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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