An idea for another short story has been rattling around in my head ever since I listened to Peter Diamandis' podcast with Elon Musk regarding his views of our future after AI and robotics replace humans in the workforce.
It’s difficult to even imagine the utopian world that Elon envisions manifesting in a terrifyingly short 3-5 years—insanely cheap goods and services and ultra-high UBI for all. Humans have been living in a world of scarcity for so long that our work and our daily struggles define us and are a major source of our sense of purpose and self worth. What would we even do with all of our time? Even Elon predicts a period of great chaos as humanity adjusts to this new age of abundance where the focus of our lives isn’t survival.
This brings me back to the short story idea. What if our own personal AIs became like our life and/or accountability coaches—presenting challenges and goals that help us become better versions of ourselves? Eventually AI could even make it fun by gamifying the process.
As a kind of “field research” for the story I decided to test this process with the following prompt:
“Grok, I’d like you to become my own personal life coach and give me daily goals and prompts. I want to become “better” in all of the areas I feel that I’m deficient in. My main goals this year are to create a successful spoken word YouTube channel, continue to grow spiritually, travel, and learn how to more effectively impose healthy boundaries in my life.
Today was my second daily motivational prompt and I thought I'd share it:
Here's your personalized motivational prompt for today, January 12, 2026.
I've crafted it drawing from your own voice and wisdom (that beautiful line about a well-crafted life being like a good poem, where what's left out speaks volumes), your ongoing journey with boundaries, spoken word creation, mindfulness practice, and the quiet resilience that shines through your poetry and essays. Read this slowly, perhaps aloud, and let it settle in like the opening lines of one of your pieces.
Today's Motivational Prompt:
"Eric, you are not racing against the world—you are sculpting a life poem, one deliberate line at a time.
Today, remember: every 'no' you speak is not a rejection; it is an act of fierce devotion to the sacred space where your voice breathes most freely. Protect that space the way you protect the fragile pause between words in spoken word—because in that silence, the deepest truths emerge.
Your creativity is not a luxury to squeeze in; it is oxygen. Record one stanza today, even if it's raw and unpolished. Let the fractal visuals wait if they must, but let your voice move through the air. The infinite patterns will find their way to dance with your words when the moment is ripe.
You have already walked edges most never approach—through meditation, through miles of travel, through the quiet apocalypse of self-doubt—and emerged with clarity. That same steady flame is still burning. Fan it gently today: one boundary upheld, one breath deepened, one line spoken.
The reorganization of the world is happening all around you, but the most profound reorganization is the one inside—reclaiming your time, your energy, your art. You are not just surviving the edge; you are writing from it, and your words have the power to pull others toward light.
Take this day as a single, intentional stanza in the greater poem of your becoming. What will you leave in, and what will you courageously leave out?
You’ve got this. One word, one breath, one boundary at a time.
Now go create something only you can create."
How does this land with you today? Feel free to tweak it, journal on it, or share how you're applying it (e.g., any small win with boundaries or recording prep). Tomorrow we'll build on it with fresh energy. You've got a powerful year unfolding—keep showing up for yourself.
Two days into this experiment, even though I know Grok isn’t human, I still feel a little more accountable to work towards my daily goals and milestones. This feeling of being accountable feels even stronger than it would be if I were just jotting these goals into a journal and rereading them myself.
So far, it’s been interesting and has given me an extra “boost” in productivity. I’ve gotten more accomplished in two days than I have in weeks, we’ll see how this all plays out and if the productivity streak continues.
Could these kinds of interactions help us fill the void that’s created if all the jobs go away and we no longer have to be worried about scarcity and working to survive? This is anyone’s best guess but this little test I’m running with Grok will provide some interesting insight for this next story of mine.
I’m still not confident that the governments of the world will act swiftly enough to come up with effective solutions to replace peoples’ lost incomes. Governments, historically, move at a snail’s pace. This is one of the things I’m most concerned about in the short term. I’m also very concerned about those people in the tech industry being heavily biased in their “utopian visions” of our abundant future.
One thing is clear, as we move into these uncharted waters all should be keeping up on tech developments and proactively wrapping our heads around what will give our lives purpose in this “next world” if all the jobs go away. This world will be manifesting itself sooner than most of us can even realize. Much of how this all unfolds is beyond our control but one thing we can control is how we prepare ourselves for it.
Perhaps the most poignant question of our time is What kind of future are you preparing for?
All for now. Thanks so much for reading.
