Being an artist has always been something that everyone has been drawn to and is still drawn toward.

Yet in our rush toward AI-powered everything, we’re losing the very essence of what makes something truly artistic.

The output of an artist lies in what they make you feel.

It could be their process, their character, their personal lives, or even just their work, and there is nothing behind it. It is kind of like a lens into their world.

But what really is art? Is it the painstaking process of discovery, the raw human experience behind creation, or something else entirely?

Is it only a painting, a piece of music, or a video game story? Is it the characters, graphics, or the feeling you get when you're in that world?

But today, art has been reduced to prediction, templates, and a "method". Thanks to the instant feedback loop of knowing something with complete confidence that it must be right. The feedback loop of a win that you get from AI, Google, or any piece of information instantly, without trying it yourself. Going through how something is discovered and understood:

→ Discovery

→ Examination and investigation (understanding it)

→ Experimentation/testing (doing it)

→ Conceptualization/understanding (processing it for storage and use)

This shortcut creates an illusion of mastery while robbing us of the deeper understanding that only comes through struggle and experimentation.

New AI agents and tech terms flood our feeds daily, creating a constant pressure to adopt the latest tools rather than master fundamental creative skills.

Why? Because AI, AI agents, AI browsers, AI girlfriends, AI cooks, AI nutrition coach, AI fitness coaches are going to be a thing for everyone to have easy access to sooner or later.

Technology never stops evolving, partly because most people working in the tech industry don't pause to think about where we might be heading. But what if the real artistic muscle comes from doing the opposite — slowing down, going deep, and building intentionally?

It's always short-term investor-driven profits that drive product growth the most. Of course, not all software is like this, but take the case of

→ ChatGPT/ LLMs

→ AI detection

→ Endless scroll social media apps

Of course, there's a case to be made that there's a way to use them in a more intentional/creative way. But so is the case to be made to use a gun just for defense.

Ultimately all of these are tools, but eat away at an effort that a human should be making naturally. Because one thing that most technology fails to consider is that the human mind doesn't progress as fast as the exponential scale on which they all seem to ride.

The Stoic mindset

Take social media platforms. Ideally they should have been the greatest thing to connect with each others, and I talked how Zuckerberg started with a cool way to find how people could be connected in his University.

The intention was pure, but it did a flip the moment it began scaling into a corporation. Greed, profits, set in, and that demanded accelerated/greedy growth over intentional growth.

Facebook continues to be a dream place for work for many, but at the same time, it's also nightmarish to sell your soul and skills to an organization that wants you to talk to AI bots and other stuff that would have me talking endlessly about if I didn't stop.

→ Seasonal layoffs

→ Moral and political violations

→ Greed-driven scaling.

You can replace Facebook with any app/tool belonging to Big Tech in the three categories mentioned above, and the case is eerily similar. (ChatGPT/ LLMs | AI detection | Endless scroll social media apps).

Instead of solving one pain, they treat you — the user as the product - because the universal law of "if its free, you're the product", doesn't need to break here just yet.

But we're not here to go against the grain so hard that it becomes impossible to do anything productive.

Enter a stoic mind.

Since these are an active part of our society, they'll always be replaced with one thing that solves one problem and introduces another 100 to solve. Because they're not in the business of problem solving to start with.

But your business, as a creator, as a founder, as a business owner is purely yours to take care of. It's your business and no one else's how you decide to run things. At the same time you can only do so much, delegate or move slowly and intentionally to not aim for a good life right?

Your mind can only take in so much, grow enough neural connections without burning out to the non stop growth, consumption and endless anxiety these tools and the tech industry causes.

A stoic creator asks not ‘How can I scale faster?’ but ‘What can I control today to build something meaningful?’ 'How can I serve today to my capacity?'

Because burning yourself out at the "cost" of un-scalable growth, no matter the price isn't sustainable. Not in your 20s, not in your 30s, or anytime later either.

The one tool to rule them all

Your mind is the one thing that rules everything in your body. It's that self-appointed CEO organ that knows it's the at the top of everything and it runs everything else.

But here's the thing — when someone goes into a comatose state, their body/their system keeps on working. The heart keeps beating, the lungs keep breathing, and their cells keep doing their thing to sustain — without any conscious direction. The real life sustaining work happens on autopilot.

For creators, this means making conscious decisions about which tools serve your vision and which ones seduce you away from the hard work of thinking.

The same goes for taking care of your CEO on a daily basis. Because your gut bacteria, your heart rate, and your muscle synchronization are very much the best creation synchronicity that nature has come up with. It shows how clearly everything needs to remain in a perfect balance, and there's nothing greater than maintaining your health.

The artistic muscle isn’t built through shortcuts — it’s built through the deliberate practice of thinking, feeling, and creating without the crutch of instant answers.

I rebel against AI in creation, not because someone told me to for a quick marketing hack. But I've seen this process as I've been into photography and writing since my teens.

And if you've been using ChatGPT or any LLM for writing, or tried to automate that process, chances are you've seen exactly where it augments, handicaps, and replaces your thinking legs. And you may have realized how much training these creative thinking legs need.

They're not a crutch or your training wheels. The most natural way to do this "thing" is to rely on what works for you naturally, figure out how to walk first, and then see if others can get you there faster if and when you need it!

Connection before conversion:

One of my pet peeves is how someone random could try to sell you a dream without really even talking to you first.

It’s selling from the first touchpoint. They identify a pain point and immediately push a solution — no relationship, no understanding, just conversion

This is the essence of direct response marketing: optimize for the click, the purchase, the immediate action. But here’s what gets lost — if there’s no connection, any conversion is hollow

These tactics work at scale for organizations chasing metrics. But they’re designed for quick actions, not lasting relationships. By design, they extract value rather than create it.

Buy the idea/concept/service/action, or you don't and move on.

I dislike direct response marketing for this very reason. My opinion as of writing today. If someone tries to sell you something before they even say Hi, it's "direct response" to me. If you're stopped in a park, a shopping mall, scrolling on Facebook, and told to "BUY NOW". That's direct response to me.

This transactional approach has infected the entire tech industry. When someone tries to sell before they’ve even said hello, they’re treating you as a conversion target, not a human being.

The tech giants have perfected this model: extract first, ask questions later.

OpenAI did it by stealing the entire internet and taking it as their free training data, to create something "cool".

Meta did it by stealing user data and doing the same, and so much worse for the sake of building an ad/internet business.

They build products for markets, not relationships with people. It’s efficient, scalable, and ultimately hollow.

As a creator, you face the same fork in the road:

Path A: Focus on immediate conversion. Use templates, follow formulas, and optimize for quick wins. It’s easier and requires less creative risk.

OR

Path B: Focus on genuine connection first. Understand your audience’s real struggles, build trust, then offer solutions that actually serve them.

Path A optimizes for volume and speed. Path B optimizes for depth and trust. Both can work, but only one builds lasting creative fulfillment.

Path A creates commodities — tools that could be built by anyone. Path B creates authentic work that could only come from you. The choice shapes not just what you build, but who you become as a creator.

Option A creates Direct-response agencies, Big Tech, and VC-backed SaaS tools.

Option B creates personal brands, intentional brands, and innovation.

Being focused on an open picture

The paradox of modern creation is this: we have infinite possibilities at our fingertips, yet most creators feel more constrained than ever.

Social media algorithms demand constant output. AI tools promise instant results. The pressure to “scale” pushes us toward whatever’s trending today. It’s like being in a massive library where someone keeps shouting “READ FASTER!” while rearranging all the books.

But here’s what I’ve learned from years of creating: focus isn’t about narrowing your vision — it’s about choosing your constraints intentionally.

When photographers shoot with a 50mm lens for a year, they don’t become limited. They become masters of seeing within that constraint. When writers commit to a daily practice, they don’t run out of ideas. They discover depths they never knew existed.

When the Hubble Telescope focused on a small patch of sky for years, it found that patch had not just endless stars, but endless galaxies. That's how little we know about depth from viewing ANYTHING from a surface level.

The “open picture” isn’t about keeping all your options available. It’s about understanding the broader context while committing deeply to your chosen path.

Focused creators choose their constraints. They go deep on what matters. They build for someone specific and create a genuine connection.

The irony, though → Focused creators often discover more opportunities than scattered ones. When you go deep enough in any direction, you start to see connections others miss.

This is why the most innovative companies often come from the most constrained environments. Limitations breed creativity, and constraints force innovation.

We've already discussed niching too broadly, and niching too "niche". Make your own picture. Puzzle your own pieces from this!

The "cool" way to build your products

Most product advice sounds like this: “Find a pain point. Build an MVP. Get feedback. Iterate fast. Scale quickly.”

It’s the startup playbook that’s been copied a million times. And it works — for creating commodities.

But what if there was a cooler way? What if instead of starting with market research, you started with genuine curiosity about how things could work better?

The Artist’s Product Philosophy:

Start with wonder, not pain points. The best products often solve problems people didn’t even know they had. The iPhone didn’t solve a “typing on phones is hard” problem. It made people wonder: “What if my phone was actually enjoyable to use?”

Build for yourself first. The most authentic products come from creators solving their own real problems. When you’re your first user, you know when something truly works.

Let the product teach you. Instead of forcing your vision onto the market, let the act of building reveal what wants to emerge. Some of the best features come from happy accidents during development.

Design the experience, not just the interface. Think about how someone feels when they use your product. What story does their interaction tell? What change does it create in their life?

The Kortex Example: Take Kortex — it didn’t start as “note-taking app for productivity optimization.” It started with wonder: “What if your notes could actually think with you instead of just storing information?”

That curiosity led to building something that feels different. Not because it has more features, but because it was designed around a different question entirely.

The cool way isn’t about following formulas. It’s about staying curious enough to discover what wants to exist, then committed enough to bring it into the world.

The choice between Path A and Path B isn’t just about business strategy — it’s about what kind of creator you want to become.

Path A creates efficient machines. Path B creates artists who happen to build products.

Both have their place in the world. But only one builds the artistic muscle we started talking about.

And in a world full of AI-generated everything, that muscle might be the most valuable thing you can develop.

Till next time,

Ankit