There is a gap. You have seen it. Maybe you have been it. Maybe you are standing in it right now and you do not even know it.
On one side, people who want Ferrari results from a Pinto investment. They type a prompt into AI, get back something halfway decent, and decide the tool is broken when it does not deliver something they would be proud to put their name on. They will not spend 30 minutes learning how to prompt well. They will not iterate. They will not develop the skill. They want the output without the effort.
On the other side, people doing Ferrari work for Pinto pay. They build excellent things. They deliver real value. They consistently go above and beyond what is asked. But when it comes to talking about what they are worth, they go quiet. They will not negotiate. They will not promote themselves. They will not have the uncomfortable conversation. They figure the work should speak for itself, and if it does not, something is wrong with the world.
Same gap. Different sides.
And the worst part? Most people do not even see it. They are too busy being angry about one side or the other to notice they are probably standing on both sides at the same time. They complain about people who will not develop skills while simultaneously refusing to advocate for themselves. The irony is invisible to them.
That is what makes this so tricky. It is easy to see the problem on the other side. The person not learning AI looks lazy. The person not negotiating looks weak. But when it is you? When it is your own behavior? That is just how things are. That is just who I am.
The gap does not work that way. It does not care how you see yourself. It just shows up.
In This Post
The AI Laziness Problem
Let me tell you about a call I was on recently.
A peer was showing me something they built with AI. And honestly, it was impressive. A whole system. Clean. Functional. Things that would have taken me a week a year ago. I was genuinely curious about how they put it together.
Then they showed me the prompt they used.
It was one sentence.
One sentence, and when I asked them how they got it to work so well, they shrugged and said I just asked it. Like it was magic. Like the tool just knew. Like they had some secret I did not have access to.
And I almost lost my mind.
Here is the thing: I know what they actually did. I know because I have done it myself. They spent hours refining prompts. Testing outputs. Giving feedback. Iterating. Rewriting entire sections because the first version did not land. They developed the skill over weeks of practice. They just did not see it as learning because it did not feel like work. It felt like playing around. It felt like experimenting.
That is the trap. The story being sold is that AI is easy. That you can just type what you want and get what you need. That the tool is the magic, not the person using it. That anyone can do it with zero effort because that is what the ads say.
But that is not how it works. Not for anything worth having. Not for anything you would actually want your name on.
The difference between AI output that looks like everyone else and AI output that stands out is the same as it always was: the person using the tool. The skill. The intent. The iteration. The willingness to keep going when the first attempt is not good enough.
People do not want to be good at AI. They want AI to be good enough that they do not have to be.
They want to skip the awkward phase. The phase where you are bad at something and you know you are bad at it. The phase where you ask a question and get an answer that does not match what you were hoping for. They want the output without putting in the work to earn the output.
And when they do not get it, they blame the tool. They say AI is overhyped. They say it does not work. They share screenshots of bad outputs and say see, I told you. They retreat back to their old way of doing things, confirming what they already believed: that this AI stuff is just noise.
But they never tried harder. They never spent the time. They never invested in getting better. They wanted Ferrari output from Pinto effort. And when they did not get it, they quit.
The worst part is the story they tell themselves. I am not good at technology. This stuff is for younger people. I do not have time to learn this. All of it sounds reasonable. All of it is just a cover for not wanting to be bad at something in public.
The Self-Worth Problem
Now flip it.
You know someone who does incredible work. Someone who consistently delivers above and beyond. Someone whose work speaks for itself, if anything could actually speak.
Have you noticed they never talk about it?
They will not promote themselves. They will not negotiate their rate. They will not have the conversation about what they are actually worth. They quietly do Ferrari work and hope someone notices. They deliver more than anyone expects and then act surprised when their paycheck does not reflect it.
Here is what I wrote in my notes one morning: Ferrari work getting Pinto pay. Will not promote, will not negotiate, will not have the uncomfortable conversation.
And then I caught myself.
Because I have been there. I still go there sometimes. I have delivered work I am genuinely proud of and then swallowed hard when it came time to talk about compensation. I have watched less talented people negotiate up while I sat quiet, telling myself that the right company would just know.
There is this belief that good work should be enough. That if you are good enough, someone will notice. That talking about what you do is bragging. That promoting yourself is somehow wrong. That if you have to ask, it does not count.
None of that is true. But it feels true. It feels like the right way to be. Being humble. Being a team player. Not making waves.
But here is what that belief gets you: a career of being overlooked. A history of watching less talented people advance because they knew how to sell themselves. A bank account that does not match the value you deliver. A growing resentment that you never express because you are still waiting for someone to notice.
The Lenny Rachitsky piece on negotiation connects here. The research shows that collaborative people, the ones who want to be team players, who do not want to seem pushy, are the ones who leave the most money on the table. It is not that they cannot negotiate. It is that their disposition gets mistaken for inability. They are labeled as not leadership material when really they are just not willing to advocate for themselves.
They think the work should speak for itself. But the work is silent. The work does not stand up in a meeting and say hey, I am worth more. The work does not remind your boss that you are three promotions overdue. The work just sits there, being excellent, while the person who made it stays quiet.
And here is the part that really hurts: the people who DO advance are not necessarily better than you. They are just willing to talk about what they have done. They are willing to say I built this, and I am worth more. They took the uncomfortable path and it paid off.
Same gap. Different side.
The Pinto effort side wants the AI to do the work so they do not have to develop skill. They would rather complain about the tool than get good at using it.
The Ferrari pay side wants the work to speak so they do not have to develop the courage. They would rather wait for permission than ask for what they deserve.
Both are avoiding the same thing: becoming more than they currently are. Both are choosing comfort over growth. Both are leaving value on the table and blaming something else for their situation.
Same Gap, Different Sides
Let me make this concrete.
The person who will not learn to prompt well? They are not lazy. They are scared. Scared that investing time in a skill means admitting they do not already know how. Scared that the learning curve is steeper than they want it to be. So they pretend there is nothing to learn. They double down on the story that AI should just work.
The person who will not negotiate? They are not humble. They are scared. Scared that asking for more means risking rejection. Scared that promoting themselves makes them unlikeable. Scared that if they ask and do not get, it confirms something bad about them. So they stay quiet. They do the work. They hope.
Both are standing in front of a door that is open. Both are choosing not to walk through.
The gap is not about AI. AI just made it visible.
Before AI, the person who did not want to learn could still point to a skill gap and say well, that takes time to learn. Now the tool makes it possible to skip the learning, and people choose to stay exactly where they are. The gap between wanting and doing was always there. AI just turned up the volume.
I wrote about The Gap before. The tools leapt forward but everything else stayed stuck. Same concept here. The gap does not care what tool you are using. It shows up everywhere.
And the person who will not self-promote? Same story. The discomfort was always there. AI did not cause it. But AI gives the mediocre person an excuse, oh, I could do that if I wanted to, while the excellent person still sits on their value, waiting for permission.
The Uncomfortable Truth
Here is what nobody wants to say:
If you are not good at AI, it is because you chose not to be. Not because the tool failed you. Because you decided the effort was not worth it. And that is fine. But own it. Stop pretending AI is broken because it does not deliver what you want without your investment.
If you are worth more than you make, it is because you chose not to ask. Not because your boss is a monster. Not because the market will not bear it. Because you decided the conversation was not worth the discomfort. And that is your call. But own it. Stop letting the work speak when you have got a mouth.
Key Takeaway: Both sides of the gap are about avoiding the thing that would make you more. For the AI side, it is skill development. For the pay side, it is self-advocacy. Neither is easy. Neither is fun. Both require you to be uncomfortable for a while.
Neither is easy. Neither is fun. Both require you to be uncomfortable for a while.
And most people will not do it.
Which is fine. That is their choice. But the ones who do? The ones who develop the skill and have the conversation? They are going to leave everyone else in the dust.
Because the gap is real, and it is not going anywhere. But it is also an opportunity. Every time you choose to do the thing that scares you, you narrow the gap. You become the person who gets the output they want because they put in the work. You become the person who gets paid what they are worth because they had the nerve to ask.
The choice is yours. Pinto effort with Ferrari expectations. Or Ferrari work with the courage to match.
Pick your side. Then do the work.
Where This Fits
This connects to several themes I have been writing about. Strong opinions, loosely held is about committing fully once you decide to do something. The Gap is about the distance between what tools can do and what systems have caught up to. And I Built the Machines. Now They Run Me. explores the paradox of wanting efficiency while getting lost in optimization.
The Pinto Problem ties it all together. Whether it is AI skills or self-advocacy, the gap is real. The only way through it is to do the uncomfortable thing. The thing that scares you. The thing you keep putting off.
Pick your side. Then do the work.
