and handy PDFs at the end of the month so you have all the invitations in one place.

You are going to LOVE this! Come on over and check it out. 

PS This is a great thing to do with friends, so pass this on to your creative buddies so you can do it together.

Don’t have creative buddies? They are waiting to get to know you in Your Artist Knows the Way!

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Why you must create

What’s your plan for staying on track with your writing project this summer? This year’s sunny season is different for me. I have a couple of big projects plus a coaching skills training I am taking. I’m also hosting a 14-week session of Write ON, my coaching group for writers with a project they must focus on. We have a few spots left, and we start soon. Find out if you are a fit for Write ON here. 

Why you must create

If you’re reading this newsletter, you are an artist of some kind. A writer, painter, knitter, gardener, chef…your creativity is a force of nature that you must express. You likely have experienced the consequences when you don’t let your art into your life on the regular. If your creativity is on the shelf too long:

  • a lingering sense of dissatisfaction can permeate life
  • jealousy replaces the joy we deserve to have around our creative drive
  • we lose touch with the part of ourselves that makes us whole.

Our original impulse, the drive to make things that matter, is as necessary as our need to eat, be sheltered and be connected to others. I assert that creating belongs on Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

I’ve been coaching creative people to be their most creative selves for 25 years. When we make space for our creative work, more happiness, more connection, and more satisfaction come almost immediately. This satisfaction ripples out into all areas of their life like a radiating sun. When we’re happy creators, everything is better.

Here’s a note from Tina Bettison, a client who knew she needed her creativity back:

“When I think back to how I felt a year ago – lost, depressed, grieving, unsure of who I was and the point of my existence – and how I feel now, I’m soooo different. Soooo alive. Coaching with you has literally turned my life around and given me back myself.”

– Tina Bettison

Creativity is not optional. Our original impulse must be heeded. I believe that we derive our vitality from our creativity. When we are making things or writing, we feel alive. We feel a sense of purpose. Getting lost in our creative work is its own escape.

You feel most alive and happy when you’re creating. It’s your birthright and it’s who you are. To not create means unhappiness, and dissatisfaction and detracts from the overall quality of life. I believe creating must go on the list of other essentials like food, shelter, love, money.

One more reason why you must create

When I wrote my ebook, Cross the Finish Line, I realized something profound.

It’s okay to dabble, explore, and have a lot of creative interests. And when we finish a meaningful project, we glean the deep gifts of that work. Finishing and publishing my novel revealed to me that I am a tenacious person whose commitment goes beyond the many challenges that arose during the thirteen years it took to write.

Imagine the enormous confidence that I gained from recognizing myself as a persistent person. With that confidence, I crafted a new vision of myself. I used that new self-perception to step up to more creative projects.

I want everyone to be creatively fulfilled – on their own terms. Knowing what works for us is key to making things that make us whole. This belief is at the core of what I am making for you. I hope/plan/intend to launch it sometime next month!

In the meantime, I’d love to hear about the challenges that stand in the way of you fulfilling your creative destiny. Feel free to share your inner and outer obstacles here.