The Art & Science of Creative Action.

Methods of the Masters

Join over 33,147 leaders and creators who receive my newsletter each week, and get a free bonus chapter from Ideaflow, "How to Think Like Bezos and Jobs."

Jeremy studies the history of invention, discovery, and innovation, and then shares his insights daily. 
Sign up to get weekly digests of these daily posts, delivered every Tuesday morning.

    Warning: many time-tested, empirically-proven tactics to fuel creative output may challenge your definitions of “productivity” and “efficiency.”
    Please try a few tasty samples below to make sure you’re ready for counter-intuitive research that will turbocharge your practice.

    Featured
    Real Concerns, Wrong Conclusion
    Real Concerns, Wrong Conclusion

    A real concern is not a valid conclusion. An EVP in finance emailed me last week about AI sycophancy. Most people raise that concern as an off-ramp. He made it the curriculum.

    This Is What Real Augmentation Looks Like
    This Is What Real Augmentation Looks Like

    There are levels of AI augmentation: Some people use AI to draft emails. Josh used it to run 27 agents on a single problem, from his mobile on the road, with all the context of his laptop at home. Those are not the same thing.

    What’s Your Word?
    What’s Your Word?

    Andrej Karpathy hasn't typed a line of code since December. That sentence has a blank in it — fill it with your word, and something shifts.

    The Answer Is Yes. What's Your Question?
    The Answer Is Yes. What's Your Question?

    When Manu Ginobili raised his hand during a Spurs AI session and said "Could AI...?" — that was the ball game. The answer to almost every "could it" question is yes. The problem is most people don't have a question yet.

    Not Behind Enough to Panic. Too Afraid to Learn.
    Not Behind Enough to Panic. Too Afraid to Learn.

    There are two fears circulating in the age of AI. One is fuel. The other is self-fulfilling. A neuroscientist recently explained why — and it changed how I think about every AI conversation I have.

    From Authorship To Stewardship
    From Authorship To Stewardship

    This Week: Guest Post from Brice Challamel , Head of AI Strategy and Adoption at OpenAI — If AI can draft the memo, build the deck, and prototype the product, what exactly is the professional's contribution? Brice says it's not "less" — it's "different." Read his case for the shift from authorship to stewardship.

    It's a Skill, Not a Pill
    It's a Skill, Not a Pill

    A 40% quality boost, available to anyone. Taken up by fewer than 3% of the workforce (and that number is going down, not up). At Wharton this week, I accidentally said the thing that explains why.

    Your AI Dashboard Is Lying to You (And What to Measure Instead)
    Your AI Dashboard Is Lying to You (And What to Measure Instead)

    The engineer who experiments with 40 prompts shows up on the dashboard. The finance manager who quietly kills three recurring reports doesn't — even though she's the one who actually changed. A guest post from Logitech's Head of Global AI.

    The Rising Opportunity Cost of Being Human
    The Rising Opportunity Cost of Being Human

    AI can make you 100x more productive at work, and make being present at home feel 100x more expensive. That tension isn’t just personal weakness. It’s a new economic reality.

    Are You More of What You Value?
    Are You More of What You Value?

    I almost moved a family trip for two business opportunities. That moment made me ask a question I think every AI power user needs to sit with: What if your biggest AI risk isn’t bad output, but a misallocated life?