Writing, AI, and Growing Trees with Joseph Robertson

Keeping Open Loops

What does that mean, you ask? Well, I feel like I’m keeping my own loop open about what keeping open loops even means! Lol.

Okay, okay, here’s what I think it means—or rather, here’s an example:

Blake and I are watching Twin Peaks. We finished seasons one and two,¹ watched the follow-up movie² (super creepy & disturbing!) and now are on the season made in 2017.³

My goodness, this show is something else!

In the past, I’d often look up explanations for other shows, video games, or movies to help me understand their deeper meaning. But with Twin Peaks, Blake and I made a pact—we refuse to look anything up. Instead, we’re figuring it out together through our own conversations, forming theories, and letting the meaning unfold naturally. We might not fully grasp it until we finish the final season, and that’s okay.

We are keeping the loop open—allowing space for discovery instead of rushing to find an answer.

Advertisement: I happen to be an Amazon affiliate, and if you’re interested in checking out Twin Peaks, you can use my link for Twin Peaks to support a small business. No pressure, just putting it out there!

I believe this is exactly what

Joseph Robertson

was talking about on the show—he’s constantly thinking about ideas, writing things, and leaving space for new insights before closing the loop.

At about 58 minutes in, Joseph described the concept a bit:

Open loops are fascinating and people can argue about whatever an open loop actually means. But the idea is that a lot of times we hear a new concept and we immediately want to make sense of it. We're like, oh, what does that mean? And let me go research. And let me fit this into my life. And this is really interesting. And let me just, I have to know. I just have to know because we're kind of built that way. Again, that's an inclination towards certainty and away from uncertainty because not knowing is uncertain. But it's in the uncertainty that the stuff emerges.

Reading that again: It’s in the uncertainty that the stuff emerges. That statement in itself deserves an open loop! It’s okay to be uncertain about things. Sometimes within the uncertainty, we find that there is room for growth!

This applies to AI too. If we have an idea and immediately ask AI to write it for us, we may miss out on the deeper insights that would have come through our own process of thinking and writing. Joseph talked about balanced AI writing—starting with an idea, writing naturally, and only using AI when we get stuck, to riff off ideas rather than letting it write for us (about 26 minutes in). Otherwise, if AI prematurely closes the loop we may lose the creative exploration.

We also discussed applying this concept to blogging and book writing at around 51 minutes in. Keeping loops open gives space for creativity, discovery, and deeper insights—whether in writing, business, or life itself. I apparently used this concept when writing my first short story! Interestingly, I found myself applying a similar mindset to my podcasting journey as well.

Podcasting Lessons Learned

After this meeting, I decided to stop using Microsoft Teams for podcast recordings. Microsoft can be incredibly complicated—sometimes I feel like navigating their settings is equivalent to learning to write code!

Now, I may seem tech-savvy (at least to some), but really, I consider myself only mildly to moderately techy. And frankly, I don’t have the time or interest to master overly complicated software.

When we originally recorded this episode, everything looked fine—I was centered (literally and figuratively), and Joseph was centered. But somehow, after processing, MS Teams merged the two videos, pushing both of us off-center.

I consulted my GPT, did some research, and—after much effort and Teams rabbit trails—realized I could not fix it after the video was finalized. That was my breaking point. I want tools that work with me, not against me. Continue reading to see how I ran with it.

Tip 1: Apply Self-Compassion

So I did the best I could. I zoomed in a bit, and when we were each talking, I tried to separate the video to focus on the speaker. But it’s not perfect. At first, I felt a little down about that. I respect Joseph and his work a whole lot, and I wanted the video and my editing to be great! When it wasn’t, I had to work through those stuck feelings.

I think it helped when I listened to him say he likes “a weird opening and an awkward ending.” That statement alone helped me add some self-compassion and say, “Self, it’s okay, just do your best with what you got.”

He also mentioned he doesn’t necessarily like “formal” podcasts—so cool!

Tip 2: Add Some Flair & Memes

With that mindset, I decided to make the video silly and fun where I could. It was a super engaging conversation, and listening to it again helped me learn even more!

Joseph is a really interesting person with a lot of neat insights into navigating life, business, and writing.

So I added some memes, and I’ll say my GPT helped with generating the little elf-looking guys. I took some Canva graphics, combined them with AI-generated images, created a little scene, and even used the “draw” tool to refine it further. So my advice? If you notice mistakes in your podcast episode, try to fix them—but also consider adding some flair, visuals, and maybe even additional sound effects.

That gives me an idea for the next video.

For more podcasting tips, check out this post!⁴

---

Some Important Highlights

📌 00:00 - Awkward Beginnings
📌 02:02 - A Battle of Wits,⁵ A Mistake of Pretension⁶ & Talking to Your Inner Self
📌 08:00 - Joseph Reads “A Battle of Wits” (Love this!!)
📌 12:17 - Vulnerability in Writing & Overcoming Doubt
📌 13:23 - Embracing Uncertainty & Virginia Satir’s Wisdom
📌 16:38 - Official Intro, lol
📌 21:41 - Reverse Engineering Success with R3
📌 23:02 - Magic the Gathering, D&D & Nerding Out! 🎲
📌 26:00 - AI & Writing: How to Use It Without Losing Your Voice
📌 26:50 - How Dungeons & Dragons Changed His Writing Process
📌 32:12 - The “Raise the Floor” Mindset for Business & Writing
📌 36ish - How AI Helps but Doesn’t Replace Creativity
📌 43:37 - Joseph’s Career Journey & The Guardian Academy⁷ Origin Story
📌 51:48 - Writing tips—and how they relate to the story of our lives!
📌 59:57 - Growing Trees⁸ Origin Story

---

Neurodivergent Nuggets of Wisdom

Rabbit trails and open loops can be difficult to manage for neurodivergent minds like mine. At times, I tend to keep loops open too much and go down endless rabbit holes.

For me, I need guidance with my open loops, and that means setting boundaries with my time and ideas. I am the kind of person who may have ten ideas at once, and they all sound amazing to me. To help with this, I now keep a wild ideas file where I store them. If I ever need inspiration, I can revisit and explore them later, without losing focus on what’s most important now.

I actually expressed this as my constraint in a recent Arena meeting, and Nic Peterson reminded me of something I keep forgetting to apply: use the four lenses —a concept which

Scott Perry

often talks about and is in the book Rigging the Game.⁹

Nic suggested evaluating each idea through these four questions:

• Does it save money?

• Does it save time?

• Is it a force-in-function?

• Is it a revenue generator?

For an idea to make it to the "try it" pile, it should meet at least three out of four of these criteria. That insight finally clicked for me. I had heard it many times before, but this time, I actually heard it.

In another recent episode, Jake Anderson talked about different types of currencies—like time, money, and energy—and how we can leverage them effectively. You can check out that discussion here at around the 34-minute mark.¹⁰

I plan to write a post about open loops, rabbit trails, and idea management—based on a recent conversation I had with

Jake Anderson

. But my loop is still open on that one, so we’ll see when it finally comes together.

Stay tuned and stay nerdy!

Dr. Brie-Anna Willey

1. Lynch, D., & Frost, M. (Creators). (1990–1991). Twin Peaks [TV series]. ABC.

2. Lynch, D. (Director). (1992). Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me [Film]. New Line Cinema.

3. Lynch, D., & Frost, M. (Creators). (2017). Twin Peaks: The Return [TV series]. Showtime.

4. Willey, B.-A. (2024, Nov. 4). Podcasting, blogging, courses, and more. Substack.

5. Robertson, J. (2024, Sept. 18th). A battle of wits. Substack.

6. Robertson, J. (2024, November 15). A mistake of pretension. Substack.

7. The Guardian Academy. (n.d.). The Guardian Academy [Substack profile]. Substack.

8. Robertson, J. (2023, Aug. 21). Embracing growing trees. Substack.

9. Nicholson, D. (2022). Rigging the game: How to achieve financial certainty, navigate risk, and make money on your terms. Ascendant Press.

10. Willey, B.-A. (2024). Nerding out with Jake Anderson. Substack.