The Mindset of Play

“I’m not good with technology.”

I hear this phrase from brilliant leaders, coaches, and founders. It is a defense mechanism. It is a way of saying, “I choose not to engage with this, because I am afraid I will look foolish.”

But we are entering an era where curiosity is a higher currency than competence.

The Expert’s Trap

When you are an expert in your field, being a beginner again hurts. AI forces us all to be beginners. The models change weekly. The prompting strategies that worked on Monday are obsolete by Friday.

If you try to “master” it before you use it, you will never start.

Experimentation > Expertise

The people winning with AI right now are not the computer scientists. They are the tinkerers. They are the ones willing to open a chat window and say, “I wonder what happens if I ask it to pretend to be a cynical editor?”

They treat the technology like Play-Doh, not a math test.

It’s Here to Stay

We cannot hide from this shift. To ignore AI now is like ignoring the internet in 1999 because “dial-up is noisy.”

You don’t need to learn Python. You don’t need to understand neural network weights. You just need to be willing to play. To make mistakes. To ask “dumb” questions.

The only dangerous approach to AI is the one where you fold your arms and wait for it to go away. It won’t. So you might as well have fun with it.