When was the last time you finished a writing project without prompting?
“Prompting” mind games
I’ll be honest, AI has become my thinking partner.
Whenever a new idea pops into my head, my first instinct isn’t to grab a notebook and scribble my thoughts. It’s to open a prompt window.
Got a half-baked concept for a workshop?
Prompt it.
Need a catchy LinkedIn update?
Prompt it.
Even for this article, I caught myself wondering, “What would the models suggest for my next sentence?”
At first, it felt like superpower mode.
I could structure my thoughts in seconds.
I could see my idea bulbs light up and multiply with every prompt.
But after a while, I noticed something unsettling. My voice started to fade. My initial excitement, my creative spark, was replaced by a habit of waiting for the model to finish my sentences.
I stopped wrestling with the messiness of ideas and rewrites on sentence constructions.
I stopped trusting my ability to shape a thought from scratch.
It is a slippery slope. Every time I turn to the model first, I’m making it harder to think independently. It is no wonder, my social media feed is flooded with influencers selling well-curated prompts by roles and tasks. I have resisted the urge to purchase any paid prompt libraries.
Relying on prompts can feel a lot like smoking.
You reach for it out of habit, not necessity.
It gives you a quick hit of relief — a finished sentence, a solved problem.
But over time, you need it more and more, even for things you once did easily on your own.
The longer you keep at it, the harder it is to stop.
You know it’s dulling your edge, but the convenience is addictive.
You tell yourself you’ll quit tomorrow, or just use it for the “hard stuff” — but the boundaries blur.
Ask yourself:
When was the last time you finished a project without prompting? Do you even remember what your unfiltered voice sounds like?
Everyone is using the same tools, so the results started to look and sound the same. I became reliant on prompts for even simple tasks.
What happens when the model is unavailable, or the task requires genuine originality. These dangers aren’t hypothetical. They show up in our daily habits.
How much am I willing to trade for convenience before I lose my edge entirely?
I started to think deeply about this, and I can escape this cycle, but it takes intention and discomfort. Here’s my approach, which is proving to be helpful:
- Started by noticing when I default to prompts.
Am I reaching for the models before I’ve even tried to think it through myself? - Forcing myself to sit with the blank page.
Setting a timer. Giving myself ten or fifteen minutes to brainstorm or outline without AI. I started with daily journaling and mind mapping on paper, and it is helping me a lot with ideation and framework. - Capturing my raw thoughts first.
Writing down messy, unfiltered ideas before I ask the models to organize them. - Using AI as a collaborator, not a crutch.
Testing my ideas and mind map with what the models suggest. I test with at least 3–4 models to see how the ideas compare. What’s missing from the AI’s response that only I could see? - Reflecting on the process.
Which ideas felt most alive to me, mine or the models’? - Setting boundaries for AI use.
Deciding on specific tasks where I’ll allow myself to use prompts like researching macro trends, industry news and not for simple email compositions. - Sharing my process with others.
Asking colleagues and friends for a review.
I might not break the habit overnight. But every time I choose to think for myself first, I’m happy that I am flexing my creative muscles.
You can’t avoid AI, but you can decide how you use it.
