He spiralled into a world where nothing was what it seemed…only what it wasn’t.
He blinked, dazed, as Snow White floated by — It’s not a nap. It’s a sabbatical.
Down the hill, Cinderella clutched her slipper — It’s not a curfew. It’s a career pivot.
A pig in a hard hat waved him over — it’s not a house. It’s a fortress of resilience.
Little Red Riding Hood zipped past with a basket — It’s not a visit to Grandma. It’s last-mile delivery.
Goldilocks stirred a bowl at a standing desk — It’s not porridge. It’s data-driven comfort.
Jack dangled from the clouds — It’s not a beanstalk. It’s upward mobility.
Even the magic mirror on the wall whispered — It’s not vanity. It’s self-awareness.
Everywhere he turned, someone was saying:
It’s not just a slipper. It’s a symbol of reclaimed feminine agency.
It’s not porridge. It’s an oat-forward experience.
It’s not a pumpkin. It’s pre-midnight potential.
Turns out this isn’t a fairy tale at all.
It’s the Nightmare on narrative lane.
Where smart, well-intentioned people have outsourced their voice to ChatGPT.
Where every idea is wrapped in a twisty, trope-y, overcompensating line:
“It’s not a newsletter. It’s a movement.”
“It’s not coaching. It’s transformation.”
“It’s not toothpaste. It’s confidence in a tube.”
It’s not the worst device…when used sparingly.
Not like the overuse of adjectives, where everything you make and sell is revolutionary, innovative, and groundbreaking.
Or maybe it is just as bad. Probably worse. Because now, it’s everywhere.
I’ve never really liked it. I’d edit it out of copy, explaining that we don’t want to position our “thing” against what it isn’t.
We want to show what it is. Most of the time, it undersells the thing all together. It makes the thing you want to differentiate generic.
It defines itself only by the category it’s trying to escape.
It signals fuzziness. A lack of clarity. A lack of specificity.
In the words of Zig Ziglar, “Don’t be a wandering generality. Be a meaningful specific.”
And worst of all…once you see it, you can’t unsee it.
You will forever know who gave over their most precious positioning to a language model fuelled by being BEST at finding what is already out there and serving it to you.
Try harder, maybe? I’m a super user of ChatGPT. It’s my brainstorming partner, idea improver and editor-in-chief.
I use it to move faster. Get sharper. Be more precise. Me and Chat – we regularly get in arguments about em dashes and negative phrases. Still, it insists on including them anyway, which pretty much ensures I will always have final edit.
You should too.
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Mary
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