What you watch today will affect you in a year
And why.
Something I’ve come to realize is that the content I consume majorly affects me in the long term. The things I see on social media, the books I read, and even the music I listen to. Because when I’m lying in bed procrastinating work, my thoughts are not just excuses. They’re also echoes of the things I’ve heard or read.
Today afternoon, I was writing, and that morning, I’d just heard from a friend about how AI is clearing up writers. So, when I consulted chat gpt to help me reorganize where I would drop certain scenes, and it offered to write me one scene, I was hesitant. Didn’t like AI writing for me, I mean, then what use am I as a writer? It was a potential hit to my purpose, but then I remembered something I had read a couple of months ago in the Diary Of A CEO, by Steven Bartlett:
“Lean into change.”
And I let chatgpt write a scene better than I could have, over a quote I hadn’t even realized had stuck with me. What that scene taught me was that people weren’t wrong saying AI was stealing jobs, but I also understood just how great a tool it can be to help me write better.
To imagine scenes I would have spent hours tweaking until they were perfect. No, I wouldn’t publish what chatgpt gave me today afternoon, but I would be able to better picture what I only had an inkling of because she grew it in seconds. And then, I would rewrite it in all the messy glory a first draft deserves. I learnt that AI can seriously give me clarity, not just organization, when I write, so I’m more open to using the tool now in my writing. All because I read a book a few months ago without ever having made any notes on it.
Your brain retains more than you think. The lyrics of the music you listen to, because those words are going to ring in your head when you’re feeling something in a year. The books you read, because the lessons you don’t think you’ve fully absorbed are going to show up in your mentality when you need them. The creators you follow, because they show you who you will look to resemble when you’re in a tough spot.
For the unconvinced
Don’t believe me? Here’s the science.
Ever heard of priming? It’s a natural phenomenon where your brain remembers something it saw or went over briefly and applies it in the future to something it finds similar. (study linked below)
The content you consume is especially important if you’re a creator because of idea incubation. The things you see will inadvertently shape your content because they shape your ideas. (study linked below)
Study on unconscious priming and its long term impact: https://acmelab.yale.edu/sites/default/files/bargh_copsyc-d-15-00181_fs_1.pdf?utm_
Role of the unconscious mind on ideas: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1871187111000666?utm_
