I got called out recently by someone I respect. They ran something I wrote through their AI screening tool and it scored "mostly AI." Under my by-line.

Ouch.

I did not think of the piece as completely AI written. But I do know that writing it was frictionless.

The backstory: I was on a deadline, busy with all the things, and I felt like my AI knows my voice. So, I decided to just trust it. I reviewed it of course and changed a few things. But it really wasn't my me.

I got majorly triggered by it. I wanted to crawl into a hole, pretend it never happened, and stop writing altogether. It felt like a major failure. I felt like an imposter, a bad person, and mostly, not enough. Those feelings clung to me for days.

Then I got mad. How can I, as a thought leader, business owner, and consultant, possibly keep the volume of content generation up and pure when AI manufactured slop fills the metaverse all day long? If AI can scan my writing and decide it is not mine by syntax alone, how can I possibly compete?

So I sat with it. I started to talk about it, with that editor and others. The shame lost is paralytic control over me. I committed to a do-over. I tucked in. Wrote article myself, and resubmitted.

I felt better. But it sure took longer, and it required more of my brain and my heart. It felt like weight training feels to me.

Here's why.

For years I was an endurance athlete and adventure racer.

My relentless fitness focus was running, skiing, paddling, hiking for long stretches, keeping my heart rate efficient, but also keeping enough in the tank to go even further.

I casually thought I was strong.

Today, the science (and my life) has changed. The focus for fitness now includes strength training. Power and bursts, to stay functionally strong on the arc to the grave.

The mindset shift is a real twister for me. Instead of "keep a little gas for the finish," I have to push to failure.

Meaning, lift until I can't do one more. Really, until I can't.

I hate it.

But dang, I am getting stronger.

Why bother?

• So I can get on my horse without a rock in the desert
• So I can catch my 11 year old grand-daughter running toward me at full pace without falling down
• So I can get the RV off and on the hitch without needing my husband
• So I can lift my own suitcase into the overhead bin
• So I can dig deep holes to plant perennials
• So I can carry my e-bike up the stairs at my office to lock it

Because if I don't use my strength, I will lose it. The capacity to physically do what I love, and what matters to me.

Here's the connection.

Silicon Valley is telling all of us to turn on AI to avoid the friction. The friction of thinking, of hard conversations, of writing full sentences, and of doing the math, because the machine can do it faster and sometimes, better.

But producing stuff faster and better is not the only point.

The point is showing up, having a point of view, seeing others fully, and feeling seen.

Without discernment and authorship, we are seriously at risk of atrophying the things that matter to our essential humaning. The muscles that drive our ability to think about, talk about, write about, and do hard things together, in a connected way, with other people.

This is not an "I will never use AI" warning. I will. There are use cases in my business that matter, that save me time, and energy, and that help me both work and think.

But I learned through the feedback and resultant shame cycle that certain things matter too much to hand off. Things that matter to who I am, to what I want to say, and to who I care about. Those are the things that are worth sweating through the friction for.

We use it or lose it.

With care,

Moe

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​P.S. Speaking of doing the hard, human work yourself, and not outsourcing the parts that matter: tomorrow I'm hosting a small, live conversation about licensing the Leading People Program™ and delivering it under your own name. Not a webinar, not a pitch. I'll lay out what the license actually is, what it costs and what it earns, and the three things you have to believe for it to work. Then I'll open the floor and answer whatever you ask, including whether it's the right move for you.

​Register here for the Open House on Thursday, August 13, 9:00 to 10:00 AM PDT, on Zoom (replay available). Come if you do this work and want a proven program instead of building one from scratch. Come if you're just curious. Bring the question you're almost afraid to ask.