When You Can’t Create Anymore

After last week's YouTube video about training AI to write like me, your responses were eye-opening.

Some of you were fascinated, others concerned, and many asked important questions about authenticity and transparency.

It became clear that we need an official AI-Generated Content Policy for Forte Labs.

This isn't just about us. I believe every company will need one of these in the near future.

So I've created our first version, covering everything from books to social media posts. It's designed to be transparent about when and how we use AI across all our content.

Specifically, all our blog posts now have the author listed directly under the title, with "AI-assisted" in parentheses for those in which AI was used significantly. Here's an example:

When we share such articles here in the newsletter, it will say whether it was AI-assisted as well, such as in the example below.

Now, let's dive into this week's newsletter...

If You Can’t Create Anymore - Watch This

"I looked back at my photos from last year and realized something devastating—I wasn't actually present in any of them."

In this conversation with creative embodiment coach Kelly Wilde Miller, we uncover why so many of us are burning out from trying to be productive 365 days a year.

Kelly emphasized that creativity has seasons, just like nature. When you try to live in constant "summer mode"—always producing, always visible, always ON—you're fighting against your body's natural rhythms.

What you'll discover:

Why creative blocks aren't failures—they're seasons
The 4 phases every creative project naturally goes through
How to track your energy patterns to work WITH your natural rhythm
Why "launch and hide" happens (and how to break the pattern)
The one question that will transform your annual review

Watch on YouTube

A Brief History of Annual Reviews

By Tiago Forte (AI-assisted)

When I started researching my next book, I assumed annual reviews were a modern invention—maybe from the 1970s self-help movement.

I couldn't have been more wrong.

This practice traces back 4,000 years to ancient Babylon, with nearly every culture developing some version of it.

From Roman two-faced gods to Japanese waterfall purification, I discovered seven universal patterns that explain why this "productivity hack" has endured for millennia.

What history teaches us about change might surprise you.

Read on the blog

Big Prompt or Short: Which Should You Choose?

You've probably seen massive prompts online—complex, detailed instructions that look intimidating to create yourself.

You've also likely experienced the opposite: casual back-and-forth conversations with short prompts that feel generic and unhelpful.

I found a useful lens on this distinction in Nate's newsletter. Both approaches work, but only in the right context!

Use long, detailed prompts when you're in production mode. This means you already know what good output looks like, have examples to share, and understand your desired format. You're not exploring, you're executing.

Use short prompts when you're in discovery mode. You're brainstorming, learning something new, or don't yet know the shape of what you need. Short prompts invite exploration and unexpected directions.

Here's the game-changer: short prompts can work brilliantly for production tasks too, if you've already set up a master prompt in your AI's user preferences or project knowledge. This gives the AI your context and instructions upfront, making every short prompt much more effective.

Action step: Before your next AI conversation, ask yourself: "Am I in production mode or discovery mode?"

Then choose your prompt length accordingly and reply to tell me what you noticed about the difference in results.

Make Time for Big Ideas

I’ve always loved learning from books. But after having kids, finding uninterrupted hours to read just isn’t realistic anymore.

That’s why I turn to Shortform — it delivers thoughtful, in-depth summaries of the best nonfiction books, so you can absorb big ideas without missing the substance.

You’ll find titles like Feel Good Productivity by Ali Abdaal and Four Thousand Weeks by Oliver Burkeman, plus an ever-growing library spanning topics like career, psychology, leadership, and creativity.

Why I recommend Shortform: