"Five minutes each week that might change your life."
Someone asked me: “How would The Subtle Art of Not Giving a *** have been different if AI existed when you wrote it?”
My answer:
It would’ve gotten written slightly faster.
That’s it.
When I wrote Subtle Art, I spent more time digging than I did writing.
I slogged through books, interviews, psychology papers, Reddit threads, old Buddhist stories—anything that could illustrate a point or make a concept feel real.
That’s what writing a book is: 20% writing, 80% excavation. You become a thesaurus-humping archaeologist with a deadline.
AI would’ve made that process so much faster.
Three minutes with ChatGPT and I’d have examples from history, philosophy, and Reddit all lined up in a list.
…and then I would’ve still researched everything and written it myself.
Because outsourcing your writing to AI is a one-way ticket to destroying your voice and originality. You know, the part of you that actually has something to say.
So yeah, Subtle Art would’ve been written faster.
But not better.
Because the hard part of writing—the part where you wrestle with what you actually believe—that’s still 100% human.
And if you try to cheat that, you might still publish something…
But it won’t be yours.
See you Monday,
Mark
P.S. Speaking of not outsourcing your thinking—Shortform is the one book summary tool I trust. Their guides are developed by a team of real human writers and editors who break books down chapter by chapter with expert analysis, counterpoints from other works, and exercises that have you wrestle with the ideas yourself. I spent years excavating Subtle Art so Shortform could break it down for you in minutes. They even caught that my influences are Buddhist and existentialist, not the more trendy Stoicism. And that's just Subtle Art. They have summaries of over 10,000 books worth reading. Join for free—first 500 get 25% off at checkout.
