What does it take to become more creative in the age of artificial intelligence?
In two new episodes of the Moonshots Podcast Creativity Series, Mike and Mark explore creativity from complementary perspectives. The first examines how to strengthen your imagination through deliberate practice. The second reveals how AI can become a genuine thinking partner—helping you challenge assumptions, develop ideas and learn faster.
Together, the episodes offer a practical playbook for expanding your creative potential while keeping human curiosity, courage and judgment firmly at the centre.
Show 293: You’re Not “Uncreative” — Here’s How to Train Your Imagination
Inspired by Albert Read’s book The Imagination Muscle, Mike and Mark challenge the belief that creativity is an inborn gift possessed by only a fortunate few.
Imagination is a muscle. Like physical fitness, it grows stronger when it is exercised consistently.
The episode explores how accomplished creators gather diverse sources of inspiration, protect time for uninterrupted thought and approach familiar problems with a beginner’s mind. It also examines why boredom can be a creative advantage—and how constant stimulation, notifications and social media can prevent original ideas from emerging.
Creativity requires more than inspiration, however. It also demands courage.
Every sketch, journal entry, voice memo and imperfect experiment helps reduce the fear of failure. Instead of waiting for the perfect idea, we can develop creative confidence by making small attempts, learning from them and returning to the practice every day.
Listeners will discover how to:
Treat imagination like a daily workout
Build an idea bank from books, conversations and observations
Create space for quiet thinking and productive boredom
Use curiosity walks to notice something new
Read beyond familiar subjects and interests
Combine unrelated ideas to generate fresh possibilities
Ask beginner’s questions—even when they think they know the answer
Take small creative risks without waiting for perfection
If you have ever felt stuck, uninspired or convinced that you are “just not creative,” this conversation offers a refreshing alternative: creativity is available to everyone willing to practise it.
Buy The Imagination Muscle by Albert Read
Show 294: Ethan Mollick — Stop Using AI Like Google and Start Using It as a Thinking Partner
What if AI were not here to replace your intelligence, but to extend it?
Inspired by Ethan Mollick’s Co-Intelligence, Mike and Mark explore how to move beyond basic question-and-answer prompting and begin collaborating with AI as a critic, research assistant, creative partner, teacher and tireless sparring partner.
The episode begins with a valuable principle: if you want AI to sharpen your thinking instead of simply agreeing with you, ask it to push back.
Invite criticism. Request the strongest arguments for and against an idea. Ask AI to uncover weaknesses, challenge assumptions, apply different mental models and propose alternatives you may not have considered.
Mike and Mark also explore Mollick’s memorable description of AI as a sous chef. It can bring enormous knowledge, speed, options and energy into the kitchen—but it cannot taste the food for you. Human judgment remains essential.
Better results come from genuine collaboration: providing context, asking clarifying questions, working iteratively, experimenting with voice conversations and giving the AI feedback as your thinking develops.
Finally, the discussion turns to learning. Instead of asking AI to provide every answer, invite it to become your teacher. Ask it to quiz you, reveal gaps in your understanding, recommend further study and help you build genuine expertise.
Buy Co-Intelligence by Ethan Mollick
Build Your Creative Practice
These two episodes share a powerful message: creativity is not a fixed trait, and technology is not a substitute for human thought.
Your imagination becomes stronger through deliberate use. AI becomes more valuable through thoughtful collaboration. In both cases, progress comes from curiosity, experimentation, reflection and the courage to keep refining your ideas.
Listen to both episodes and begin building a creative practice that combines stronger human imagination with smarter use of AI.
