In business, most people often mistake “motion” for progress. Those in motion say they’re “woo busy” compared to those who produce the biggest results- say they’re “productive.” There is a massive difference between mere activity and praxis—the process by which a theory or skill is enacted, practiced, or realized.

The uncomfortable truth is that many "busy" professionals are simply high-achieving experts at avoidance. They check the boxes, clear the inbox, and "hustle" through a mountain of tasks to sedate the ego. They do everything except the big “One Thing”-the high-stakes move that actually causes growth.

Why the Grind Persists

If you feel caught in this cycle, it isn't because you lack discipline. This problem persists because the most impactful tasks are usually the most uncomfortable. They trigger a mind-made story about what might go wrong, creating an emotional friction that we’d rather "grind" away from than confront.

Lately, I see leaders using AI as the ultimate Band-Aid for this hustle. They use it to move faster, automate more, and "check boxes" with greater velocity. But speed isn't the goal. Precision and alignment are. When you use AI only to increase your output, you aren't solving the problem; you are just accelerating your journey in the wrong direction. These individuals have simply optimized a thing that shouldn’t even exist in the first place.

When we fear taking action on a task, project or important item, we easily find a clearer path to a less important and non-productive “busy” work so we can feel better by checking a box for a task completed. It’s a cheap dopamine hit. 

The Illusion of Communication

Communication—whether between humans or between a leader and an AI—is often just an illusion. We use words and assume the other party has the same definition, the same relationship to that word, and the same point of reference. They usually don’t. Have you ever inspected this truth?

When you give AI a shallow prompt to "speed things up," you are often just automating your own lack of clarity. You are asking a machine to help you stay busy so you don't have to stay focused on the scary  “one-thing”. A true practitioner doesn't use AI to simply get "done" faster. They use it as a Thinking Partner to gain the clarity required to take the one action, which only they can take.

From Automation to Authentic Input

To break the cycle of "productive procrastination," you must move from automation to authentic input. This means entering a partnership where the AI understands your true intention. This requires three shifts in how you operate:

  1. Define the Point of Reference: Stop assuming the AI knows what "success" or "quality" means to you. Explicitly state your definitions.
  2. Ask for Clarity, Not Just Output: Instead of telling AI to "write this," ask it: "Based on my goal, what am I missing? What must I know or be aware of that I haven’t asked for?”"
  3. Be Authentically Honest: If you don’t know what is the best question to ask, simply tell AI to help you ask the best question from your thoughts around what you think the best question is. Did you know you can hit the microphone icon and just talk with it? This is a game changer for slow typers like me who ask specific and long questions with layers of various points of reference, establishing boundaries to help pain the picture of the desired output. 

The Praxis Approach: Calibration Prompts

If you want to stop the grind and start leading, stop using AI to "do" and start using it to understand. Here is how you can use AI to calibrate your thinking and ensure you are tackling the right challenges.

1. The Calibration Prompt

Before you start a project, ensure your definitions match. This prevents the "illusion of communication" from derailing your results.

"I am working on [The One Big Thing]. My definition of a 'successful outcome' for this is [Specific Result]. Before we begin, tell me how you define [Key Term] in this context so I can ensure our points of reference are aligned."

2. The Avoidance Auditor

Use this when you feel yourself "hustling" on small things to avoid a big one. It helps strip the emotion away from the task and reveals the underlying logic.

"I have a list of 10 tasks, but I know [Task X] is the most important for growth. I am currently focusing on the others. Act as my performance strategist. Analyze why [Task X] is the 'lever' that makes the others irrelevant, and help me break down the very first logical step to eliminate the mental friction I’m feeling."

3. The "Illusion" Breaker

Use this to ensure your communication to a client or team is actually clear, rather than just "finished."

"Here is a message I intend to send regarding [Topic]. Don’t rewrite it. Instead, list three different ways a skeptical reader might interpret the word '[Key Word]' based on their own potential biases. Help me clarify my point of reference." Or, let it know the personality style of the recipient – “the person receiving this message is has a personality style of an analyst.”

The Human Element: Judgment Over Velocity

AI is not a shortcut; it is a mirror. If your inputs are shallow, your results will be shallow. If you use it to avoid the uncomfortable work of leadership, you’ll just become a more "efficient" version of a person who is stuck.
The Praxis of Transformation is proven by results. If you want better results, stop using AI to check boxes. Start using it to find the clarity you need to do the one thing you’ve been avoiding. Procrastination is a fancy word for “avoidance” or “deflection.” Basically, when you procrastinate, you’re saying “I can’t cope with the difficult emotions I’m experiencing because my mind is making up a story about what bad things are going to happen if I move forward productively.” Those thoughts of the mind are simply “False Evidence Appearing Real” or FEAR for a shorter version. The mind had a scary or insecure thought, the body responds in like-kind with hormones of the same vibration. Now we are in a scared or insecure state of being and drive unconscious behaviors-in this case; avoidance of the important tasks. This is where the growth is. That is where the leadership begins. Those are the moments you get to practice your awareness and intentionally choose a new behavior that would be aligned with what your vision of success would be.

The AI can help you organize the map, but you are the only one who can walk the path.

If you'd like to explore how using AI as a thinking partner could work for you, feel free to ask my AI twin JustinThorstad.ai anything for 7 days.
Check out this blog and other on my personal website here.