“Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.”
— Alan Watts

If you’re a coach, consultant, or creator who’s 35+ and feels like the digital world is a chaotic jungle of hacks, deadlines, and dopamine-driven distractions, this post is for you.

Let’s pause the sales funnels for a moment and step into a deeper conversation — one about who you really are, what it means to be free, and how your liberation might be the secret to finally enjoying your business again.

Alan Watts, the British philosopher who brought Eastern wisdom to the Western world, offers a perspective so refreshing that it cuts through the noise like a samurai’s blade through spaghetti. And in a world obsessed with hustle, scale, and “crushing it,” his message is simple:

You are not here to win at life.
You are here to wake up and play.

🎭 The Myth of the Separate Self (And Why It’s Ruining Your Business)

Watts begins with a challenge to your identity — not your brand identity — but the idea that you are a little ego called “Me” running the show.

Most creators build their businesses with a hidden assumption:

“If I can just prove myself enough, I’ll be safe. I’ll matter. I’ll be free.”

But Watts flips that script.

He argues that this ego-self is not your true self. It’s a mask — a persona (literally from Latin per sonare, “through which sound comes”) — and behind it lies the real you: a part of the entire dance of life.

For creators, this insight is profound. You’re not just here to “build a brand.” You’re an expression of the cosmos itself, showing up through you as coaching, writing, offers, and ideas.

Now tell me that’s not the most liberating business insight you’ve ever heard.

🌀 You Are the Universe in Drag

Here’s where things get juicy.

In Hinduism and Buddhism — which Watts brings to life in “Ways of Liberation” — the universe is not a dictatorship. There is no celestial CEO micromanaging your to-do list.

Instead, the universe is seen as a drama, and we’re all playing roles.

And what happens when you stop believing you’re just “John Doe trying to grow his email list”?

You realize something life-changing:

You are the whole damn play.

Suddenly, marketing becomes performance. Product creation becomes expression. And selling? That’s just sharing what the universe is doing through you today.

This shift — from effort to expression — is how mid-life creators finally stop fighting and start flowing.

🧘 Liberation ≠ Escaping Life (It’s Not That Woo-Woo)

Let’s clear something up.

When Watts talks about liberation, he’s not suggesting we all retreat into the mountains and abandon Wi-Fi. Quite the opposite.

Liberation isn’t from life — it’s from the illusion that you are separate from life. Separate from the flow. Separate from success.

What does this mean for your online business?

You stop building from fear.

You stop obsessing over perfection, or whether your funnel has the latest sexy upsell script.

Instead, you create from a place of play. You share because you’re full, not because you’re empty. You become magnetic without trying to manipulate.

And ironically, that’s when the money starts to flow.

🧠 The Brain is the Stomach’s Intern

Watts offers a cheeky analogy that applies beautifully to digital creators:

Is your brain the CEO of your life, or just a glorified assistant for your gut?

He suggests that maybe our brains — our marketing plans, strategy boards, productivity hacks — exist to serve something deeper: our intuitive, creative life-force.

In other words…

Stop trying to logic your way to flow.

Start building organically, the way a tree grows — not with a content calendar, but with seasonal rhythm, sun-soaked moments of clarity, and bursts of weird inspiration at 2AM.

This is how creators over 35 thrive — not by out-hustling 25-year-olds on TikTok, but by tapping into timeless creative power and trusting it.

🎯 What Alan Watts Would Say About Building IMMachines

At IMMachines.com, we help mid-life creators turn their experience into systems. But those systems are not meant to trap you — they’re meant to free you.

You don’t need to build a business that makes you feel like a cog in your own machine.

Instead:

  • Use AI tools to amplify your essence, not replace it.

  • Use systems to liberate your creativity, not cage it.

  • Use marketing not to manipulate but to invite play.

Watts would say you’re not here to scale a business. You’re here to express the divine in the form of landing pages and product launches.

That’s liberation.

✨ 5 “Wattsian” Business Practices for Creators

Here are five practical takeaways that you can implement this week:

1. Create Without “Should”

Build something that excites you, not something you think you’re “supposed” to make. The most viral content comes from play, not pressure.

2. Drop the Ego Metrics

Track resonance, not just revenue. Look for comments like “this hit me hard” instead of just conversions.

3. Build with the DAO, Not the Dashboard

Use systems like GPTs and templates not to control but to flow. Let your tools help you express, not repress. Our tools take out the drudgery and hard work of creating.

4. Treat Marketing as Art

See your sales page like a poem. Your launch video like a performance. Your email like a brushstroke.

5. Trust the Unfolding

You don’t have to know what comes next. The next “big idea” often arises when you stop chasing it.

🛠️ Our IMMachines Are Tools for Liberation

IMMachines isn’t about building an empire — it’s about building freedom through systems that support your true nature.

Whether you’re using:

…you’re not using AI to escape yourself. You’re using it to return to yourself.

That’s the kind of creator who magnetizes money, clients, and momentum.

🎉 So, What’s the Real Secret of Life?

“This is the real secret of life—to be completely engaged with what you are doing in the here and now. And instead of calling it work, realise it is play.” — Alan Watts

Let this be your new business philosophy:

  • Your offer? Play.

  • Your content? Play.

  • Your systems? Play.

  • Your entire business? A game worth waking up for.

Now go create like the universe is making art through you — because it is.