AI did exactly what it promised.
It made me faster.
It reduced friction.
It kept work moving.
That’s why it took me so long to notice what I was missing.
Speed wasn’t the problem.
What speed hid was the problem.
Velocity Replaced Attention
With AI in my workflow, everything accelerated.
Drafts appeared instantly.
Options were always available.
Momentum never stalled.
And because nothing broke, I assumed everything was fine.
But speed has a side effect: it compresses reflection. The faster I moved, the fewer signals I noticed—especially the quiet ones that usually slow you down for a reason.
The Signals I Stopped Seeing
They weren’t obvious errors. They were absences.
I missed:
- Hesitation that usually signals a risky assumption
- Friction that forces tradeoffs into the open
- Discomfort that tells you a decision isn’t settled
- The urge to argue with myself before committing
AI smoothed those moments away. The work felt clean, so I didn’t look closer.
But those signals weren’t inefficiencies.
They were information.
Faster Decisions, Weaker Reasons
When decisions came quickly, I noticed something unsettling.
I could say what we were doing, but struggled to explain why—without leaning on structure, balance, or “the AI suggested.”
The outputs were coherent.
The reasoning wasn’t fully mine.
AI had helped me reach conclusions faster than my judgment could catch up.
That gap didn’t show up in delivery.
It showed up under questioning.
Smoothness Became a False Signal
I started equating smooth workflows with good decisions.
If something moved without resistance, I trusted it.
If it felt easy, I assumed it was right.
But good decisions often feel the opposite:
- Awkward
- Uncertain
- Incomplete before they’re owned
AI reduced that discomfort before I engaged with it.
The signal wasn’t gone.
It was just muted.
What I Changed to See the Signals Again
I didn’t slow the tools down.
I slowed myself down at specific points.
I now:
- Pause before final recommendations
- Name the assumption that makes me uneasy
- Rewrite conclusions in my own words
- Ask what would break if this were wrong
Those moments reintroduce signal into a fast system.
AI still helps me move quickly—but it no longer decides when I stop paying attention.
The Tradeoff I Didn’t See at First
AI gives speed cheaply.
Attention still costs effort.
When I optimized only for velocity, I paid for it with awareness.
When I reintroduced friction intentionally, decision quality came back.
Speed is useful.
Signals are essential.
Miss them long enough, and everything still looks fine—until it isn’t.
The Lesson I Keep
AI didn’t make me careless.
It made it easier to skip the moments where judgment forms.
Now I treat smoothness as a prompt to look closer—not a reason to move on.
Because the most important signals don’t shout.
They slow you down.
Build AI workflows that don’t miss the signal
Coursiv helps professionals develop judgment-first AI skills—so speed never comes at the cost of awareness, clarity, or decision quality.
If AI made your work faster but quieter in the wrong places, this is the gap worth fixing.
Top comments (1)
Thank you for sharing your experience!
I'll keep it in mind.