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You can’t move on social media for posts speaking about “The 10 Signs of AI-Generated Content,” and invariably, each of them will mention the humble emdash. They all scream and shout from the rooftops that the harmless little line — the staple of grammar for centuries — is a warning sign that this or that piece of content has been written by AI. There’s truth to this, of course. Emdash usage has surged in recent years , conveniently aligning with the rise of large language mo

One of the most valuable lessons I’ve learned over the last few years is that not having an opinion on something is a perfectly valid option. In a world where we’re constantly bombarded with news and media from all over the world, it can be very easy to get yourself worked up about every little thing. From serious issues like social injustice to pointless things like a celebrity’s favourite brand of cereal, we’re constantly told to have an opinion on anything and everything.

Working in marketing, you get to dip your toes into a whole bunch of different industries. And a core part of that is learning . Each industry has its own turns of phrase, jargon, acronyms, writing styles, and so much more. Once you’ve got to grips with all this, it can be very tempting to start applying all your new knowledge everywhere. If you work for a finance brand, for example, you might want to use all those fancy acronyms - like ROI, A2A, BCPP, etc - in every piece of

The first time I cooked crack I was doing somebody a favour. Well, no, that’s not strictly true. The first time I watched crack being cooked, I was helping somebody out. When you work in a shop, people come and go. You get high schoolers who work weekends only to make some extra cash. You get those who jump from job to job, never finding a place to settle down. And you get people who come one day, work a week, then vanish as though they’d never existed to begin with. In sh

Everyone needs to take breaks. You’re not a robot who can work for hours and hours with no respite. The problem with how a lot of us take breaks, though, is what we do during them. A (Very) Quick Guide to Dopamine Dopamine is the “reward chemical” that our brains release when we achieve something. It’s the thing that makes us feel good when we get a job done. That little boost when you cross something off your to-do list? That’s dopamine. But the modern world has heavily mess

Recently, I was exploring Substack to see what it could do, and I found something pretty cool. When you’ve scheduled a post, you’re able to export a graphic version of it (either the whole post or the headline) in a variety of different layouts and designs. This graphic can then be used to promote your article on social media, newsletters, etc. This kind of thing is exactly what brands should be doing. Often, when we think of branding, we think of a logo, or perhaps we might

The first time I heard “nothing means anything” was in a meeting. We were sitting around a table, discussing methods and techniques for dealing with stress in the workplace. (I work in marketing, and with it being a fast-paced industry, there’s naturally a heightened chance of stress.) The chat moved around the room, going person to person, until it came to Bob. Bob is not his real name, but we can use it for the sake of clarity. Bob told the room that he “doesn’t feel stress

Motivation won’t save you, discipline will. Have you ever had a goal, but never felt that it was the right time to work toward it? There’s a pervasive idea that to make progress on something, we have to wait for motivation to hit us. We think that without it, we cannot do anything. The problem is that motivation doesn’t come all that often. So, you’re going to have to rely on something else. And that something else is discipline. Habits Over Goals Say you have the goal of wri

Perfectionism is a hell of a thing. It’s a thing that all too often stops good ideas from flourishing into something amazing because we’re too scared to just get started. We tell ourselves that I’m not good at this thing, and if it’s not perfect, then it’s not worth making . But that’s not true. Imagine if the Rolling Stones recorded their first song and thought oof, that sucks . They would have dropped the guitars and that’d be the end of it. They wouldn’t have gone on to cr

For the whole of 2025, I wanted to write more. And, for the most part, I achieved this. But the thing about writing is that once it’s written, if you don’t have anywhere to publish it, the project you spent so much time on can just sit on a hard drive, gathering digital dust. This is why, in 2026, I’m challenging myself to write one Atomic Essay per week and publish them on LinkedIn and my blog – as well as Substack. Plus, on Substack , the goal is to publish one full-length

Once again, Billy found himself wandering the aisles. This had been a recurring theme in his life, trudging through the endless rows of...

There were very few memories that Spagzie had of his father. He’d been abandoned at the tender age of eleven, about four years before his...

The bass thumped through the room, rattling the bones of the eckied-out dancers once loyal to your sound, moving their bodies to the...

It's estimated that the average person will see between 4,000 and 6,000 ads every day. Wake up. Bleary eyes. Hoarse throat. Hair sticking...

“They’re out there, mate. I’ve seen them.” The man says, pressed up against the glass of the muck-smeared window. Outside the bus, the...

I went into A Complete Unknown knowing absolutely nothing about Bob Dylan, his life, or really even his music. I think if you’d have put...

Right now, I’m sitting on my bed with a pillow and blanket pressed down onto my ankle. On top of this mound of bed accessories sits the...

“How do you do, good sir?” Paddington said to the man standing behind the counter. No reply was forthcoming, which Paddington had grown...

For the longest time, I haven’t been able to get this idea out of my head. Perhaps it’s because I can’t see a way to think around it. As...

I’m writing this at 9pm on Saturday 4th May 2024, right after writing in my physical journal. I’m sitting in the living room listening to...