
Did you ‘rawdog’ your flights this summer?
If you’ve not heard of the latest TikTok travel trend, let me explain.
(Don’t worry – despite the name, it’s not rude…but have inserted a zero below in case of spam filters 😳)
‘Rawd0gging’ is where you forgo all entertainment for your entire – even long-haul – flight, including using your phone, watching movies, reading books or listening to music.
Your only diversion is the little aeroplane blinking on the digital flight map.
Some wrong ‘uns have taken it even further.
Manchester City footballer Erling Haaland recently boasted he’d endured a seven-hour flight with “no phone, no sleep, no water, no food #easy”.
And even dafter people are refusing to get up or go to the toilet. (I despair.)
But the original idea behind the rawdog trend was a good thing – it was all about clearing your head and sitting with your thoughts.
And you can rawdog your writing too, to get much better results.
You see, when we’re wrestling with an important email, a report or a social media post, it can be tempting to jump straight to Google or ChatGPT for the answers.
But as copywriter supremo Ann Handley writes:
‘Involving AI in [the first draft] stage gets in the way. It starts to shape the narrative and guide our thinking in ways we might not even realize. Ways we don’t want.Using AI to write a first draft feels to me like I’ve been dropped into a planned community with tended paths and sidewalks and signposts.
An enthusiastic golden retriever bounces alongside me, dropping tennis balls relentlessly at my feet. How about this? How about this? How about now?’
Spending just a few moments with your thoughts before you hit up AI makes all the difference.
I know, I know. Blank page syndrome can be hard.
Sometimes you dig deep and come up with…absolutely nothing.
So here’s a little question to get your writing started:
How do I want my readers to feel?
This is a great prompt as it helps you connect with people on an emotional, not logical level.
And it’s emotion, not logic, that’s key to getting people to act.
More on motivation next week. For now, try to raw dog your first drafts and let me know how you get on.
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