Slowing Down to Speed Up

As we head into the holiday season, I've been thinking a lot about pace and purpose.

It's easy to get caught up in the rush of it all. The endless to-do lists, the pressure to finish strong before the year wraps up, the noise that comes with this time of year. But lately, I've been learning something counterintuitive: slowing down might be the most productive thing we can do.

I'm not talking about doing less for the sake of it. I'm talking about being more intentional. More present. More purposeful in what we choose to spend our energy on and what we choose to let go.

The holidays have a way of reminding us what really matters. The people we care about. The work that lights us up. The quiet moments that actually restore us.

So as we move through these next few weeks together, I want to invite you (and myself) to pause a little more. To ask: Is this aligned with what I truly want? To choose quality over quantity. To build something meaningful, not just busy.

Because when we're clear on our purpose, we don't need to do everything. We just need to do the right things.

Here's to a more intentional finish to the year.

-Josh

When "Efficiency" Costs Us Something Precious

You've probably seen it by now. Coca-Cola's latest holiday ads, generated entirely by AI.

For decades, those holiday campaigns were something special. Human artists pouring creativity and craft into work that became part of our seasonal tradition. Fans looked forward to seeing what would come next, because each year brought something new, something human, something with soul.

Now? It's been handed over to algorithms.

And for what, exactly?

Sure, AI is faster. It's cheaper. It can churn out variations at scale. But at what cost are we trading efficiency for artistry? Speed for substance?

This isn't just about Coca-Cola. It's a pattern we're seeing accelerate across industries. Creative work that once required skill, vision, and years of honed craft is being replaced by AI at a pace that should give us all pause.

I'm not anti-technology. I use AI in my own work. But there's a difference between using it as a tool to enhance human creativity and using it as a replacement for it.

The question we should be asking isn't "Can AI do this?" It's "Should it?" And more importantly: "What do we lose when we let it?"

Because when corporations choose the path of least resistance over the path of greatest impact, we all lose something. We lose the artistry. The uniqueness. The human touch that makes work memorable, not just functional.

Our Competitive Edge? Being Beautifully, Imperfectly Human

So where does that leave us as creatives?

Here's the truth: our value isn't in competing with AI on speed or volume. We'll lose that race every time. Our value is in the one thing AI can't replicate: our humanity.

The work we've been doing for years, the craft we've spent countless hours refining, the imperfections that make our work ours. That's not a weakness in an AI world. It's our greatest strength.

Think about it. When you see a piece created over days, with visible brushstrokes, with the weight of human decision-making in every detail, you feel it. You recognize the thought process. The intentionality. The thousand tiny choices that only a human mind, shaped by experience and emotion, could make.

AI can generate. But it can't create the way we do.

It doesn't know what it's like to struggle with a concept for hours, then have a breakthrough at 2am. It doesn't understand the satisfaction of solving a creative problem through intuition and experience. It can't pour heartbreak, joy, or lived experience into work.

Our imperfections aren't flaws. They're signatures. They're proof of presence. Proof that a real person sat with this, wrestled with it, cared about it.

So lean into that. Showcase your process. Highlight the hours. Celebrate the human elements of your work: the sketches, the iterations, the happy accidents that became features. Let people see the person behind the pixels.

In a world flooding with AI-generated content, work that feels genuinely human will be the rarest, most valuable commodity we have.

Let's Build This Together

I don't have all the answers. None of us do. But I know this: we're better when we're in conversation, not isolation.

That's why I'm inviting you to join the conversation over at our new community forums at forum.joshbaileycreates.com. It's a space for creators like us to share struggles, wins, techniques, and honest thoughts about navigating this wild creative landscape. Whether you're dealing with creative blocks, exploring new tools, or just need a place where people get it, you'll find your people there.

And speaking of conversations, I've got some exciting news: I'm launching a new podcast in the coming weeks. We'll be diving deeper into the topics that matter to creators, the challenges we face, and the philosophy behind making work that matters. More details coming soon.

Plus, keep an eye on joshbaileycreates.com where I'll be adding links to our new PeerTube site and Owncast site. We're building something different here, something more intentional, more human.

Until next time, keep creating with purpose.

Josh