Alan Watts’ wisdom for creators, coaches, and solopreneurs

Introduction: Why Letting Go is the Hardest (and Most Profitable) Move You’ll Ever Make

Imagine this: your heart beats, your lungs expand, your blood circulates—all without your permission. Meanwhile, you spend every waking moment trying to micromanage your business, your relationships, your reputation. Exhausting, isn’t it?

Alan Watts, the philosopher who made Eastern wisdom digestible for the Western mind, reminds us that we are not the conductor of the cosmic symphony—just one instrument trying to play the entire orchestra alone.

For solopreneurs, coaches, consultants, and creators, this truth is revolutionary. Because the more you grip, the more you miss. The more you relax, the more life—and business—flows through you.

This blog unpacks Watts’ teaching from The More You Learn to Let Go, The More Life Gives You and shows you how to apply it to your creator business. Along the way, we’ll bring in IMMachines’ GPTs—AI tools designed to help you systemize, simplify, and surrender into flow.

1. The Cosmic Joke of Control

“We walk around believing we’re the conductor of the symphony when in truth we’re simply one instrument among many.”

Business owners often operate under the illusion that everything depends on them. Every email, every post, every product launch. We grip the steering wheel, white-knuckled, terrified to let go.

But Watts reminds us: the steering wheel isn’t connected to anything.

Think about that. The world is breathing you. The universe is sustaining you. You’re part of a system far bigger than your task list.

Practical Insight: Instead of trying to control every outcome, focus on playing your part clearly and authentically.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: From Chaos to Clarity GPT] helps you prioritize tasks by impact and urgency, so you stop wasting energy on things that don’t matter.

2. The Bamboo Strategy: Flexibility Over Force

“The bamboo bends with the wind while the oak resists—and often breaks.”

Solopreneurs are taught hustle, grind, and “never give up.” But what if flexibility is the real strength?

Think about how many times your plans fell apart, only to open a door you never considered. If you had clung too tightly, you’d have missed the gift.

Creator Application: Flexibility means experimenting with content formats, offers, and funnels—without fear of “failure.” It means pivoting when data (or your intuition) tells you something isn’t working.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: Business Problem Solver GPT] breaks down any business challenge into phases, steps, and tasks—so you bend without breaking.

3. The Clenched Fist Paradox

“Clench your fist and try to receive something. Impossible. The very act of grasping prevents receiving.”

Holding too tightly—onto clients, money, or your identity as a “serious professional”—prevents new opportunities from landing in your palm.

This is especially true for creators. The tighter you hold your content strategy, the less room you leave for spontaneous inspiration (the stuff that actually goes viral).

Mindset Shift: Let go of needing to “get it right.” Experiment, publish imperfectly, and create space for unexpected wins.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: Daily Micro-Content Machine GPT] takes one idea and repurposes it into multiple formats, freeing you from perfectionism paralysis.

4. The Butterfly & the Open Window

Watts tells the story of a man who tried to save a butterfly by cupping it in his hands. Only when he opened the windows and stopped interfering did the butterfly escape on its own.

How often do you suffocate your own business this way?

  • Over-editing content until it loses life.

  • Forcing offers onto clients instead of listening to what they need.

  • Micromanaging processes instead of building systems.

Creator Lesson: Stop trying to “hold” success. Open windows instead—collaborations, new platforms, fresh experiments.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: Offer Optimiser Pro GPT] helps you uncover irresistible offers by testing angles, so you don’t choke opportunities before they fly.

5. The Lake and the Stones

“Your essential being is like a clear mountain lake. The turbulence comes from the stones of thought you keep throwing in.”

Every solopreneur knows the chaos of mental chatter:

  • “What if this launch fails?”

  • “I need more leads.”

  • “Am I good enough?”

But when you stop throwing stones, clarity returns.

Practical Practice: Build stillness into your creative process. Journaling, meditation, or even a silent walk can reset your business brain.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: Thought-Leader Engine GPT] helps you capture your clearest insights and publish them with authority—no noise, just signal.

6. True Action vs. Agitation

“True action flows from stillness, like an arrow from a bow. Agitation is flailing in quicksand.”

How much of your workday is true action—and how much is just busyness?

For creators, the danger is mistaking motion for progress. Endless tinkering on funnels, constant refreshing of analytics, obsessively tweaking designs.

Shift: True action is aligned, strategic, and focused. It requires clarity first.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: Prompt Builder Pro GPT] ensures your AI prompts are precise and powerful, so your actions actually hit the target.

7. The Phantom Driver Illusion

Watts asks: “This person you call ‘I’—where exactly is it?”

The “phantom driver” in business is the ego voice that insists you alone must hold it all together. It’s the voice that says:

  • “If I don’t post today, my audience will vanish.”

  • “If I don’t control every detail, the project will collapse.”

But when you step back, you see that clients, collaborators, and systems carry more of the weight than you think.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: Ghostwriter Execution Engine GPT] takes on the heavy lifting of structuring, drafting, and editing, so you stop clutching the wheel.

8. The Wave That Thought It Was the Ocean

“A wave declaring it must control the ocean is both hilarious and tragic.”

That’s us—solopreneurs convinced we must “control” markets, trends, algorithms. But like the wave, we are the ocean. The same intelligence that spins galaxies beats your heart and inspires your next idea.

Creator Insight: Your role isn’t control. It’s expression.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: 48-Hour Author] lets you release a book fast, turning your life’s expression into a product that outlives you.

9. Opening the Sails

Watts tells the story of the sailor who exhausted himself blowing into his sails—while the trade winds already surrounded him.

That’s most creators: pushing, grinding, forcing, instead of opening to the wind of collaboration, AI, and systems.

Modern Wind: AI is the wind. You don’t need to blow harder. You need to raise your sails.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: Navigator GPT] shows you which GPTs to deploy at each stage of your business, so your sails are always catching the right current.

10. The Gift of Emptiness

“You fear becoming nothing, but there are two kinds of nothing: the emptiness of space—pregnant with infinite possibility.”

Most solopreneurs fear downtime. “If I’m not producing, I’m failing.”

But Watts reframes emptiness as fertile. Space is what allows new ideas, offers, and opportunities to land.

Creator Application: Schedule “fertile emptiness” into your week. Don’t fill every moment with tasks—leave space for insight.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: Story Finder Pro GPT] helps you turn those quiet reflections into powerful brand stories.

11. Life as Improvisation

“A master chef responds moment by moment to what the dish needs.”

Your business is jazz, not a rigid recipe. It’s about improvisation—tuning into audience response, platform shifts, and your own evolving interests.

Shift: Stop trying to follow someone else’s script. Play your music.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: Copy Pro Engine GPT] helps you improvise high-converting copy for any format without losing flow.

12. Rediscovering Purpose

Watts flips the question of purpose: it’s not a destination, but an expression.

You don’t “find” purpose. You live it by showing up authentically, in this moment.

Creator Application: Purpose is in the act of creating—content, offers, transformation. You are the universe experiencing itself through your work.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: Thought-Leader Engine GPT] helps you express your ideas boldly, turning lived wisdom into legacy.

13. Trusting Time

“The fruit ripens when it’s ready, not when you demand it.”

Creators often rush: desperate for traffic, sales, or recognition. But forcing timing creates bitterness.

Shift: Trust the seasons of your business. Trust that consistent planting leads to harvest.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: £3K GPT] provides a roadmap for building a sustainable £3K/month system—step by step, season by season.

14. The Love Story of Life

Ultimately, Watts says letting go reveals life as a love story: awareness meeting creation.

And isn’t that what solopreneurship really is? You, bringing your unique awareness into form—through offers, content, coaching, consulting.

The invitation is simple: Stop gripping. Start dancing.

💡 Tool to Use: [IMMachines: Quote to Action GPT] turns your deepest insights (and Watts-like quotes) into multi-format content that moves your audience into action.

Conclusion: The Invitation to Dance

Watts leaves us with an invitation: stop reading the script, start dancing who you actually are.

For creators, coaches, and solopreneurs, that’s the whole game. Build systems, yes. Use tools like IMMachines GPTs, yes. But above all—let go of control and open to flow.

Because the more you let go, the more life (and business) gives you.