I cannot start a document without AI

What is going on

The first paragraph is the hardest part of any report, proposal or plan. An AI makes that hard part disappear, so asking for a first draft feels like common sense. The catch is that the first draft is where you decide what you think. If the AI writes it, you spend the rest of the job editing somebody else's view of your topic.

This is common, and it says nothing bad about you. A blank page was hard before AI too.

What to do this week

1. Answer three questions on paper

   Who will read this? What is the one thing they should know or decide at the end? What three things must it cover? Short answers. No full sentences needed.

2. Write ten bad lines

   Set a timer for ten minutes, AI closed. Write the opening as if you were explaining it to a colleague in the corridor. Do not fix anything.

3. Bring the AI in as a reader

   Paste your lines and ask: "What is missing, and what would a reader ask next? Do not rewrite it." Add what is useful in your own words.

4. If you freeze, ask to be interviewed

   "Ask me five questions about what I want to say, one at a time." Your answers become the first draft, in your voice.

What not to do

• Do not ask for "a first draft to edit". Editing feels like writing, and it is not the same work.
• Do not wait until you feel ready. Ten bad lines is the whole target.
• Do not make it a rule for every document. Meeting notes and routine forms can stay with the AI.

The honest limit

Your first few starts will be worse than what the AI would have written. A small preprint from the MIT Media Lab (2025, 54 people, not peer reviewed) points the same way as this routine: people who wrote on their own first stayed more engaged when they used ChatGPT afterwards. Only 18 people took part in that last session, so treat it as a hint, not proof.

Questions