The Real Bottleneck Isn't Information Anymore [WRAP 210]

Hey Reader,

I don't know about you, but I've been using AI for just about everything lately. Personal goals coach, budgeting, building little apps and tools, turning my shower thoughts into email drafts.

I've probably doubled or tripled my output in the same number of hours I've always worked—probably even working a bit less.

Problem is... I'm still staring at a screen most of the time.

I'm still running prompts, tweaking commands, thinking about how to squeeze more out of the machine. It's all useful, I'm not going to pretend it isn't. But in the last couple of weeks I've had a couple of client calls that got me thinking about how I should be using AI to be MORE human... because that's what we're going to need more of.

Quick thing before we dive in: most people use AI to do more work—just like I was doing for months. But this year I'm using AI as a tool to give you back more time to do human things.

I read more. I spend time in my notebook and on the whiteboard thinking about what to build next. I hang out with my family and help with homeschooling. I'm not just throwing more hours into the machine because it's faster.

I'm teaching 10 people how I set this all up. We'll start on May 7th and go for 3 weeks. If this is something you need, reply "Claude" and I'll tell you more about what I'm planning.

💡 One Big Idea: More AI Means More Human

The first call was with a financial planner. She told me one of her clients had recently canceled their work together because he was using AI to manage his budget and track his spending. And to be fair, the AI was doing a great job with the numbers.

But the thing the AI couldn't do—and will probably never do well—is help that guy have a conversation with his wife about why they went over budget. About why they can't upgrade the car yet. About the credit card he opened that she doesn't know about.

If you type that into ChatGPT, you know what it says? Some version of, "That's understandable. I know it's a hard conversation. Here are a few talking points for when you're ready."

And then you close the app.

Same thing happened on a call with a nutrition coach who's building an AI-powered tracking app. It can tell you how much you're eating, how much you should be eating, help you log your calories and macros—all of it and just from a picture.

But here's what he said that stuck with me: "The app can track everything. It just can't ask someone why they stopped tracking on day four." Or if it does, you just get a cheery "get em tomorrow!" message.

Only a real person sits across from you—or gets on a Zoom with you—and says, "Hey, what happened last Thursday? You were doing great and then you went dark. Let's talk about it." The AI doesn't do that. The AI just resets the counter and says, "Welcome back! Let's pick up where you left off."

A coach, a therapist, a friend, an accountability partner—they won't let you close the window. They'll push you and hold you to the standard you said you wanted to be held to. That's positive peer pressure and it might be the most valuable thing in the world right now.

I realized that analysis of information is not a bottleneck anymore. Instruction on how to do things is not a bottleneck anymore. Everyone has the world's most powerful research assistant in their pocket. The bottleneck is action. Accountability. Relationships. Synthesis. Connecting the dots between what you know and what you actually do.

I'm not perfect, I've fallen into the trap too. The temptation when AI makes you faster is to just do more. More output, more projects, more optimization. But at some point you have to ask: if the machine is handling more of the work, shouldn't I be spending more time on the things only a human can do?

Things like having the hard conversation. Showing up for someone in person. Pushing a friend to follow through on the thing they said mattered to them. Being present with your kids instead of tweaking one more prompt.

Humans have to be brave enough to be human. That's the real skill now.

It's easy to close a chat window. It's a lot harder to ignore the person sitting across from you.

And the people who can master both — understanding what AI can do and leaning into what it can't — those people will always be in demand. As coaches, as creators, as leaders, as friends. Because the information is everywhere. The follow-through still requires a human.

📹 Video to Watch: How to Set Up a Thinking Book

Speaking of doing more human things—if you've ever wanted to think on paper but didn't know where to start, Rachelle in Theory made a great video on setting up a "thinking book."

She walks through five templates from reverse mind maps to rough drafts, and the whole thing is basically a love letter to working through ideas with a pen instead of a prompt. This one hit home for me.

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📰 Books to Read: The Book of Elon and Apple: The First 50 Years

Two books on my nightstand right now, and they're pulling me in completely different directions.

​The Book of Elon by Eric Jorgenson has me asking: how much more can I do? Where am I placing limits on myself? It's a bit contrarian next to everything I just said about slowing down—but that's kind of the point. The goal isn't to do less with AI. It's to leverage it so well that you get more time back without sacrificing impact. Think bigger, not just think slower.

​Apple: The First 50 Years by David Pogue is just a fun read. I'm only about 20% in, but hearing from early Apple employees, suppliers, and dealmakers about how the company evolved is fascinating. One quote that got me early: "I've worked at five companies. They were all just called Apple." That's from Myra Haggerty, who's been there since 1993 and is now VP of sensor software and prototyping.

Oh, I'm also on the seventh Dungeon Crawler Carl book. I'll finish in about 10 days—that's all 7 books in a little over 4 months—and be ready for book eight to release on May 12th. Really fun, "popcorn" reading. Probably not for everyone because of the language and occasional vulgarity, but FUN.

If that thing I mentioned at the top—learning how I actually use Claude to do more creative work in less time—sounds like something you need, just reply "Claude" and I'll send you the details.

Thanks for reading the WRAP, talk again soon!

Matt Ragland

p.s. I've been listening to the Bluey Orchestral Album with my kids this week. It's fantastic and worth listening to if you're a fan.

Up Here (The Orchestral Albu... Bluey Theme Tune (Orchestral... PREVIEW   ​