Throughput vs. thought

How do you figure out how much effort to give and where your effort should go?

Heads up! Tomorrow, March 20, is the last day to get the early-bird discount on the spring session of my program for creatives and solopreneurs, The Lighthouse Sessions. We start the week of April 13, and we’d love to have you join us.

Astronomers used 520 images from the Hubble Space Telescope, taken in five colors, to create this picture of the Orion Nebula. Why not? (NASA)

Every word I share is mine, not AI.

I am not opposed to AI, per se, although like everything else in modern life it presents a moral conflict: My smartphone was likely made using child labor, the social media platforms I use to promote my business are actively making people’s lives worse, and AI companies stole the work of untold writers, developers, and artists to train their resource-hogging LLMs. Welcome to dystopia!

But the reason I don’t use AI to write my essays is simpler: My essays are not about throughput. That is, I’m not trying to publish words for the sake of words. Instead, I’m looking to communicate, connect, and improve at the craft of writing. Using an AI to create words on my behalf undermines all of those things, like sending a robot to a party so that I can stay home.

On the other hand, if I need a proposal, you best believe I’m going to get Claude to draft that bad boy. I do not care about getting better at writing proposals at this point in my life. I’m not trying to hone my craft — I’m just trying to get the thing out the door.

I find that clarifying my intent helps me to make decisions more easily and allocate effort more appropriately — not just with respect to writing and content creation, but everywhere in my life. Otherwise, I risk turning routine tasks into a test of my stamina and fortitude while potentially missing out on opportunities for growth and advancement elsewhere.

For instance, when I first moved to Atlanta, I used to play a game where I tried to find a new way home without looking at a map or GPS. For me, it was a fun test of my sense of direction and a good way to get to know my new city.

But trying to get to an appointment on time? We’re not taking the scenic route. We’re just following directions.

I relish opportunities for growth and learning, so that’s the direction I lean toward. I have had to learn when throughput matters more, and deliberately orient toward that. If I have a gig next week, I should polish the songs I already know well and not learn new ones.

Ugh, I hate that! Which is a key reason that being a professional performing musician was not a good career for me. But not every activity is a gauntlet thrown. Not every moment is a test of my wits and mettle. Sometimes, my job is just to get something done as quickly and competently as possible so that I can move on to the next thing. When the stakes are high and there’s time pressure, that’s not the time to be fancy.

Meanwhile, by simplifying where I can, I am freeing myself up to put more of my effort and attention where it matters. I can do things that are difficult on purpose as a game, not for survival.

With a clear intention — knowing why you’re doing something — it’s easier to figure out how much effort to give and where your effort should go.

When you gotta get dinner on the table in twenty minutes, that might not be the moment to try a new and complex recipe. To do something straightforward instead is not cop-out; it’s merely an acknowledgement that right now, throughput matters more than the depth of thought you put into something.

And on the flip side, when it’s the moment to explore and expand and challenge yourself — by all means, go all in. Accept no compromises or crutches. Make it hard for the sake of hard, and have fun.

Remember, the early bird discount on the Lighthouse Sessions ends tomorrow! Check it out.