Leveraging AI Without Losing Your Soul

Let’s address the elephant in the room: AI is changing how we create content, including emails. But most people get the relationship all wrong.

AI isn’t here to replace you. It’s not about having robots write your emails while you kick back on the beach. That approach leads to soulless, generic content that your audience will smell from a mile away.

The right approach? Treat AI as your creative thinking partner, not your replacement.

I resisted AI tools for months, convinced they would make my writing sound generic. Then I tried an experiment: instead of asking AI to write my emails, I used it to help me think through my ideas, find interesting angles, and overcome creative blocks.

The result? I started writing better emails, faster—and they still sounded exactly like me.

The key difference is in how you prompt the AI. Most people ask, “Write me an email about X.” That’s asking to be replaced. Instead, try prompts like:

“Help me explore different angles on this topic that I might be missing.”

“What questions might my audience have about this that I haven’t addressed?”

“Help me find a surprising opening for an email about this concept.”

These prompts enhance your thinking rather than replacing it. They help you overcome resistance without sacrificing the unique perspective that makes your emails worth reading.

MakerFlow’s Unique Approach: Flow Architect differs from generic AI tools by maintaining your specific voice and values in every interaction. It’s trained on your World Bible, so its suggestions align with your perspective instead of defaulting to generic marketing speak.

The Resistance-Busting Workflow

We’ve all been there. Staring at a blank screen, cursor blinking accusingly as the minutes tick by. You know you need to send an email, but nothing comes.

This resistance isn’t just wasting your time—it’s killing your results. Emails written from a place of creative struggle rarely inspire action.

Here’s a resistance-busting workflow using AI that has literally saved me hundreds of hours:

1. Capture the seed: Instead of trying to write a complete email, just capture one thought or observation that feels interesting—even if it’s incomplete.
2. Expand with AI: Use a prompt like: “Help me explore why this observation might be valuable for my audience. What aspects am I not seeing?”
3. Find the angle: Review the AI suggestions and identify which perspective genuinely energizes you. Discard the rest.
4. Develop authentically: Use that energizing angle as your starting point for writing, letting your natural voice and enthusiasm flow.

For example, I recently had a vague observation about how people self-sabotage with productivity systems. Instead of forcing a complete thought, I used AI to explore different angles. One perspective about “permission to abandon systems” sparked genuine excitement. That became the seed for one of my most successful emails ever.

The magic happens because you’re not asking AI to write your email—you’re using it to get past the specific point where you’re stuck so your own creativity can flow again.

MakerFlow Before/After: Our users report going from staring at blank screens for hours to generating authentic emails in minutes using the AI prompt templates. One creator went from writing one newsletter per month to creating a weekly series without any additional time investment.

Energy Preservation Strategies

Not all parts of email creation require equal amounts of creative energy. Strategic use of AI helps you conserve your creative resources for the parts that matter most.

Here’s how to build an energy preservation strategy:

High Creative Value (Do Yourself):

• Core insights and perspectives
• Personal stories and experiences
• Unique takes on industry trends
• Emotional elements and vulnerable sharing

Medium Creative Value (AI Collaboration):

• Expanding on your initial ideas
• Finding supporting examples
• Structuring your argument logically
• Crafting analogies and metaphors

Low Creative Value (AI Assistance):

• Proofreading and grammar checks
• Formatting for readability
• Generating multiple subject line options
• Creating standard closing sections

The goal isn’t to use AI for everything—it’s to use it strategically for the elements that typically drain your energy, freeing you to focus on the parts where your unique perspective creates the most value.

To make this work, you need AI that understands your voice. Create custom instructions that capture your writing style, common phrases, and content boundaries. Build a swipe file of your best emails that you can reference when training the AI to understand your approach.

Why MakerFlow? Unlike generic AI tools, MakerFlow preserves your voice and perspective throughout the creation process. Here’s a side-by-side comparison:

Generic AI	MakerFlow
“Hi there! I hope this email finds you well…”	“Look, I’m not gonna waste your time with fake pleasantries…”
Generic industry advice anyone could give	Insights tied directly to your core principles
Risk of sounding like everyone else	Consistently reinforces your unique perspective
Requires constant supervision	Learns your voice and values over time

The Authenticity Checkpoint System

Using AI without losing your authenticity requires a checkpoint system. Otherwise, you risk slowly drifting into generic territory without even realizing it.

Here’s the four-part authenticity checkpoint I use for every AI-assisted email:

1. The Reaction Test: If someone who knows you read this, would they say “That sounds just like you” or “Who wrote this?”
2. The Value Test: Does this email contain at least one insight that comes specifically from your experience or perspective?
3. The Energy Test: Does reading this email energize you? If it doesn’t excite you, it won’t excite your audience.
4. The Bullshit Test: Would you actually say this to someone in conversation, or does it sound like marketing speak?

Watch for these red flags that your AI-generated content has gone off track:

• Generic openings that could apply to anyone
• Vague advice without specific examples
• Excessive formality or marketing jargon
• Lack of your typical phrases or speech patterns
• Missing your characteristic viewpoint on the topic

When you spot these issues, don’t just make minor edits. Instead, identify the specific sections that feel inauthentic and rewrite them entirely in your voice. Over time, this training process will help your AI partner better understand your authentic expression.

MakerFlow Guarantee: The Voice guidelines feature ensures your emails always sound authentically like you, even when AI-assisted. MakerFlow stores your voice patterns, common phrases, and content boundaries, creating a personalized AI assistant that enhances rather than replaces your natural communication style.