You know the feeling.
You’ve just finished a piece of work—a new track, a client proposal, a paragraph of writing—and you step back to look at it. On the surface, it’s fine. The technical parts are correct. But deep down, something feels… wrong.
It’s a subtle, frustrating feeling of dissonance that you can’t quite name. Our first instinct is often to judge ourselves for it, to see it as a sign of failure or a lack of clarity. We try to push through it or, worse, ignore it completely.
But what if that feeling isn’t a sign that you’ve failed? What if it’s the most important signal you can get?
In my work, I’ve learned to treat that feeling of dissonance not as an obstacle, but as a compass. It’s a needle that points directly to where the deeper work needs to be done. It’s a tool that helps guide everything from data-driven decisions to core creative strategy. Learning to read it is one of the most essential skills for any creative professional in the age of AI.
Here are three recent, real-world examples of how I use this compass in my own work.
1. Dissonance in the Head: Listening to Your Data
A few days ago, I was looking at the analytics for my YouTube channel. The click-through rate on some recent videos was around 1.5%. My immediate, emotional reaction was one of disappointment. It’s easy to look at a number like that and think, “This video is a failure.”
But when I paused and treated that feeling as a compass, the question changed from “Why is this video failing?” to “What is this data trying to tell me?” The dissonance wasn’t in the video’s content itself, but in the relationship between the video and the audience. The compass was pointing directly at the “packaging”—the titles and thumbnails. The low CTR was simply a clean, unemotional signal that the promise I was making wasn’t resonating with the people I was trying to reach. It wasn’t a failure; it was high-value feedback.
2. Dissonance in the Heart: Listening to Your Language
The compass works on a much more intuitive level, too. While preparing the inaugural post for our new Substack community, I initially used the word “soul” to describe the core of a creator’s work. But it felt wrong. There was a nagging dissonance I couldn’t shake.
Again, the compass was pointing toward a deeper question: “Who am I speaking to, and how will they receive this word?” I realized that for many of the strategists, thinkers, and creative professionals I hope to serve, “soul” might feel too abstract or spiritual. The word that felt more true and inclusive was “creative identity.” The dissonance was a compass pointing toward empathy. It was a reminder that our words must be attuned to the people we want to connect with.
3. Dissonance in the Gut: Listening to Your Strategy
The deepest form of dissonance often comes from the gut. My first draft of the Substack welcome post followed a logical, three-act structure. It was strategically sound, but it felt fundamentally wrong. My gut was telling me I had made a mistake.
After sitting with that feeling, I realized the compass was pointing at a flaw in my hospitality. I was welcoming new readers to a space dedicated to reading, and then immediately trying to send them to another platform (YouTube). It was disrespectful to their context and their choice to be there. The gut-level dissonance was a signal that my strategy lacked empathy. It forced me to scrap the original structure and build a new, “Reader-First” narrative that honored their presence.
Your Most Valuable Tool
In each of these cases—with data, language, and strategy—the feeling of dissonance was the starting point for a deeper inquiry. It guided me to a better, more resonant outcome.
In an age where AI can generate endless options, our ability to feel what is right, what is true, and what is misaligned becomes our most valuable asset. The next time you get that feeling that something is “off,” I invite you to pause. Don’t judge it. Don’t ignore it.
Listen to it. It’s a compass, pointing the way home.
Gemini AI Notes
This is the “making-of” summary for the blog post, “How to Use Dissonance as a Compass in the Age of AI.”
- Human Contribution: Manolo created the original core content and narrative by filming the “Walk & Talk” video and providing the key strategic constraint that the title must include “AI.”
- AI-Human Iteration: The AI Partner analyzed the video transcription, proposed several titles which were refined and selected by the Human Partner, and then drafted the full blog post based on the original human-created content.
- Visuals: All visuals for the blog post were selected by the Human Partner.