Borrowed Time (Part 3)
Now's the time to invest in yourself and your future
Borrowed Time, Parts 1 and 2, identified the approaching superintelligence threshold (30 months) and diagnosed "Tempo Shock"—the structural mismatch between machine speed and organizational drift. In Part 3, we shift from diagnosis to personal action.
One night in 2022, Julia Dixon, a side-hustling college-essay tutor, opened a draft from a high-school junior. She scribbled a few notes about structure and style and hit send. She told me, "Nothing I did was that impressive. But the money people were willing to pay was insane." A twenty-minute read-through then paid $150.
Between cultural research by day at Weber Shandwick and advising students at night, Julia straddled what she loved to do—writing, and all that comes with it.
By 2020, she had a decent stream of students "in the dozens." Two years later, ChatGPT landed. Julia wondered how nobody connected some obvious dots. AI could be a game-changer. It could shape a new category of self-directed learning. And maybe, it could create an alternative, promising career path.
That was the epiphany behind ESAI, her startup that could make self-presentation coaching as affordable as Spotify for Gen Z.
ESAI wraps AI models in what feels more like a sympathetic cousin than software.
It coaxes applicants through a series of breezy, almost TikTok-ish questions: When do you feel most like yourself? What's the topic you and your friends never shut up about? Behind the scenes, the system tags every answer with micro-labels—"innovator," "up-stander," "environmentalist"—and feeds them back as collectible badges.
The output is a life résumé merged with expression and direction.
Beyond product, Julia frames ChatGPT as her "silent co-founder." Starting up, she relentlessly interrogated it about seed rounds, no-code stacks, and pitch-deck choreography. "I didn't know a SAFE from a Series Seed," she admits. “ChatGPT walked me through each document line by line."
Half a million teenagers have used one of its free ‘essay-polishing’ or ‘self-discovery’ widgets. Nearly one in ten has upgraded to a paid monthly subscription costing up to $50. Julia’s math suggests the platform has collectively saved families $145 million in counseling fees.
The startup's next act moves beyond campus gates into internships, first jobs, and lifelong personal branding. "We're not selling AI," Julia insists. "You don't visit Vegas for great electricity; you visit for the experience it creates."
For Julia, the future shines brightly. She honed her product through Betaworks Agent Camp and made Forbes’ 30 Under 30 list. Her story’s going mainstream.
ESAI will be featured on Shark Tank this Friday.
If you’re wondering what personal agency can lead to, this is inspiration.
The Four Pillars of Agency
With AI, agency becomes essential.
Every day spent waiting for permission to use AI may dim your potential. Every month in an approval queue erodes advantages. Every certification you invest in might divert time from doing work you can point to.
The window for developing agency isn't measured in years but weeks. It’s time to invest in yourself.
Building anything—whether a side project, a startup, or a career pivot—requires contemplation and structure.
The following heuristic is a way forward.
Self-Assessment: Think Before You Act
AI is a fantastic discovery tool. Use Claude 3.5 Sonnet or ChatGPT-4o to discover things about yourself you might miss ‘working alone.’
Begin with a prompt:
"I want to create a deep skills inventory. Please ask me 15 questions about my professional background, expertise, and personal strengths. After each answer, build on your learning to help me identify my unique advantages in the AI era."
Push beyond generic responses. When the AI asks about expertise, describe specific interests you care about or understand deeply. When it inquires about skills, move past broad categories to name precise capabilities.
Add:
"Based on my responses, what three unique combinations of interests, skills, and perspective do I possess that AI systems currently lack? How might these combinations position me in an AI-transformed version of my job or career path?"
You’ll learn to think differently (LTTD) right there. Document the exchange and revisit it to see how your thinking evolves.
Sensemaking: Refine Your Assumptions
Use AIs that connect disparate domains and synthesize information across disciplines.
Work through these prompts:
"I'm developing experiments to test how AI changes [domain].
“Help me design three 'what if' scenarios using this format:
Current assumption: [A specific belief about how your field works]
Hypothesis: [How AI might challenge this assumption]
Experiment design: [A small-scale test you could run in 1-2 weeks]
Success criteria: [Measurable outcomes that would validate or invalidate the Hypothesis]"
“Help me write a brief I can present to [boss, team, partner, investor, etc.].”
The key throughout is specificity—pushing the model beyond vague to testable ideas.
LTTD —Add details on the process to your notebook. Track which experiments succeed, which fail, and unexpected insights from each.
Tool Fluency: AI as a Second Language
Start with this prompt:
"I want to develop mastery with [AI model]. Create a 30-day progression plan that starts with fundamentals and builds toward advanced techniques.”
Keep in mind, not all models are the same. With Google alone, NotebookLM (analyst), Deep Research (business partner), and Flash (general assistant) function as an AI team to amplify your thinking.
For model-specific mastery, use prompts that match each model’s strengths.
Create a personal prompt library:
"Help me create a catalog of my most effective prompts. For each one, explain what makes it work, when to use it, and how to modify it for different contexts."
LTTD—Beyond the prompt library, test and refine thinking. When a prompt yields exceptional results, analyze why. When it fails, adjust. Your understanding of how each model "thinks" becomes an advantage that static certifications can’t replicate.
Project: Build Something Real
Start with this prompt:
"I want to build [specific project] in [your domain]. Help me create a comprehensive project plan with:
A clear scope definition (what's in, what's out)
Success metrics that matter to my target audience
A breakdown of components/features prioritized by impact
A realistic 4-week timeline with specific milestones
Potential roadblocks and contingency plans."
By this point, you’ll know AI platforms aren’t search engines. They’re partners in discovery, suggestion, and refinement. There’s a lot of back-and-forth within each of these prompts. You are responsible for the quality of the final brief or plan.
LTTD—Again, document the process in detail. The visible output represents only a fraction of the value; your approach, decision points, refinements, and problem-solving are accumulated learning that compounds in future projects.
More than Credentials
For centuries, institutional credentials alone served as proxies for personal capability. AI irrevocably changes this.
More than diplomas, direct demonstration now costs less and scales faster than credential seeking.
This truth liberates those historically excluded from credential pathways due to cost, time constraints, or systemic barriers. It challenges those who invested heavily in credentials without developing the corresponding skills AI demands.
Reflect on Julia’s journey. Without an MBA or connections to Silicon Valley, she used and productized AI to build a human-centered, venture-backed startup.
For the first time, the tools to build the career, business, or creative practice you envision are widely accessible. The machine advances on its timetable, indifferent to your comfort, credentials, or past achievements.
Assess your position.
Make sense of your context.
Master your tools.
Ship your work.
The future is bright if you LTTD and exercise your agency.