Spot the AI-ish patterns in your writing: templated rhythms, placeholder words like “magic,” and stiff phrases that clash with a loose voice.
The story
AI-ish patterns
– The three “In a…” lines have rhythm, then start sounding templated.
– “Something weird happened” and “magic” are placeholder phrases. They point at insight instead of showing it.
– “The common thread is” and “For communication pros and leaders” read like blog scaffolding.
– “To the exclusion of everything else” goes stiff and formal in a piece with a loose, funny voice.
– A few lines stay broad when the rest of the piece shines in concrete detail.
Rewrite
Before: I used to power through meals while answering email, half-listening to my kid, half-tasting my food, fully cranking up cortisol like it paid the bills. My body got the memo: “Stress incoming. Store fat. Stay tense.” Cool cool cool. In conversations, I was already three replies ahead, missing tone, missing pauses, missing the whole point.
After: I started slowing down. Not in a “quit your job and move to a yurt” way. More like putting the fork down between bites, noticing the colors and smells, feeling the texture of the food. More like listening to the human in front of me instead of loading my rebuttal in advance.
Then time started feeling bigger. Not in a sci-fi way – my watch still ticks the same – but each moment felt richer, fuller, more detailed.
Mindfulness isn’t only sitting cross-legged and humming. It’s paying full attention while cooking, reading, walking, doing Tai Chi, or eating a sandwich like you mean it. Same move every time: be here for *this*, not the five other tabs open in your skull.
If you lead people or talk for a living, this is where the useful stuff is. When you stop rushing, you hear tone shifts. You catch the tiny pause before someone says “I’m fine” while not being fine. You respond instead of react. People feel heard because they *are* heard.
Presence takes slowing down. Slowing down takes practice. You’ll be clumsy at first. That’s part of it.
Recent Comments