Writing helps ideas stick

When I read, my brain takes in a wall of text, comprehends it in the moment, then at best retains maybe 10% of it. In and out of short-term memory.

When I write (ok, type) with my own hands, it sticks better – the equivalent of reading it maybe 2 or 3 times. Just long enough for longer-term memory to grab on.

When AI writes for me, I retain nothing.

I use AI like just about every human and inanimate object on earth.

But when I started writing an almost-daily email back in 2022, I literally sat at my laptop or pulled out my phone, and typed words that grew into ideas, that grew into workshops and programs, that have grown into all of the things that now shape this one-person show.

I’m 100% certain that if ChatGPT was a thing and I’d used it from the start, none of these things would have eventuated in the shape they are now.

But I’m also a realist – and it’s TOTALLY possible that writing this many daily emails with AI could have resulted in far better, more lucrative ideas.

Better ideas, maybe… but not my ideas – and that’s the part that would really suck for me.

I like that I built products aligned with who I am, who I want to help, and managed to do it with the limited intelligence that shipped with me.

I still manually type every word of my daily emails because even though 99% are arse, the good stuff sticks and helps me build the next thing.

It’s also a mindfulness thing. Writing is a tiny world where I disappear into my brain, and see what’s knocking around today. It somehow relaxes and energises me all at the same time. Why would I outsource that?

AI helps, no denying that. I brainstorm and expand ideas with it, and even occasionally ask it to write a post or email for me using it’s own “judgement”.

Then I take the idea and write it in my own words so it sticks. I can’t imagine copy-pasting something AI has written, and just hitting publish.

Copy-paste… ironically… doesn’t make it stick.