Vibeworking: The Flowstate-First Framework for Creative and Strategic Leaders

If you're someone who can't help but start with the big picture and refine (again and again) to get to the right fidelity and details, I need you to rethink your workflow... especially if you're avoiding using AI in the process out of fear of sounding generic or "artificial."

This isn't about using AI less. It's about using it at the moment it actually does its best work for the way you uniquely think and operate.

A bit of context...

I'm someone who leads with big thinking - lots of ideas, broad strokes, strategic vision, etc. - to find the right "thing" and then zeroes-in to get to the level of fidelity, details, and precision the goal actually requires.

I can't help it.

In college, any quick essay somehow became nearly a dissertation (whether I wanted it to or not) just to get started. Early in my career, a one-pager almost always started as a ten-pager at minimum - and then I'd have to painstakingly cut, refine, and arrive at the right output.

Not efficient. But it is how I work. I like having the raw material first and then carving in.

For a long time, that felt like a weakness (working hard, not smart).

Now, it finally feels like an unbelievable power.

Flow first. Details second.

Today, my workflow actually lets that first pass breathe:

• For strategy papers, I'll just free-write and lay everything out without overthinking it.
• For pre-recorded videos, I'll go off on tangents that feel useful in the moment.
• For panels or speaking prep, I'll ramble well past what the time would ever allow.
• For posts (even this one), I'll assemble tons of connected ideas and go deeper where I feel a sense of excitement.

I get to enter a flowstate.

As someone who is creative, that's important. It's where I do my best thinking. I'm not impeded by a structure or being overly fixated on minute details (yet).

Vibeworking and Vibecreating.

We talk about flow a ton in the context of vibecoding, but I'm only just starting to see it talked about for vibeworking and vibecreating, and I think it's such a super important unlock.

You get to form the contours, the beats, the heart of what you want to communicate.

Then, like a sculptor working with a block of marble, start to chisel down.

The difference now is you don't have to manually chisel iteration after iteration, pass after pass. You get to leap to something close to the final version in one go with AI.

That's where AI is genuinely extraordinary: not as the starting point, but as the thing that collapses everything that used to slow you down after you've found the idea.

That's the unlock. That's what vibeworking and vibecreating actually means in practice, and it's still such an underexplored idea.

How to Reimagine Your Creative Workflow

1. Flow First / Start Organically

Let your first iteration breathe.

Whether you're preparing for a presentation, crafting a script, or writing a post, start with your flow-state. Keep the end output in mind, but don't let it constrain you.

For me, I like to turn on voice transcription and dictate, or go into full-screen mode in Word and just go.

The key is to get all of your thoughts in there.

Don't worry about rambling, timing, details, or structure. Just cover the beats, the topics, the key areas you need for the intended output. It might feel messy at first, but that's the powerful part: you're creating the raw material (the marble) that you'll eventually sculpt.

Pro tip: Want to include a detail you don't know off-hand or want to validate? Just say it in your flow "and then include metrics from XYZ" and AI will handle it automatically on its first pass.

2. Reverse-Engineer Your Unique Style

Have your AI of choice analyze your personal writing based on previous samples - ones you feel really show off your unique voice, tone, style, and personality.

The wider the array and the higher the quality of samples, the better.

This might include work from your blog or newsletter, long-form pieces you've published, anything you feel best exemplifies your style. Ideally not the direct output of AI, but the direct output of your organic, unfiltered creativity.

3. Polish and Produce with AI

Here comes the magic.

With your AI of choice, input your (rambling) first version along with your tailored Writing Style playbook.

Include your goals, audience, and format - plus any additional details that clarify the intended output. (A great prompt to use is included in the Writing Style Prompt & Guide, above.)

Then generate.

What you get back is a version that's clear, concise, and ready for release. But most importantly, it still sounds like you: your phrasing, your cadence, your perspective intact.

AI just replaces the multiple rounds of iteration and revision you'd normally need to get to the right fidelity.

Flow → Fidelity → Finalize

Adding these three elements together - raw input, writing style, output parameters - you get back something that's shaped with intention without losing what makes it yours.

This workflow changes how highly creative and strategic folks can actually stay in flow:

• You can leave placeholders mid-thought.
• You can say "insert useful metrics here" and keep moving.
• You don't have to pre-engineer the exact structure of the output before you've even started finding the idea.

Keep your flow. Keep your voice. Keep the randomness, the tangents, the human parts that make you brilliant.

Then let AI refine, sharpen, and fill in around that without flattening it or coming-off, well, synthetic.

What Works for You?

I'm still figuring out a lot of what lets me operate strategically and creatively in ways that are genuinely empowered by AI (not just assisted by it) without feeling inauthentic or artificial in process or output.

If you're someone who can't help but start with the big picture and refines and refines to get to the right fidelity and detail, I'd love to hear what's working for you.

And if you're not using AI to reimagine how you strategically and creatively lead?
I need you to rethink your workflows.

Thank me later.

Get in Touch

Want to go beyond the guide and reimagine how your achieve your best creative and strategic work with AI?

Reach out to [email protected] to connect.

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