19th Safar 1447H | Assalamu'alaikum, | I get it. | Life gets busy. You have a deadline. | You could write that report, or that chapter, or prep for that presentation on your own. | But, "just for this time," you'll lean into your super smart, know-it-all AI platform and ask it to help you. | You pray no one notices (because, after all, what are you paid for). | The AI does an amazing job. The results sound professional, look good, and even better, you receive praises from everyone around you. | Now you feel pressured to maintain that high quality, so you lean more and more into AI and start outsourcing your thinking, your writing, and your insights to AI until you feel that you're nothing more than an AI chat prompter. | Welcome to the AI productivity trap! | The above thought was triggered when I was trying to think through a situation that happened online this week to a famous productivity author/YouTuber. | He posted a video showing how 90% of his writing is done via AI and how he trained AI to write in his voice and style. | The response from his community was brutal. People were upset and felt betrayed that they were reading AI work all this time, and he lost a lot of credibility. | To his credit, he tried explaining himself and making some thoughtful points: | We shouldn't confuse "drafting" with "writing"; the real work happens in editing. AI helps with building structures for your writing, but doesn't replace your insights. Writing is a problem-solving tool, not a mystical experience that needs to be protected and shrouded in mystery.
| I found myself both understanding his perspective and feeling uneasy about it. | As a fellow productivity author, I get the pressure. Just this week, I was complaining to my business partner that I felt the pressure to send these weekly newsletters each Monday and Thursday whilst working on my next book. Sometimes it's VERY tempting to just prompt AI to come up with a newsletter that sounds like me, but I'd feel icky about it. I'd feel like I'm betraying your trust in me. | The reason why this YouTuber's story sparked my interest is that, even though I see where he's coming from, I also see the slippery slope towards the "AI Productivity Trap". We feel that the work of AI is "good enough" that we don't need to spend quality time going through the struggle of doing quality work. | For example, I could easily prompt AI to write a newsletter about this topic "AI productivity trap" and it'll do a great job. But the insights and ideas won't come (as they did here) without me thinking about it, writing independently without AI's help, and really going through a mini-jihad of wrestling with these ideas. | There's something sacred about the struggle itself. Allah ﷻ says in the Quran: "And that there is not for man except that for which he strives. And that his effort is going to be seen" (Quran 53:39-40). | Of course, this verse refers to the effort we put in this life for our next life. However, it also seems to be a rule of life: you'll get what you sow. If you work hard, you'll earn from that hard work, not just in results, but in the person you become through the process. | A lot of AI enthusiasts will try to tell us that "just because you used AI for your work, it doesn't mean you're cheating." Others try to differentiate between "human-led" processes and "machine-led" processes. | But here's what I think: someone who dedicates themselves to their craft and puts in genuine effort will have insights that connect with other humans at a heart level, not just "well-written" thoughts that are soul-less and feel like plastic! | So, what's my advice as we navigate this rapidly changing AI landscape and avoid the AI productivity trap? | 1. Let Your Niyyah Be Your Guide | Before you reach for an AI tool for any meaningful task, pause and ask: what's your intention for using it? | There's a difference between using AI as an assistant or thinking partner, and using AI to replace or avoid thinking altogether. Are you using it to clarify your thoughts or to bypass the thinking process entirely? | 2. Embrace the Struggle | We live in a comfort-seeking world where we don't like to struggle or feel any pain or discomfort. Unfortunately, this has impacted us spiritually, physically, and socially. | When we don't struggle spiritually (like getting up for tahajjud or memorizing Quran), we won't grow spiritually. When we don't struggle physically (moving our bodies, controlling our diet), it becomes hard to stay healthy and strong. When we don't struggle intellectually and creatively, we'll lose those muscles as well. | Remember that Allah ﷻ rewards us for our intentions and effort, not for results and outcomes. He says in surat Al-Insan "...Indeed, this is for you a reward, and your effort has been appreciated." (Quran 76:22). | 3. Embrace Your Authentic Imperfection | You don't have to show the world a picture-perfect version of yourself. Your experiences, failures, and insights remain uniquely yours. AI can help you express these more clearly, but it cannot generate them from thin air. It's okay to have less-than-perfect work, or less-than-perfect logic. You learn and grow from that process. And sometimes these "mistakes" lead to the most meaningful conversations and insights. | A Personal Commitment | As I write this (yes, by hand first, then typed, then refined with the help of AI), I'm making a commitment to you: I will continue to prioritize writing from my heart and sharing personal stories, spiritual struggles, and the mistakes that come from walking this path alongside you. | Will I use AI tools for research, editing, or improving flow? For sure. But I promise that the core insights, the personal experiences, and the spiritual reflections will always come from my own journey, research, and struggles. | Because that's what you're really subscribing to, not just productivity tips or spiritual insights that can be AI-generated, but the human story of trying to live these principles in real life, with all the beautiful messiness that entails. | Sincerely, | | P.S. If you love this newsletter, and want others to benefit from it, please encourage them to sign up here: https://productivemuslim.com/Newsletter. Writing these by hand (literally!) takes time, but knowing they're reaching people who need them pushes me to write every week. |
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