If you've been on social media in the past few days, you've undoubtedly witnessed the surreal, hyper-polished pictures with prominently-placed celebrities, historical figures, or even fictitious characters next to, or in place of people, a popular trend. With tools like Google's Gemini AI, turning yourself into the star of your own digital story is just a few clicks away!
For some life and joy, this takes on a fun, innocent exercise with not much thought, and simply provides a little dopamine hit. For others, it is a way of visualising their dreams, putting themselves in new circles, or rewriting their own story. This technological trend has its ups and its downs, like many tech trends!
Let's spend some time examining what this trend has to say about us and why it actually might have something for us to learn about personal development, leadership and coaching.
There is an unmistakable strength in visualizing yourself in a different situation. For lots of people, the experience of creating an AI generated image of themselves standing next to their favorite famous person is playful but also comes from a place of aspiration. They are essentially saying "This is the person I would like to stand next to. This is the person I want to emulate."
Visualisation has always been a foundational mechanism for personal growth and development. Athletes have long used visualization to improve performance. Entrepreneurs use visualization to manifest their next big idea or project. Imagining yourself in a different and elevated space can heighten motivation, stimulate creativity and even boost confidence.
In this manner, trends like the Gemini AI celebrity pictures can be more than mere diversion or vanity they can actually serve as a modern day vision board. In this case, it serves to help you see yourself in the same space with the people you admire doing the things you want to do.
Sure, but there is a downside. The downside to AI-images is that they don’t just show you possibility, they show you a polished version of possibility. Your skin is without a blemish, your hair is perfect, your surroundings are fancy. And then you're left looking back at your real life, your full calendar, your messy kitchen, and your half-set goals, and that gap feels big.
This is where the trend can backfire, it can be inspiring or if it isn't careful to inspire can trigger comparison or dissatisfaction. If you aren't careful, you are looking for the next 'you' that doesn't actually exist. The 'you' next to your favorite celebrity is relatable, but to grow- even better, grow a side of a person we don't like, it is never relatable and it is NEVER effortless. It is messy, imperfect, layered, and forgiving.
And here's the trap, if we can only ever allow all the AI, curating, and polishing of ourselves, we will mutate. We will never take on the reality of who we are eventually right now, AND the uncomfortable and necessary work of change actively.
At The Coach360, clients often hear us say that while imagination may be a strong starting point, it cannot remain the endpoint. Sure, it is fun to create an AI image of yourself with a celebrity, but the next question is, what does that really mean for a life worth building?
Once you can understand the "why" behind the image, you can turn that fantasy into strategy. Coaching is about creating the bridge between the aspirational vision and the behaviors you are going to need to incorporate into your daily life to make it happen.
The most important growth, however, happens outside of the AI-generated frame, when you engage in the uncomfortable dialogue you’re avoiding. When you follow through on your goals when no one is watching. When you step into discomfort not because you look flawless, but because you’re ready to grow.
The Gemini trend has huge potential to be a mirror, but only when wielded intentionally. It can remind us that we do have a vision for our lives, and that we do want to live among excellence. But we need to ask ourselves: what’s one thing I can do today to move toward that vision, in real life?
At The Coach360, we support leaders and professionals to move beyond the curated image and into authentic growth. That looks like moving from inspiration to action, forming habits that deliver actual results, and staying grounded in who you are while investing in who you want to be.
The phenomenon of AI celebrities, which has recently gained widespread attention, exemplifies our propensity for preferring to view ourselves as other than we are, and perhaps more importantly, our desire to see ourselves differently to rewrite our story. This is a good thing because that’s where growth starts with the belief and action of creating something better.
The danger is getting stuck in that world, enjoying the imagery of the digital version of yourself, never moving towards the work of sculpting a stronger, more confident, true, and value-laden self.
So the next time you are writing out an image of yourself next to an influential self (can be same or other) in Genmoji, ask yourself: what’s one habit, one skill, or one decision you could take that moves me closer to that trajectory in your life? That’s the power of coaching – not in making the image come true, but making the image come true as reality.
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