My simple rule for punchy AI edits

This week I sent a few cold outreach messages.

For each one, I wrote a draft, then used AI to refine it to get more replies.

After a few messages, I noticed a pattern. The more I worked on a message, the less energy it had. It lost the punch of the first shot.

Before AI, I'd do a few rewrites and send it while the energy and flow were still there. Why? Because each rewrite cost time and energy.

But now, since AI can rewrite for free in seconds, it's easy to lose that punch in just a few turns. And you might not notice, because the result looks great and reads well. But if you pay attention, you'll see it doesn't hit the same.

It's up to you to decide what's better. Raw or perfect.

I tend to prefer the raw version. The "catchy" one, as Dave Grohl, the drummer of Nirvana, would say about Kurt Cobain's lyrics ↗:

The way Kurt wrote songs. He wrote these really really simple songs and he was a great lyricist. His objective was really to make the song as catchy, and memorable and simple as possible.

[Did he allow you to any feedback in the writing process? I mean you are a great song writer]

We wouldn't even talk about it. We would just go in the room, and he'd start playing something and we just play along and then it would become a song.

[...]

The idea was not even to talk about music to keep it as pure as possible.

—Dave Grohl

So I decided to add a new rule to my writing process.

I compare a new version not to the last, but to the first. The true one. The first shot. The one that carries the energy.

We'll see how it goes.

What about you?