At first, speed felt like the win.
AI let me move faster than my own thinking. Ideas appeared instantly. Drafts materialized before I fully understood the problem. It felt like leverage — until it didn’t.
Moving faster than I could think didn’t make me more effective.
It made me careless.
Speed outpaced comprehension
AI operates at a pace human reasoning can’t naturally match.
When outputs arrive instantly, it’s tempting to accept them before fully processing what they say. I skimmed more. I questioned less. Understanding lagged behind execution.
The work moved forward, but my grasp of it weakened.
Faster workflows amplified weak assumptions
When thinking is rushed, assumptions slip through.
AI didn’t invent them — it amplified them. Unexamined premises turned into confident conclusions. Subtle errors scaled quickly because there was no pause to intervene.
Speed didn’t remove mistakes. It multiplied them.
Productivity became performative
Everything looked efficient on the surface.
More deliverables. Shorter timelines. Cleaner drafts. But much of that productivity was cosmetic. It optimized appearances, not outcomes.
The moment deeper scrutiny was required, the cracks showed.
Slowing down restored control
The fix wasn’t abandoning AI speed.
It was reclaiming thinking time.
I began:
- Pausing before accepting outputs
- Reading results carefully, not just skimming
- Asking what I would challenge if this came from a colleague
Once thinking caught up, speed became useful again.
Accuracy needs space to exist
AI doesn’t self-correct under pressure.
Accuracy depends on human judgment, and judgment needs space. When workflows eliminate that space, quality degrades — even if everything looks fast and polished.
Why speed must follow understanding
AI speed is a multiplier.
If understanding is solid, it multiplies quality. If understanding is thin, it multiplies risk.
This is why learning approaches like those emphasized by Coursiv emphasize control before acceleration — helping learners build workflows where thinking leads and speed follows.
Because the goal isn’t to move faster than your mind.
It’s to move as fast as your judgment can keep up.
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