Ann Handley

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I have discovered that the tiny free hotel pen is the most powerful writing technology of our time.

Not AI.

Not a productivity app.

Not one of those expensive notebooks with the paper so creamy you feel guilty putting an actual thought on it.

The hotel pen.

Specifically, the hotel pen you steal by accident because you put it in your bag while thinking about whether the continental breakfast has hard-boiled eggs.

I found one in my coat pocket this morning.

It said “Property of the Harrington Suites” in tiny gray letters, which is how I know it was important. Anything written in tiny gray letters is either important or a warning that you are about to ruin your clothes in the wash.

Anyway, I picked up the pen and wrote one sentence.

Just one.

I am tired of pretending every idea needs to become content.

There it was.

On the tiny notepad.

Looking at me with the exhausted confidence of a person who has been waiting three weeks for me to admit the obvious.

I have been thinking about this a lot lately. Everyone is making more things. More posts. More newsletters. More videos. More thought leadership from people who appear to have never had a thought but are absolutely willing to lead one.

And I understand it. I do.

We are all trying to keep up.

We are trying to be visible, useful, interesting, relevant, strategic, authentic, differentiated, consistent, and somehow also well-rested.

This is a lot of jobs for one nervous system.

Especially when the robots are standing behind us with clipboards, asking why our personal brand has not posted since Tuesday.

Actually, the robots are not asking. The robots are generating a 17-point content calendar about the question.

There is a difference.