In almost every case — whether I look at myself or at people around me — I notice the same pattern: the more a person denies the need to make an effort, the longer their problems stay with them and the more they shape their life.
I know that sounds abstract, so let’s make it concrete.
Take this one: someone struggles to build the professional skills they need to stand out among colleagues and get a promotion or better offers. Then comes the “magic pill” — AI tools. People start writing their résumés with ChatGPT, asking it to solve work tasks, subscribing to endless influencers promising “the best prompts for any situation.” What happens next?
They’ve discovered a new tool — but instead of learning how to use it, they’re looking for ready-made recipes. Recipes written by someone who will get that promotion or offer instead of them — because that person actually learns to solve new problems. Old problems no longer require skill — ChatGPT can solve those just fine.
Another example: someone wants to avoid conflict. Great — they can vent their negative thoughts to ChatGPT, and it will rephrase everything politely, wrapping any piece of crap in a decent form. But again, two outcomes: either you end up saying something you didn’t really mean, and the conflict still happens; or your conversation partner perfectly understands what you meant — and just quietly adds a note in their head: “Didn’t even write the message themselves. Got it.”
The common thread in all these cases is the same: with the help of a magic wand, a person tries to remove ownership from themselves. But it’s precisely ownership — the willingness and ability to face and solve a situation — that makes problems go away.
Today’s “magic wand” is AI. Throughout human history, it used to be all sorts of esoteric teachings. Another form of modern magic is financial pyramids. “If only I could stop working, and the money would just come!” Sure — you can “not work” and live off passive income. But it’ll either be modest (which means you first need to earn the capital), or it’ll still be active — just look at Warren Buffett, who says he reads 500 pages a day. True, he doesn’t have to “work” — but he definitely puts in the effort.
So, to sum up.
No one in the world will solve your problem for you. You can ask for help, you can seek support — that’s fine. Some problems require medication; some need professionals. But one thing never changes: a person remains an individual. And if that individual doesn’t make an effort, then all the work of friends, colleagues, doctors, family — and even Saturn aligning perfectly with Venus — will go to waste.