How AI Can Be Limiting Your Growth
JANUARY 27, 2025
Relying on AI for answers can shortcut the growth process. While it provides quick solutions, it deprives you of the deep thinking and effort needed to truly understand and grow. Real growth happens in the process you struggle with challenges, reflect and piece things together yourself. AI is a helpful tool, but over-reliance on it can limit your growth capacity.
Use AI as a tool to assist your thinking, not replace it.
AI is a powerful ally – to solve problems, generate ideas and answer questions – and it’s only getting better by the day. But what if it’s holding us back in ways that don’t seem immediately obvious? It actually might be limiting your growth.
Have you ever talked with a friend or colleague about a challenge and given them advice? You might clearly see the solution to their problem, but simply telling them often doesn’t lead to change. I literally just had this experience when someone gave me (good) advice for a project I was working on, but I couldn’t translate it into meaningful action. Why?
Because growth comes from doing the deep thinking—the internal work of understanding the problem and uncovering solutions themselves. That doesn’t mean we have to solve things alone, we can use mentors, teachers and coaches – but their work is to provoke the right questions, not to give you the answer.
The same principle applies to AI. While AI can generate accurate answers or strategies, when we rely on it to do the hard thinking for us, we miss out on the process that fosters real personal growth. For example, if AI suggests a brilliant solution for a work challenge, it might solve the issue, but it doesn’t teach us how to approach the problem differently next time.
Think about this analogy: an elevator gets you to the top quickly and effortlessly, but you miss the chance to build strength and endurance along the way. Climbing the stairs is slower and more challenging, but it strengthens your muscles, improves your stamina, and gives you a sense of accomplishment when you reach the top.
Similarly, when AI hands you the answer, it’s like taking the elevator—you reach the destination, but you miss the opportunity to do the hard thinking and problem-solving that builds your mental "muscles."
Growth isn’t about the answer—it’s about the climb to arrive there. When we actively reflect, analyze, and piece together insights, we build the mental muscles for innovation, resilience, and problem-solving. AI, in its fantastic efficiency, can shortcut this process, leaving us with outcomes but not the learning needed for sustainable growth.
To be clear, I love all the AI solutions out there. It’s a great partner to improve efficiency, effectiveness and work product. But don’t let it do all the heavy lifting – especially when it comes to matters of your own growth. Rather, use it as a partner in your thinking, not a replacement. Growth happens in the process, not just the results.
Key Idea
Growth happens in the process, not just the results. Relying on AI for answers can shortcut the growth process. While it provides quick solutions, it deprives you of the deep thinking and effort needed to truly understand and grow. Real growth happens in the process you struggle with challenges, reflect and piece things together yourself. AI is a helpful tool, but over-reliance on it can limit your growth capacity.
Takeaway
Use AI as a tool to assist your thinking, not replace it.
Build your Movement
When was the last time you solved a problem by working through it deeply, rather than relying on a quick answer? How did that process shape your understanding?
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