After 15 years of writing copy for paying clients, I’ve learned to think for myself, aka don’t believe everything you’re told.
Example?
Well, for starters, this makes zero sense.
“Good Writing” equals “Suffering.”
We’ve been conditioned to believe this twaddle.
If we don’t spend four hours staring at a blank screen and a blinking cursor before bleeding onto the keyboard, the final product lacks soul.
The result?
We feel like we’re cheating when a tool like AI helps us move at the speed of thought.
This is Efficiency Guilt, and it is the #1 thing holding writers back from becoming what I like to call High-Performance Writers (HPW).
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In my early career, a 2,000-word deep dive post would take me 3 days.
One day for thinking (mostly procrastination), one day for writing and wrestling with the structure, rest the post overnight, then one day for editing and proofreading.
Today? I can get to a solid, structured “Draft Zero” in 15 minutes.
Does that make my writing worse?
No. It makes my thinking better.
15 years in the trenches and I can confidently say that I have a pretty good eye for what’s decent and what’s not.
The difference is, I’m not using my brain power to figure out where the commas go or how to transition between point A and point B.
I’m using my brain power to find the hook, the angle, and the human connection.
AI is purely my research assistant; I remain firmly in control.
Here’s how you can immediately use AI to bypass the blank page hurdle and 10x your output without losing your voice.
The workflow: You initiate → AI does the busy work → You personalize & humanize the finished piece (it’s all you!)
Step 1: The Brain Dump: Don’t start by typing. Open a voice memo on your phone (you can do this while walking the dog). Talk through your idea for 5 minutes. Sure, it’s messy, it’s full of “umms” and “ahhs,” no problem.
Step 2: The Busy Work: Feed your transcript into AI and say: “I just rambled for 5 minutes. Extract the 3 strongest arguments and build a logical outline. Keep my specific anecdotes about [X] intact.”
Step 3: The High-Speed Draft: Tell the AI: “Using this outline, write a 600-word draft. Use short, punchy sentences. Avoid corporate jargon.”
The result? A “Draft Zero” that’s 80% there in under 20 minutes.
The last 20%, the “heartbeat”, is where you spend your real energy. That’s where you add your personal touch, edit hard, and polish your work.
The guilt usually comes from the fear that the AI sounds... well, like a robot.
If your draft feels generic, it’s not because you used AI; it’s because you haven’t “unsloped” it yet.
I’m curious, when you use AI to speed up your process, do you feel that Efficiency Guilt? Does it feel like you’re cheating, or does it feel like you’ve finally found a super useful tool?
Drop a comment below. I want to know if you’re struggling more with the tools or the mindset of being a fast writer.
I’ll be in the comments responding to everyone.
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