P52: Your Imagination: Outsourced, Dulled, or Ready for Prime Time?

Welcome to Just One Pivot, your weekly pause to find clarity and consider your next best move. If this was sent to you, subscribe to get your own copy next time.

A little over twenty years ago, I added a concentration in Technical Communication to my Master's degree in English. It sounded interesting, a way to take a break from literature.

I had no idea what I was walking into.

First day of class, I'm sitting next to people who speak fluent Photoshop. They're casually discussing layers and masks and the entire Adobe suite like it's a second language. I can barely find the File menu.

I was intimidated.

Group projects started, and I braced myself to be the weak link. But something strange happened. I found myself standing behind these brilliant graphic designers—these tech wizards—and I'd start waving my hands.

Just like that, I became an orchestra conductor for ideas I had absolutely no ability to execute myself.

And here's what stunned me: my imagination was priceless, to my team and to the client project we were working on.

I realized that my team didn't need another person who knew Photoshop. They needed someone who could see what didn't exist yet. Who could feel it. Who could describe it in a way that made them say,

Discovering the value of my imagination reshaped how I saw my future. I went from hoping to become a university professor to launching my first company, Trivium Technical Communication, leading projects with hospitals and healthcare organizations to make medical information more accessible for patients.

Which brings me to this week.

I'm watching the Canva keynote, and two quotes warmed my heart:

Then Founder Melanie Perkins said this:

As I sat with that phrase and turned it over, I realized that we're at another inflection point, just like I was twenty years ago in that classroom.

Only this time, the tool isn't Photoshop. It's AI.

I see so much potential, but also I'm seeing two dangers.

First: my mentees' temptation to go straight to the tool. They open ChatGPT or Claude or Copilot before they've imagined anything themselves. They delegate not just the execution—which AI is brilliant at—but the ideation. The dreaming. The leap that makes their work distinctly theirs.

Second: imagination muscles going flabby from disuse. Not because of AI, but because people have stopped feeding their creativity. They don't read. Don't stretch their thinking. Don't step outside their comfortable boxes.

The temptation and the danger today is the outsourcing—and the dulling—of human imagination.

And that would be a tragedy for you, for us, and for our world.

So today's pivot challenge is about nurturing and exercising your God-given imagination. You know the drill: Pick One. Move One. Report Back. Who knows? Maybe you'll birth a new business, piece of art or writing, or idea that will transform your life.

Pick Your Pivot

Option 1: The 10-Minute Analog Sprint

Before touching any AI tool this week, spend 10 minutes with paper, whiteboard, or a blank doc on your creative challenge.

Sketch. Mind-map. Freewrite. Let your imagination run wild with no judgment, no editing, no "is this even possible?"

Then—and only then—use AI to help execute your vision.

Watch what happens when you come to the tool with clear creative direction instead of asking it to imagine for you.

Option 2: The "Worse Idea" Game

Generate 10 intentionally terrible ideas for your current project. Make them absurd, impractical, ridiculous.

This breaks the "AI-perfect" mindset and activates playfulness—which neuroscience shows triggers different creative pathways than optimization-mode.

Bonus: Terrible ideas often contain the seed of brilliant ones.

Option 3: Read a Fiction Book or Memoir

When was the last time you got lost in a story that had nothing to do with your work? Fiction stretches imagination in ways no productivity hack can.

Pick a novel or Memoir. Read it slowly. Let your mind wander into worlds someone else dreamed up or experiences different than your own. Notice how it shifts the way you see your own challenges. Here are some of my favorites

• The Book Thief 

• The Glass Castle

• A Man’s Search for Meaning

Sometimes the best way to strengthen your imagination is to let someone else's inspire you.

Your Turn

What will you move this week? Pick your option and do it this week. No perfect conditions required. Just you, your imagination, and action.

Will you share?

I'd love to know if this hit a nerve and cheer you on. Just reply or share your breakthrough using #JustOnePivot.

What did you imagine before you reached for the tool? What shifted when you led with your creativity first?

Remember: You have all the tools at your disposal to make your imagination a reality. But the vision starts within you.

Let your imagination soar!

P.S. And this Thursday: Look for your 1-Minute Pivot Spark: One question that will change how you see your next obstacle and opportunity.

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