What My 4am AI Experiment Taught Me About Bringing Vision to Life

A Practical Framework for Using AI to Deepen Your Work

This morning at 4am, I found myself up early, buzzing with inspiration (and yes, maybe a bit too much coffee). Several Sacred Growth Club members have been asking for support with finding clarity in their new businesses, particularly around vision work.

I've been excited about sharing our vision process with them - everything from our 25-year vision framework down to our daily review templates. But before we release these tools more broadly, I wanted to dig deeper into something that's been nagging at me.

You see, Carolina and I have always felt a strong connection between our core beliefs about Sacred Business and the practical vision and planning tools we use. But if I'm honest, it's mostly lived as an intuitive understanding between us, a feeling we've never fully articulated in a grounded way.

So I found myself uploading Carolina's and my vision documents, along with our suite of templates - the ones we've developed and refined through years of private client work. Everything from quarterly planning to daily reviews. I added these into Google's Notebook LM (their new AI tool) alongside our manifesto, curious to see what patterns it might reveal about how our practical tools align with our deeper principles.

Then I let the machine do it’s thing.

The AI didn't just list themes – it reflected back connections between our principles and practices that we'd felt intuitively but never explicitly mapped out. Ideas about how our daily practices reinforce our core beliefs about business being a sacred act of co-creation.

It was like having a conversation with a version of myself that could see the invisible threads connecting everything we teach.

Fascinating.

Clarifying.

Energizing.

This moment actively demonstrated something I've been learning over the past two years of working with AI: The magic isn't in what the technology can do – it's in how we choose to work with it.

As I continue exploring this landscape through various teachers and tools, I'm zeroing in on a set of rules that work. Not just for getting things done, but for using AI in a way that actually deepens our work rather than diminishing it.

Here are the 10 rules I've found essential:

1. Get Solid Guidance. I've been fortunate here. Through my previous company, Empire Engineering, my business partner introduced me to

   Samuel Woods
   , who has some very interesting perspectives on the future of AI. His insights completely transformed how I saw AI's potential through a workshop he offered. Lately, I've also been appreciating
   Michael Simmons 🪵🔥 ⛺
   for his thoughtful exploration of AI's practical applications.

2. Start With What is in Front of You. You know that feeling of opening a new tool and being overwhelmed by all the possibilities? For many people, the best starting point is simply reviewing their work - looking for missed connections, patterns, or gaps in their thinking. This morning, it began with wanting to make explicit connections between our principles and practices.

3. Choose User-Friendly Tools. Right now, I'm oscillating between experimenting with Notebook LM and Claude. Despite ChatGPT's mainstream popularity, it's actually my least favorite option at this particular moment in time. The key is finding tools that match your thinking style and workflow.

4. Keep It Personal. Here's what I find interesting: AI tools like Notebook LM and Claude let you work with your own content exclusively, if you choose to do so. I've created a specific project in Claude that contains all my newsletter issues, making it easy to find connections between previous work and new ideas I'm developing. It's like having someone on your team who's studied only your work, helping you see patterns you might have missed.

5. Enhance What You Already Have. Instead of starting from scratch, I've found magic in using AI to explore and expand existing work. Like this morning, discovering new ways to articulate the connections between our core beliefs and daily practices. It's like having a business partner who helps you see your own work with fresh eyes (Don’t worry,

   Carolina Wilke
   , you are still the best!).

6. Make It Your Thought Partner. That 4am conversation I mentioned? That's what happens when AI becomes your thought partner. It's not about generating random content – it's about having a mirror that reflects back the deeper patterns in your work.

7. Stay True to Your Voice. I find myself often using AI as a persuasive writing coach to strengthen specific aspects of my communication. For me, that means improving my storytelling abilities to better demonstrate learning objectives with readers. I’ve brought a ton of my notes in from working with Billy Broas and his Five Lightbulbs Framework into AI. The AI helps me spot opportunities for more engaging narratives while keeping my authentic voice intact. Here’s an article that describes one of the 5LB approaches (The cycles exercise).

8. Build Your Personal AI. This is key: Keep your own words and work segregated from the thoughts and ideas of others. When you feed the AI only your content, you can interact purely with your own ideas, allowing for deeper exploration and development of your unique perspective.

9. Use It for Growth, Not Replacement. In my opinion, the best use of AI isn't to handle tasks for us – it's to supplement our thinking and creativity. Think of it as an amplifier for your own insights and capabilities, freeing up mental space for deeper connection and innovation.

10. Embrace the Future. AI isn't going away. But neither is the need for human wisdom, creativity, and connection. The question isn't whether to use it, but how to use it in a way that enhances rather than diminishes what makes your work meaningful.

Here's the thing about that 4am experiment: It reminded me that the best tools don't replace our thinking – they expand it. They don't do our work for us – they help us see our work more clearly.

Like that old story about the master craftsman and their tools: The tools don't make the masterpiece. But in the right hands, with the right approach, they can help bring what's inside us into clearer focus.

Want to get clearer on your own vision and how it connects to your daily practices? Take our Harmony Map Assessment. It's a practical tool we've created to help you identify areas where you might be stuck and spot opportunities for growth.

Remember: The key isn't the technology itself. It's how we use it to bring more of ourselves to our work, not less.

With love,

Phil

P.S. If you're interested in exploring our vision and planning process, check out Sacred Growth Club. We'll be sharing our complete suite of tools and templates before the end of the year.