In today’s world, everyone is talking about Artificial Intelligence. It’s in our headlines, our companies, our classrooms, and our conversations. As a parent, I’ve wracked my brain thinking about how to best prepare my kids for a future that looks and feels so wildly different from what I’ve ever known. But there’s another form of intelligence that’s been shaping our lives long before any algorithm ever did. One that operates silently, automatically, and almost entirely beneath our awareness. I call it Human AI. Human Automation Intelligence.
Automation Intelligence is the system inside every human being that learns through repetition. It watches what we do, what we think, and how we feel, and then begins to automate it. It’s amoral, not good or bad; it’s just efficient. Its only goal is to conserve energy by turning practiced behaviors into automatic programs. The more often we repeat a thought, state, or action, the deeper it writes itself into our code. Eventually, it drops below consciousness, out of our awareness, and becomes automatic.
This is both a blessing and a curse. Because Automation Intelligence doesn’t care whether what it installs is helpful or harmful. It doesn’t ask if the belief you keep repeating is true. It doesn’t pause to wonder if your coping mechanisms are actually killing your peace. It simply installs. One pattern at a time. One loop after another. It’s unbelievably sophisticated and astonishingly stupid.
It is super important that as leaders, entrepreneurs, partners, and parents we do our best to master Artificial Intelligence. But more importantly, we should be seeking to master our own Automation Intelligence. The real work of creating a life of freedom is learning to become the conscious programmer of your own system. A master trainer of what I call your Spiritual BMI: beliefs, memories, and imagination. To delete what’s destructive and intentionally install what brings out the best in each of us.
“Who wrote the software running in your head? Are you sure you actually want it there?” —Elon Musk
One simple approach to begin unearthing your unconscious beliefs and what your Human AI has automated is using your own stories. Just like how we can find each other in the dark by following the sound of each other’s voice, you can do the same with your beliefs. Stories are the voices of your beliefs. Here’s an easy-to-follow framework to find them.
“The story I’m telling myself is (fill in the blank)…”
“For that story to be true, I must believe (fill in the blank)…”
Right there you have brought a belief into your conscious awareness. You now have a different level of choice about whether that belief is serving you. I know this seems overly simplistic, but like all matters of the heart and head, the simplest path is usually the most effective.
Keep practicing this. Journal on what you find. Study yourself and your unconscious.
“Until you make the unconscious conscious, it will direct your life and you will call it fate.” —Carl Jung
If you can do that, your life stops being a series of unconscious reactions and becomes a consciously designed operating system. One that can take you anywhere you choose. Even to freedom.
live freed,
Jordan
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