Welcome to Just One Pivot, a focused pause to spark your next best move. This week, we're answering an urgent call: to protect and nourish your creativity. Because if you're not proactive, it's already slipping away.

Welcome back!

Are you an entrepreneur? A writer? A storyteller? A problem solver—at work or at home?

Then you’re a Creative.

And that’s the version of you I want to speak to today about a term you’ll likely be hearing more often: Cognitive Debt.

Cognitive debt refers to the long-term cost of outsourcing our thinking, problem-solving, and creativity to external tools.

Think of it like an overdrawn checking account—not with dollars, but with brainpower. In the short term, it feels like we’re saving time. But over time, the cost adds up: diminished creativity, weakened critical thinking, and slower learning.

MIT researchers recently sounded the alarm. In a study tracking brain activity with EEGs, they found that people who relied on ChatGPT for writing showed significantly less brain engagement than those who wrote independently or even used traditional search engines.

The implication? When we stop using our minds as the first line of thought, we begin to lose our edge.

But AI isn’t the only culprit. There’s a whole ecosystem of external distractions quietly siphoning our cognitive strength—from ChatGPT-like tools, to TikTok trends, to endless comfort scrolls.

And when you pair those with dopamine addiction and nonstop inner chatter, it’s no wonder our creative spark begins to flicker.

Here’s the good news: Creativity isn’t gone. It’s dulled—and it can be revived through small, intentional pivots.

Pivot Point

There are three modern enemies coming after your creativity. They spell out ARC:

• Addiction (to dopamine hits)

• Reliance (on AI as a thinking crutch)

• Chatter (the mental noise that keeps us stuck)

The Mental Shift

You don’t need a 10-day retreat or a tech-free cabin in the woods. Just a few small pivots can help you start breaking free from ARC.

Here are three practices my clients and I are implementing this summer:

🌀 Addiction → Try a dopamine fast.
Remove “danger apps” that deliver instant dopamine hits—social media, YouTube, news—from your phone. Check them once a day at a set time, for no more than 10 minutes. No doom scrolls. No rabbit holes.

Bonus: You’ll find yourself more curious, more focused, and maybe even a little bored again. That boredom is fertile ground for creativity.

🌀 Reliance → Rediscover analog thinking.
Start your brainstorming on paper before turning to AI for refinement. Use sticky notes. Carry a journal. Capture ideas during walks or while sitting at a café. Doodle. Annotate the margins of a book. Connect dots by hand.

Bonus: Your ideas will grow bolder, more original, and unmistakably you. AI is a powerful partner. It should come second, not first.

🌀 Chatter → Silence the noise to hear the spark.
Schedule a daily pause for prayer, walking, meditation—whatever brings stillness to your mental swirl. Tune into your breath and let the chatter fade. Just 15 distraction-free minutes outside can do more for your clarity than an hour of forced focus.

Bonus: When your mind gets quiet, creativity rises.

The Uncommon Move

A powerful pivot always starts with a powerful questions. Ask yourself:

Pick one. Then make one tiny shift:

• Delete one app.

• Start your next idea with pen and paper.

• Step outside for 15 minutes, focus on your breath, without your phone.

Just one pivot can invite your creative self back to the table. We need all of you!

Until next week,

P.S. If you’re new here—welcome! I’m so glad you’ve joined The Just One Pivot community. Whether you signed up recently or someone forwarded this to you, I’d love to keep you in the loop. You can subscribe to get your own copy here.