Resonance – Episode 61
Verbatim Transcript
Speaker: Viktoria Levenberg
It’s time to get honest. I have a confession to make. I just wanted to be real with you. Most
of us, myself included, are still operating like it’s 1999. I don’t know if that’s, like, part of me
being a Dinosaur, or, okay, so you’re telling me you’re the productivity queen, but you’re not
talking about AI? Something’s fishy here.
Money is just a resource, just like AI is a tool, and it’s a matter of how you leverage that
resource or that tool. You all that to say is, like, yes, there is a way to use AI sustainably.
Wouldn’t it be great to just invest five minutes of your time so that you can get five hours of
it back? I mean, if that sounds too good to be true, hear me out, because I used to think
that too.
But in today’s episode, you are gonna hear about why AI is gonna play such a huge role in,
A, giving your time freedom, and also a little bit of a confession as to why it’s taken me so
long to finally speak up about this. Let’s begin.
Welcome to Resonance, the podcast for high performers and entrepreneurs who want to
do life, work, and success differently. I am your host, Viktoria Levenberg, and I’m obsessed
with efficiency, productivity, and planning in a way that harnesses your energy and your
natural rhythms, while keeping you in alignment and integrity. Because I have figured out
that lasting success is not about the hustle. It is about being in resonance. Let’s begin.
So recently, I had this conversation with my business coach and mentor that was just, like,
one of those chats you have which is, like, mind-blown emoji going absolutely crazy. Um,
and his feedback on this subject is actually what inspired this episode. And so, just a little
disclaimer that, like, this is still very hot off the presses for me to even dive into this world.
Um, at the time of this recording, I’m still kind of processing this information, and, like, by
the time this episode airs, I’ll be much clearer on what I’m doing with this newfound,
profound revelation and realisation. But in the meantime, I just wanted to be real with you.
We’re gonna go deep in the deep end, and almost, like, using this episode to also show
myself that this is truly the future of productivity and where we’re going.
So look, like, for a bit of context, right, we’re three to four years into the AI revolution, and
that, I do agree with people who say that it’s gonna be the single biggest change curve that
we, as society, need to navigate in our lifetime. And most of us, myself included, are still
operating like it’s 1999.
And so there’s no time like the present, like, to get serious. Okay, there is—I can see now
how there’s so much potential here, and yet the benefits, the facts of actual productivity
gains, are still to come because most people don’t know how to use AI. They’re afraid of it.
They have some ethical and safety concerns about it. And there’s also just an element of,
you know, you don’t know what you don’t know.
And so I’m here to start to shed a little bit of light about this, to bring my voice to the
conversation, because by the end of this episode, you will see how AI is actually a tool that
you can ethically leverage to get your time back so that you can spend your time doing what
you love with who you love, and use your precious brain power for the human-only activities
rather than the repetitive, mind you, a low-value tasks that you’re currently wasting your
time doing.
With that in mind, let’s dive in.
It’s time to get honest. I have a confession to make. Little full-disclosure moment here: I am
a bit of a Dinosaur in this space. Okay, so, like, when it comes to AI, I’m gonna definitely be
the first to put my hand up and be like, I’m a really late adopter.
Um, I still remember the very first day that Mom showed me, um, chat, and it was 2020, I
think, or so. Like, it was, like, it was just emerging. She’s like, “Oh my God, look at what it
can do, and look at these things.” I was like, “Yeah, whatever. It’s just, like, a toy you’re
playing with. It’s so useless.”
And obviously, well, fast-forward six years later, who’s laughing now?
And I was really reluctant to use it as well because I think what I saw—and unfortunately,
you know, like, I live in this bubble of coaches and content creators and entrepreneurs—
and so a lot of what I’m seeing in the AI space is people using AI to get stuff off their plate
for business content-creation purposes. And that really rubs me the wrong way, because
this podcast is not AI-generated. It is me, a real human, speaking to you. It is a real human
editing this video. Shout-out Allen, you’re the best. It is a real human producing the video. It
is a real human producing the social content from the video. It is a real human writing the
captions of the social content.
Like, I don’t know if that’s, like, part of me being a Dinosaur, or maybe that’s just, like, my
ethics and my worldview and values, but I genuinely believe that we, as human beings,
have so much value to impart, so much creativity to impart, and words, communication,
experience, feeling—that’s not something that you can outsource to a machine.
Well, you can, but you can feel it. And I don’t know if I’m just, like, a delicate little pedal
and, like, super sensitive to it, but I literally can feel right away, as, like, first sentence or,
like, first few seconds of being engaging with a piece of content, and I can tell you whether
it’s come from a human or not.
And I don’t know whether that’s just me and my sensitivity, but that’s kind of the reason
behind a lot of the reluctance I had in this, because, you know, I am going to write a handful
of books. I have so much respect for creatives and artists and people who create music
and pictures and graphic design and all these things. And then you started to see this, like,
wave of people emerging who were using AI to make a quick buck on the internet, and that
just shits me. I’m sorry.
But, like, I remember having a pretty healthy debate with someone about this, who’s like,
“Oh, I’m just using it to write a book, and I published a book. I’m an author.” Like, I’m sorry,
you’re not an author. AI is the author. Okay?
Or, like, I had another person who has a podcast that is 100% AI-generated. I’m like, “I’m
sorry, but you’re not a podcast host. Your AI is the podcast host.” Like, I don’t know. It just
feels disrespectful and, like, a spit in the face to people who are using their precious
energy, the divine intelligence that is coming through them, that they are channelling, the
wisdom, the lived experience, the words that they have to impart that are actually going to
land in someone’s heart from human to human.
And I outsource that to a machine and then put your name on it and say, “Look at what I
wrote.” Ugh. Just, ugh. Makes me puke.
Um, so yeah, like, if you’re in my world, my podcasts come from me. My newsletters are
written by me. All of my emails are written by me. All of my content, in some way, shape, or
form, comes from me.
Do we use AI to support some of our workflows? Yeah. Do I use AI to help me with my run-
on sentences and when I go on a complete Tangent so I can get back on track? Yeah. But I
don’t outsource everything to it.
And so I think, like, as you can tell, I’m really passionate about this subject. I think that’s
probably part of the reason why I’ve been so reluctant to go into this space, because I’ve
seen it as a bit of a dark, dirty, polluted, dangerous world.
And it’s not. Like, there’s—it’s, well, just like anything in life, it’s actually what you make of
it. Like, I think a lot of people have the same belief around money. It’s like, “Oh, rich people
are evil.” But it’s like, no, no, no. Like, money is just a resource, just like AI is a tool, and it’s a
matter of how you leverage that resource or that tool. You can use it to do destructive,
terrible things, of course. You can also use it ethically, in alignment, and strategically.
And so this is kind of the context as to, first of all, like, why it’s taking me so long to speak
about this, ’cause I can only imagine you’re like, “Okay, so you’re telling me you’re the
productivity queen, but you’re not talking about AI? Something’s fishy here.” That’s why.
Um, and so I recently had really, like, a mind-blowing conversation with my coach, and how
I’m doing you a disservice by not bringing this into the conversation. And so, before we even
dive into that sphere, like, before I dive into this rabbit hole, because it is a rabbit hole,
there’s some things that we need to set straight.
And so I thought it was really important to set this from the scene and kind of position the
fact that, yes, AI is gonna be instrumental in helping you get your time back, and yet there
are some things that you need to be aware of before we start to dive, dig into that space.
Because AI and productivity, while very easy to confabulate, don’t necessarily go hand in
hand. Because there is an element, and I’ve spoken about this on the podcast before, of
perceived productivity, which is busy work, which is, like, unfortunately what most people
are doing right now in their little caves coding their apps, versus actual productivity, which
is making momentum on the things that actually matter.
And there’s also a piece that we need to be that—that’s, like, super real. And it comes back
to my origin story as well around burnout and how, again, if we don’t get our ducks in a row
and we fall into this busy trap, the false productivity paradigm, it is another superhighway to
burnout. Because you think that you can do more. All of a sudden, you take on more
workload. All of a sudden, you have more responsibility, while the system still isn’t
systeming.
So I wanted to share these things with you in advance, both for your benefit and also, to be
honest, a little bit selfishly for myself, because I’m so brand new to this. As I said, I’m a
Dinosaur. I feel like I’m super behind, even though I think, again, that’s probably a limiting
belief that I have.
But it’s time. It is time. So today, we’re going to start to set some foundations, specifically
with the lens of AI and productivity.
And I'm just going to give you my hot take on some pros and cons, and you can agree with
them or you can disagree with them. Like, this isn't—again, this is Resonance, right? You
get to take what resonates and leave the rest. And then we're gonna kind of tie it into a
pretty little bow and see how that comes together into helping you get your time back,
because that's what you're here for. Like, that's probably why you're in my world, unless
you're one of my really close friends and family members, for which I say, I love you. I'm so
grateful that you're still listening to the podcast, and you are amazing.
Okay, so AI and productivity. Let's start here first, right? Like, the pros of what I see, the
potential of AI and productivity, is the fact that it can save you so much time on routine
tasks. Like, the repetitive, time-consuming admin issue just wish you could get off your
plate, and you couldn't have previously.
Unfortunately, the flip side of this coin, the con of it, is that most people have no idea where
to start. And so I've been speaking to so many of you recently, and I've kind of been getting
curious as I explore this space myself, is like, what have you used to solve this problem?
Have you tried AI? And, like, I'm keep on hearing the same thing. It's like, well, I wouldn't
even know where to start. I wouldn't know what tasks to give it, what prompts to use, what
software to use, and how to integrate it all. And, oh my God, it's just all too hard, and I'm too
scared, and I don't wanna do it. I've got no time. And so we end up back at square one.
And so that's sort of kind of what I'm tinkering with. Like, oh, if we can eliminate that con,
then that would be pretty exciting. But watch this space, because I'm still in the liminal
space of the fertile void of whatever this is gonna become.
So the next piece, which is, I think, is a huge pro, um, is faster research, right? So a lot of
people are leveraging AI instead of your standard search engines now to conduct research,
to get answers to their questions, to get a comprehensive picture, to—from restaurant
recommendations to, you know, things that you would need to cite sources for in your PhD.
I know people are writing PhDs with AI. It's kind of weird, and that also kind of scares me,
which gets me to the con. It is fact-checking and hallucination.
So, unfortunately, right now—and I'm not an AI expert. I'll be the first one to put my hand up.
I don't, like, I genuinely don't think I know much. Probably, like, 2% of what's out there in the
sphere. And I'm the productivity queen. I'm not the AI queen. Um, however, from what I
have seen in my own experience of leveraging AI to help me in my business and in my
personal life, and also what I'm hearing the experts talk about, is that the hallucination is a
real thing.
What does that mean? It means that if it doesn't know something, if it doesn't have the
answer to your question, it will hallucinate one. It will make one up. Like, oh, maybe this
thing. And which is why, like, it's still so important that you check your facts. Don't just take
what it's gonna give you and take it for granted. And especially if you're using it to make
some damn big decisions, okay?
Like, there's definitely an element here, and I found it in our workflows as well, of, like, it
losing track of where we're going, and I'm giving it the prompt, and then it does something
else. So there's still, you know, we're still in the early days, okay? So kind of hold your—hold
your horses. Hold your expectations, 'cause you don't know what you don't know. Unless
you, like me and my team, have spent days trying to perfect the perfect prompt and get the
right workflow in place so that you do get a consistent output, which is what a lot of us use,
actually, now for our podcast production process. Like, that's pretty cool.
Um, so that's actually a really great idea. Um, I'm gonna just weave that in as an example at
the end for you as well.
So this brings me to my next kind of pro and con, which is the pro of this AI revolution that
we're in is that it's gonna level a lot of skills. So people who were mediocre are now gonna
be average, and so the bar of average has risen, okay? And it's accessible, obviously, to a
lot of people. A lot of people have access to information. No one needs information
anymore, because you can just check it out in AI, right?
Um, the con to that, though, and this is what really scares me, and it especially scares me
in my industry, you know, of, like, online experts, coaches, digital creators, et cetera, is that
now there are more fake experts out there than ever before. Like, people think, oh—and this
just, like, I just got goosebumps all over my body, and I think this is maybe why it's taking
me so long to start this conversation and why I had this resistance—because people think
that they can call themselves an expert after, like, reading AI's regurgitated advice on
something, and then all of a sudden they're like, oh, now I'm a coach on this subject.
And it's like, no, you're not. I'm sorry, but where is the lived experience? Where are the
tools, the processes, the trials and tribulations that you have spent decades going through
so that you can actually accumulate this? And where's the skill set in responsibly and
ethically helping people?
Like, oh my gosh, it is scary out there. Like, I know it is weirder now more than ever of just,
like, everyone's trying to sell you something, and everyone's trying to give you the best AI
hack, and there's noise, noise, noise, noise. There's a lot of noise out there, and it's all
pretty crap, to be honest.
Um, be careful, because you are where your attention is. And so if your attention's on that
noise, then what's happening in your precious mind is it's all over the shop, okay? Which is
why, like, I actually choose not to engage in a lot of that noise. Just don't. Don't even go
down that rabbit hole.
But here's where I'm getting to with this, is that, yes, it can help you do research faster, but
there's still such a strong element of discernment. And I think now more than ever, it also
becomes more important for you to be able to tap into your inner wisdom and your inner
knowing when it comes to making decisions, when it comes to choosing the person that
you're gonna work with, when it comes to the quote-unquote expert that you—whose
advice you follow, right?
Like, whether it is me in the productivity space, or someone else in nutrition, or someone
else in exercise, whatever it is, just be discernment. And, like, I think this is why, as I
mentioned before, I've been—it's taken me so long to enter the conversation. Um, I've felt
like I didn't belong in that space, because I just associated these fake, kind of wishy-washy,
um, shiny people with no substance beneath them with it.
But I think it's time to get off my high horse. And I, I can really clearly see now how, if I bring
in my approach and my worldview and the whole ethos around sustainable productivity
and nervous system well-being and the cycles of success, nonlinear, exponential ability for
you to achieve your biggest, wildest goals, and pair that with the power and the economies
of scale that we can get with ethical, responsible use of AI, I think we're gonna become
unstoppable.
Um, now, again, watch this space. I still genuinely do not know what that's gonna look like.
By the time this episode airs, you probably will already hear me doing this little song and
dance about it. But, you know, I am the planning queen, so I've got to batch these episodes
so that I don't have to stress about them at the last minute, okay?
Stay on track, Viktoria.
I think the last kind of pro and con that I just wanted to speak on, specifically with AI and
productivity, is that one of the pros of it is that it gives you the capacity to do more. Now,
that comes with a big red warning sign and a big red flag, with—which is the con—is that
you might actually be achieving less.
And that brings me back to that earlier piece around, like, busy work. And, like, you might
feel like you're being really productive because, like, its job is to make you feel good. It's
gonna tell you, oh my God, you are so smart. I totally agree with you, and you are amazing,
and I think the way that you're looking at this is absolutely perfect. Here are the three things
that I would do differently.
Like, it's just, it's just there to stroke your ego. And it's not the only thing it's there for, but it's
just—I just want you to be wary that it, even though it might feel like you're doing more,
you're actually achieving less, because then you just stay busy in this false productivity
paradigm without actually doing the 5% high-leverage tasks and activities that are gonna
move the dial forward.
So that's sort of my take on AI and productivity. And, as I mentioned before, I just also
wanted to bring it home and speak to burnout specifically, because task expansion is a real
thing. Like, once this becomes—it already is, but, like, as it becomes more and more
normal in our day-to-day life, there is a real risk of people taking on extra workload.
Outside of your core job. Like, it is wild. I see people who are—have nothing to do with
coding—code their own stuff right now. And don't get me wrong, it's cool and it's amazing,
and I think it's—if it's aligned with your big picture and your why and your values, great. I
wanna code some things for my business in the future, but, like, I'm not gonna be
prioritising that over the actual 5% activities that I know I need to do.
Um, there's also the element of context switching and brain fry. Like, it is real. The machine
is giving you more information to process, and the speed at which it provides you those
results can be really overwhelming, that you're just, like, going from one to the other and
just, like, losing your mental capacity and your energy, which is one of your most precious
resources.
And the thing that people aren't really speaking about enough, at least in my not-so-
humble opinion, is losing the humanness. Um, you know, it's—I really, I fear. I really fear for
the people who are using AI as their coach. I fear for the people who are using AI as their
therapist. I fear for the people who are using AI as their friend, because we've seen these
movies, right?
Like, surely anyone who's, like, a 90s kid will remember. I can't remember what movie it was
exactly, but it was, like, this dude who, like, fell in love with this machine, and then he just
completely alienated himself from his real life and was just, like, hanging out with this
machine the whole time. And that's kind of what's happening, and I'm really—it scares me.
So I just kind of wanted to tell you my real, honest take at the moment. Um, you know, it's—
yes, I think there is so much potential here. I think that trying to become more productive
without using AI is gonna be a thing of the past. I also think that there is a ethics and a
responsibility, um, that it comes with that a lot of people aren't really leveraging or utilizing
fully, in my humble opinion.
Um, and so all that to say is, like, yes, there is a way to use AI sustainably in your
productivity. Yes, it can also be an absolute time drain and take you down a rabbit hole that
is very dangerous.
And so, as I said before, I'm no AI expert, okay? Like, I'm not here on top of the latest trends
and blah, blah, blah. This isn't what this is turning into. I'm still the same planning,
efficiency, organisation queen that you know and love dearly. And in the background, I'm
gonna start playing with this. I'm gonna start researching this a little bit more and doing the
hard work so that you don't have to, so that my team can also be empowered to use AI to
take busy work off their plate so they can step up into higher-leverage roles as well.
And if you're thinking, like, this is just another fad, yeah, I thought that too, right? I gave you
the story of me in 2020. That was six years ago. We're now six years in and seeing what it
can do, and seeing how slow big C corporations that are literally in the top of the top, the
very best, right, like the biggest corporate companies in the world, they are so damn slow to
adapt to this thing. It scares me.
Because when you know how to use AI to get your time back, and you have this in a super
simple, digestible—like, you don't have to do any of the hard thinking, prompt engineering,
any of that stuff—oh my God, that is gonna be your competitive edge. Because then you
can get your low-value activities off your plate. You can systematise and processes repeat
activities. You can get those million open tabs that are currently running in your brain to
decrease down to maybe just, like, a couple, and have a bit of peace and calm and joy and
contentment in your life.
So that's what we are here for. This is what we're exploring right now. This is kind of a very
on-point, a very hot topic. So I hope you enjoyed my little take on AI here and how you can
use it, yes, to get your time back to do what you love responsibly, authentically, and in
alignment.
And if you want to continue this conversation, make sure that you stick around because, as
I said, like, this realisation is super hot off the presses for me. I, at the time of the recording
of this video, I'm still unsure of exactly the direction this is gonna take, and I wanted to take
you along for the journey, which is why we're here.
So, as your little action step for this week, make sure that you check out my website, which
is viktorialevenberg.com. It's Viktoria with a K, okay? So, viktorialevenberg.com for the
latest, for what I'm up to here, because I'm sure I will have posted whatever thing emerges
out of this amazing realisation and conversation we've had here today into the space.
And now, for next week, make sure that you stick around because I'm gonna be bringing on
one of my amazing friends. He's also in the business space. His name is Joey Freddy
Larson. He is an actor, a comedian, and he also coaches leaders, entrepreneurs, and
business owners for how they can magnetise their audience towards them, how they can
make sure that their pitches, their sales, their offers convert successfully.
He is an incredible human. It is such a great conversation. I highly recommend you tune in.
And in the meantime, have a beautiful week. Bye for now.
If you're enjoying this episode, you will love my free newsletter, Flourish Weekly. It is an
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The views and opinions expressed by guests on Resonance are their own and do not
necessarily reflect the views of me, Viktoria Levenberg, LVNHealth, or anyone working
within the LVNHealth brand. This space welcomes a diversity of ideas, experiences, and
stories, and part of Resonance is learning to take what aligns and gently leaving the rest.
Also, while I am a National Board-Certified Health and Wellness Coach and deeply
passionate about well-being, this podcast is intended for educational and inspirational
purposes only. Resonance does not substitute for personalised medical, psychological, or
therapeutic advice. Always seek guidance from qualified professionals for any physical,
emotional, or mental health concerns.
