"It Feels Like Cheating"
That's what they say about AI, but could also be said by anyone whoever resisted the changing world as it was on their doorstep.
“Do what you do best and outsource the rest.”
– Peter F. Drucker
Before the emergence of AI, numerous business leaders and gurus would recite some version of Drucker’s legendary quote. Creatives were told to stay in their zone of genius—outsource the rest. Let someone else handle the spreadsheets, the cold emails, the pitch decks, the 47th draft of a pricing page.
Only problem? The help never came—or rather, it came with heavy invoices, long lead times, and a constant fear they’d waste money on something that might not work.
Now? ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, or other AI tools show up ready to draft, ideate, organize, refine, and scale—for pennies. But here’s the twist:
We don’t trust it because it doesn’t feel like help…
It Feels Like Cheating
In 2014, I wrote a book titled Life After Christmas—a guide on how to manage marketing and sales as a creative during the post-holiday slump. I remember wrapping up my first draft and initial edits and wanting to put a bullet in my skull because the last thing in the world I wanted to do was edit the fifty thousand words I just wrote.
Instead, I called on a former colleague, a copy editor I knew from my magazine days, and she helped me edit the book for structure, content misalignment, and grammatical errors. Despite giving me the friend discount, it wasn’t cheap. Before selling a single book, I was already in the red for nearly a grand. That hurt, and because of a lack of effort on my part to market the book (an entirely different story that I’ll tackle another time), it took a long time to earn that money back.
Thank goodness I am a graphic designer, because if I had to charge myself to design the book, I’d be underwater for significantly more cash I didn’t have. It’s no wonder most don’t pursue self-publishing for fear of going into bankruptcy over the ordeal—or they stick with the traditional publisher method to become slaves to the system in order to avoid the upfront costs.
The Digital Assistant Nobody Asked For
This is where the eye-rolling starts, because here’s a list of just some of the tasks I’ve used AI for recently:
Helped clarify the structure and strategy behind my newsletters
Worked with me to map out content calendars that match my publishing rhythm and project goals
Used it to build and refine workflows that make planning, scheduling, and task management easier
Supported me in tightening up my brand voice and making sure it stays consistent across platforms
Helped shape and refine the offer structure for my consultation business so I can talk clearly to the right clients
Helped develop and refine AI prompts and frameworks that actually reflect the way I think and work
Helped me brainstorm product and publishing ideas that feel aligned with my creative priorities
Built multiple long-term roadmaps for content that keeps me focused
None of these are autonomous actions. I’ve always got my hands in the pies, or on the puppet strings, depending on which metaphor works best for you (I’ll certainly be asking ChatGPT what they think about that statement). If this is a ship, then I’m the captain, and ChatGPT is my First Mate for only $19 a month.
Here’s what ChatGPT will NEVER do for me:
Replace my creativity
Speak for me
Be bland or unoriginal
Drive the ship (at least until it becomes sentient—then all bets are off)
If It’s Not About Money, It’s About Mindset
Now, the barrier isn’t money or access—it’s identity. Deep down, many believe real art must come with suffering; if we didn’t bleed for it, it doesn’t count. There’s shame in making things easier, pride in taking the long way, and a quiet fear that if the process gets too smooth, maybe the work loses its soul. We were raised on stories of tortured genius, not optimized workflows.
But that belief is costing us—not in dollars, but in energy, clarity, and momentum. So let’s reframe it.
Stop thinking of AI as your replacement, and start thinking of it as your underpaid intern who doesn’t complain about the low pay and terrible coffee (my coffee is excellent, by the way. Any regular intern would be blessed to sip from my carafe).
You don’t hand AI the keys. You give it the grunt work, the first draft, the skeleton to hang your creative muscles on. You’re still the creative director with the vision and the taste, but you’re not spending your best hours aligning bullet points in a deck you resent, or drafting another Notion document to pretend to be organized and resent yourself for not sticking to it.
Misplaced Resentment
What if the thing you resented this whole time wasn’t AI—but the expectation that you were supposed to do everything yourself?
What if the real threat wasn’t the tool, but the tired old narrative that said being a real creative meant burning out, doing it the hard way, and wearing your exhaustion like a badge of honor? Maybe it’s not the machine we mistrust, but the myth that told us struggle was the price of legitimacy.
That story’s outdated. You don’t have to suffer to make good work. You just have to make it—and conserve enough energy to do it again tomorrow.
If you’re looking for a sample of how this works, take the prompt below for a test drive and see how much an AI chatbot can release the burden from your shoulders.
Free Prompt: Take This Off My Plate
Copy all the text between the lines below, paste it into your AI of choice (I use ChatGPT v4o), and replace all the areas in brackets with your information.
I want you to help me figure out five specific tasks you could help me with this week. Here’s what I do for work, what I enjoy most, and what I usually avoid or struggle with.
Based on that, give me five clear ways you can support me—things that would genuinely save me time or mental energy without replacing my creativity or voice.
Keep the ideas practical and tailored to my work style. At the end, ask any follow-up questions that will help you get more accurate or useful next time.
My work: [describe what you do]
What I enjoy: [describe your favorite parts of the work]
What I dislike: [list the parts you want help with]
This basic prompt will help by transforming your chaos into clarity. If you want to go deeper, paid members gain access to the full prompt archive. Test it out for a week for free and watch your productivity soar!