I Wrote AI-style Prompts for Myself to Find Creative Confidence
Transform yourself into whatever you want through the power of personal prompts!
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Like so many others, I have been both fascinated and terrified by the rapid development of AI. I started off more terrified than fascinated, but the balance has shifted in the last six months or so. I am using AI more and more often to supplement my creativity and explore ideas more fully than I could on my own.
You might be familiar with some of the best practices for writing AI prompts. One of my favourites is telling the AI what role you want it to play.
“You are the world’s greatest science teacher. Explain quantum mechanics so that a ten-year-old can understand it.”
“You are Roger Federer’s tennis coach. Teach a 50-year-old how to hit a one-handed backhand like Roger.”
“You are a Michelin-star chef. Make a fabulous recipe using only bologna, romaine lettuce, and Cheez Whiz.”
And so on…
After doing a bit of this sort of AI prompting, I had an idea. Why don’t we write prompts like this for ourselves? We are constantly asking AI to “pretend” or “act as if” it’s something that it’s not, so what would it be like to “pretend” or “act as if” we were something that we’re not? Would it be valuable to “act like” a specific role when we engage in creative acts?
“You are one of the world’s most original thinkers about creativity. Write a Substack article about how to apply AI-style prompts to people doing creative projects.”
“You are a talented and experienced comedian. Write jokes for a presentation at a marketing conference that will stand out and be memorable.”
“You are a Michelin-star chef. Make a fabulous recipe using only bologna, romaine lettuce, and Cheez Whiz.”
Personal Prompting Experiments
I recently decided to try some AI-style prompting experiments on myself. Over the last week, I’ve been recording the audiobook for Earn It, and while I have been on-camera on TV and done some podcast hosting in the past, I’ve never done anything like the scope of a full-on multi-hour audiobook. And, full disclosure, I was pretty nervous about it, partly because (like many of us), I hate the sound of my own voice.
I realized that before starting the recording process, the default internal narrative that runs on auto-pilot in my head is something like this:
“You have a horrible, piercing, annoying voice. It is high-pitched and nasally, and not the booming “Voice of God” (aka Morgan Freeman) that is often associated with voiceover work or narrators. No one wants to hear your voice for 6 minutes, let alone 6 hours.”
And yet… am I going to pass up the opportunity to read my own writing, written in my voice, with my actual physical voice? Not a chance!
So I had a little internal dialogue with myself every day before recording, and I made it in the style of an AI Prompt:
“You are a compelling audiobook narrator. Do not conform to booming voice conventions - that is predictable and boring. Instead, embrace your own voice and read the book like you’re telling someone a story.”
As the hours and days of narration passed, I became more and more confident in embracing my own voice. When we reached the end of the book, I even went back and re-recorded the first chapter because I knew I was mentally in a different place with my confidence, energy, and tone.
AI Prompts for Choking
I am also a notorious choker in sports. When the stakes are high, I get nervous, I get tight, and the voice in my head screams all sorts of unhelpful stuff at me. I often completely blow it, metaphorically throwing up all over my shirt, to complete some form of epic athletic collapse.
This is the default internal narrative for me around sports:
“You suck. You always choke. You don’t have what it takes to perform under pressure. Everyone knows you gag when it counts. For once in your stupid sporting existence, don’t blow it! (PAUSE). And… you blew it. Again. Great job, loser!”
So recently, I was playing in a golf tournament and I knew I was going to be nervous on any delicate little shot or putt. The voice in my head would be a tyrant if I didn’t try something different. Time for another AI-style personal prompt!
“You are a professional golfer. You have nerves of steel. You stay calm and relaxed on short putts and confidently roll every one of them into the hole. Your mind only sends you positive thoughts and is full of confidence when the stakes are high.”
And, believe it or not, I actually made a ton of putts and played pretty well!
My point is that as creatives, we often have impostor syndrome. We lack confidence. The Resistance yells at us and tells us we aren’t good enough. So “acting as if” can be a powerful hack to bypass the voices telling you that you aren’t good enough. (I realize that there may be a tighter link than I thought between AI Prompt language and affirmations :-) )
An AI-style prompt for yourself could be just what you need to get your creative juices flowing in unusual directions. What if you prompted yourself to '“act as if” you were good at something where you don’t have a lot of experience or confidence?
“You are a legendary country music songwriter. Write a song about playing pickleball on the farm.”
“You are a professional disco dancer. Crank up the Bee Gees and choreograph an original disco dance that no one has ever seen before.”
“You are an experienced and talented Hollywood sitcom writer. Write a pilot script for your next hit show that will be sold to Netflix.”
I’m going to keep “acting as if” with my fake personal AI Prompts. It’s fun pretending to be good at things and acting as if you’re a natural, even if you’re a beginner. Sometimes, we know more than we think we do. Sometimes, we have talents that we don’t fully acknowledge. And sometimes, it’s easier to try new things and learn new things if you’re not being a jerk to yourself in your head.
Creative Prompts
How would starting your project with a prompt designed to put you in a role, a mindset, and a clearly defined output change the way you approach the work?
What are some prompts that you could give yourself to generate some confident creativity?
What are some prompts that could generate some unusual creative outputs?
Where is your default narrative profoundly unhelpful? And how could you replace it with a confident AI-style prompt for yourself?
We dare you to NOT be creatively inspired by these next three things:
Major kudos to Grant Lawrence and
for generously hosting an annual concert on their lawn in Vancouver. This past week, the Canadian music legend, Chris Murphy (Sloan) played on the porch - so awesome! Amazing to have an intimate neighbourhood show with an icon.We found this life advice from Kevin Kelly and thought it was just perfect for readers of The Creativity Guild:
“Try to make the kind of art and things that will inspire others to make art and things.”
Same with this one from Kurt Vonnegut:
"Practice any art, music, singing, dancing, acting, drawing, painting, sculpting, poetry, fiction, essays, reportage, no matter how well or badly, not to get money and fame, but to experience becoming, to find out what's inside you, to make your soul grow.”
Thanks for reading - stay creative and confident!
Steve & Geoff