Sometimes you’ll get the win. Other times you’ll get the lesson. That’s it. Not everything turns into a highlight. Not every effort turns into a payoff. But none of it is wasted. Because lessons turn into better decisions. Better decisions turn into better execution. Better execution turns into wins. Most people quit in the lesson phase because it feels like losing. It’s not. It’s just part of the process. So this week: Try the thing. Have the conversation. Make the offer. See what happens. Adjust. Go again. Quick check-in: What’s one uncomfortable action you will commit to taking this week?

More AI usage does not automatically equal better performance. Sometimes, restraint is the skill. As AI becomes always available, intentional disengagement becomes a form of mastery. ------------- When Assistance Becomes Exhausting ------------- Many people are not resisting AI. They are tired. Tired of constant prompts. Tired of choosing tools. Tired of deciding when to ask, when to trust, and when to ignore. What began as excitement has, for some, turned into cognitive noise. This is not a rejection of technology. It is a signal that the relationship needs redesigning. Always-on assistance can fragment attention, reduce confidence, and weaken independent thinking. The next phase of AI maturity is not more usage. It is better usage. ------------- Insight 1: Cognitive Load Is the Hidden Cost of AI ------------- Every AI interaction requires decisions. What to ask. How to phrase it. Whether to trust the output. What to do next. Individually, these are small. Collectively, they add up. When AI is present in every step, thinking becomes interrupted and shallow. Deep work requires continuity. Reflection requires silence. Creativity requires space. AI can support these states, but only if it is used selectively. Otherwise, assistance becomes interference. ------------- Insight 2: Over-Reliance Weakens Confidence ------------- When AI is used as a constant crutch, people can begin to doubt their own judgment. They check instead of decide. Confirm instead of commit. This erodes confidence over time. The goal of AI is not to replace thinking, but to strengthen it. That requires moments where humans think first, then consult AI. Using AI less in critical moments can actually improve skill retention, intuition, and clarity. ------------- Insight 3: Boundaries Enable Better Partnership ------------- Healthy collaboration requires boundaries. This is true with people, and it is true with machines. Clear rules about when AI is used, and when it is not, reduce friction and fatigue. They create predictable rhythms rather than constant negotiation.

AI is exceptionally good at producing possibilities. It is completely indifferent to which one matters. As output explodes, direction becomes the scarcest and most valuable human contribution. ------------- Context: When More Becomes Harder ------------- One of the quiet surprises of AI adoption is that many teams do not feel faster or clearer at first. They feel busier. More drafts. More ideas. More analyses. More directions to consider. What once required effort to generate now appears instantly, in abundance. While this seems like progress, it introduces a new problem. Decision load increases faster than decision capacity. People find themselves reviewing instead of creating, comparing instead of choosing, and second-guessing instead of committing. Productivity rises on paper, while confidence quietly erodes. This is not a failure of AI. It is the predictable result of shifting the bottleneck from production to judgment. ------------- Insight 1: Output Is No Longer the Constraint ------------- For decades, work was constrained by how fast humans could produce. Write the document. Build the deck. Generate the options. AI has fundamentally changed this equation. Now the constraint is sense-making. What matters. What aligns. What should move forward. These questions do not scale automatically. When organizations continue to reward volume in an environment of infinite output, they create overwhelm. Direction becomes unclear, and people feel busy without feeling effective. Recognizing that output is no longer scarce allows us to redesign work around what actually is. ------------- Insight 2: More Options Increase Anxiety, Not Confidence ------------- Psychologically, choice is not neutral. While a few options feel empowering, too many create stress and hesitation. AI routinely produces dozens of reasonable paths forward. Each one feels viable. Each one carries opportunity cost. Choosing now feels riskier because alternatives remain visible. This leads to a subtle paralysis. Decisions get deferred. Work cycles lengthen. Confidence weakens, not because people lack intelligence, but because the environment no longer supports decisive action.

Why so many people feel stuck right now isn’t because they’re lazy, weak, or broken. It’s because they’ve lost a compelling future. When you take away someone’s belief that tomorrow can be better, that their effort leads somewhere meaningful, you don’t just kill motivation. You kill hope. Napoleon Hill called this drifting. Living without a quest. No clear direction. No emotional pull. No reason to endure the hard days. Humans are wired to move toward something. A future worth sacrificing for. A vision that pulls you forward when life gets heavy. Without that, everything feels harder than it needs to be. Work feels pointless. Discomfort feels unbearable. Life starts to feel like something you’re just trying to survive. So here’s how you create a compelling future in a real, practical way. First, stop being vague. “More money” or “less stress” won’t pull you forward. Get specific. How do you wake up when life is working? Who are you with? What problems are gone? If you can’t feel it, it won’t move you. Second, decide who you need to become to live that future. More disciplined. More decisive. More honest. Less available to distractions. A compelling future isn’t just a destination. It’s an identity you’re growing into. Third, give yourself a 90-day quest. Drifting happens when time feels endless. Momentum shows up when time feels intentional. One focus. One target. One thing that proves you’re moving again. And finally, protect your optimism. This matters more than people think. If you live in cynicism, doom, and constant negativity, your future shrinks. Optimism isn’t naive. It’s a strategy. A compelling future doesn’t magically appear. You choose it. You design it. And you defend it. Question for you: what’s one thing about your future you’re choosing to be optimistic about again?

In this video, I break down the week's AI news including the new Gemini Personal Intelligence, ads and age prediction coming to ChatGPT, the annual Anthropic Economic Report and more. Enjoy!