Mindset – Inner Game
The robots are coming here! The robots are coming here! Sound the alarm! Batten down the hatches! (Whatever that means) Unless you’ve been in a cave, you’ve probably heard the news… There’s a new artificial intelligence copywriter in town called ChatGPT, and it’s got a bunch of people in a tizzy. On a popular message board for copywriters, one…
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Did you hear the one about the tour guide in Frankfurt, Germany who can’t speak or read German? This is no joke. In September, “Michael_S,” gave this guide a 1-star review after hiring him for a private tour around the city. From Michael’s review: “…this tour company has very poor standards for who qualifies as…
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Ripped from the headlines: The Food and Drug Administration does not want you to cook chicken in NyQuil I repeat: The FDA does NOT want you to cook chicken in the nighttime sniffling, sneezing, coughing, aching, stuffy head, fever, so you can rest medicine. In a “consumer update” on its website, the US government agency…
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In case you missed the news yesterday: I’m hosting a complimentary content planning workshop… How to Generate a Constant Flow of Content Ideas — Without Suffering from Writer’s Block Tomorrow at 1 p.m. EDT, 12 p.m. CDT. If you want to attend, reply to this email with “give me the workshop details.” I’ll send you…
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Here’s the sad tale of a trivia master I knew back in college. His name was Noah Lott Doolittle. When we played the game Trivial Pursuit, Noah always won. What is the scientific name for a rabbit’s tail? Noah knew. (Scut) Before Hollywood, which New Jersey town was a center for the motion picture industry?…
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A few months ago, I was working on a new version of a 60-minute storytelling presentation. I was tinkering and tweaking, adding and adjusting. I wanted to make it “just right,” and that was holding me back. My friend Susan, who was helping me with the presentation, had seen enough. Gently but firmly, she said,…
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When Melissa and I moved into a century-old house 25 years ago, my father-in-law offered this unsolicited advice: “It’s all about the water. If you control the water, everything will be OK.” I had no idea what he was talking about. Now, I know. Friggin water. I hate friggin water. I wrote the other day…
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A few days ago, I was watching David Letterman on the living room flat screen. He was interviewing the singer/songwriter Billie Eilish, and he said this: “I have seen your concerts…And the commanding power that emanates from you and the music is stunning. Do you remember the first time you recognized…” Dave paused for a…
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Every so often, I hear from a sad-sack marketer who plays the “easy for you to say” card… …as in “Write story-powered emails that captivate prospects? Easy for you to say, Tom. You’re a storytelling genius.” (Sigh!) I heard from someone yesterday who griped about my list-building advice. In yesterday’s email, I encouraged you to…
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A few hours before leaving on my family vacation last week, I was running errands around town when this happened… I was in my car, idling in the intersection turn lane, waiting for the left-turn arrow, turning the radio to another station. Not a care in the world… …and then the airbag exploded in my…
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