Mark Manson released a newsletter today that basically said what I have been telling clients since AI became everyone’s favorite shiny new toy:
AI is incredibly useful when you know what you’re doing.
When you don’t?
It can send you down one hell of a rabbit hole.
Manson’s point was that AI can actually become a form of procrastination. You can spend hours prompting, generating, tweaking, researching, comparing and “optimizing” without ever doing the harder part: deciding what actually matters.
And I see this happening with business owners all the time.
ChatGPT can give you answers. That doesn’t mean it knows your problem.
I was on a call with a potential client recently.
She has a great offer. She knows her stuff. But something has changed, and people aren’t connecting with the business the way they used to.
So, naturally, she turned to ChatGPT.
She asked what she was doing wrong.
She compared herself against a competitor.
She asked how she could improve.
And ChatGPT did exactly what ChatGPT is very, very good at doing:
It gave her a lot of things to do.
Change this.
Try that.
Rewrite this.
Add this offer.
Create this content.
Improve this part of the funnel.
Think about this audience.
Maybe change the messaging.
Maybe change the positioning.
Maybe change everything while you’re at it.
Cool.
Now what?
Because instead of walking away with one clear problem to solve, she walked away with a giant list of possible problems.
That isn’t necessarily strategy.
Sometimes it’s just more noise.
More options do not always make things easier.
This is one of the biggest problems I see with AI.
We assume more information will help us make a better decision.
Sometimes it does.
But sometimes more information just gives us more decisions to make.
And every new decision takes energy.
Should I rewrite my homepage?
Should I change my offer?
Should I post more?
Should I start a newsletter?
Should I redo my SEO?
Should I change my pricing?
Should I make a lead magnet?
Should I completely reposition the company and move to a small goat farm in Vermont?
Suddenly you have 37 things you could do.
So you do what many people do when there are 37 things to do.
Nothing.
That is analysis paralysis in its finest little outfit.
Good strategy does the opposite.
One of my favorite books about web strategy is Don’t Make Me Think by Steve Krug.
It’s a web usability book, but the lesson goes much further than websites.
People do not want to work unnecessarily hard to figure things out.
When someone visits your website, they shouldn’t have to investigate your navigation like they’re cracking the Da Vinci Code.
They shouldn’t have to compare seven packages that sound almost identical.
They shouldn’t have to read four paragraphs before understanding what you actually sell.
They shouldn’t have to wonder what happens after they click a button.
The experience should feel easy.
Here’s what this is.
Here’s why you’ll care.
Here’s what to do next.
That’s it.
And I think we need to apply the exact same thinking to how we use AI.
AI should help you execute your strategy. It shouldn’t become your strategy.
There is a huge difference between asking:
“What could I do to improve my business?”
and:
“I know this is the problem. Help me solve it.”
The first question can produce endless possibilities.
The second gives AI a job.
That distinction matters.
If you already understand your customer, your offer, your goals and the problem standing between where you are and where you want to be, AI can be incredible.
Use it to brainstorm.
Research.
Organize.
Draft.
Challenge an idea.
Find holes in your thinking.
Speed up work you already understand.
But expecting ChatGPT to dump a giant bucket of ideas on the table and somehow reveal the answer?
That’s where things start getting messy.
Because AI does not have to live with the consequences of choosing the wrong priority.
You do.
Sometimes the smartest strategy is doing less.
You probably do not need 15 new tactics.
You may need one.
Maybe two.
You may not need an entirely new marketing strategy.
Maybe the offer is great, but the website isn’t explaining it clearly.
Maybe traffic is fine, but visitors don’t trust you enough to book.
Maybe your tours are fantastic, but your website makes comparing them harder than it should be.
Maybe people are interested, but the path from this looks cool to take my money has too much friction.
That is where strategy comes in.
Not asking:
“What are all the things I could improve?”
But asking:
“What is the thing most likely to be getting in the way right now?”
Fix that first.
Then look at the next thing.
You don’t need more ideas. You need a clearer decision.
AI isn’t going anywhere.
And I don’t think it should.
I use it in my own business.
But I also know what I want it to do.
That is the part we don’t talk about enough.
AI is a tool.
A very powerful one.
But a tool becomes a whole lot less useful when you don’t know what you’re trying to build.
So maybe before your next four-hour ChatGPT spiral, ask yourself:
Do I actually need more ideas?
Or do I need to choose what matters and finally do something about it?
Because sometimes the smartest thing AI can help you do is not create more.
It’s help you get clear enough to do less.
So, how are you using AI in your business?
Is it actually making your work easier?
Or are you spending half your day fighting with ChatGPT or Claude because, deep down, you aren’t completely sure what you want from it?
