🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner

Founder of VeryGoodCopy.com, essayist

Hello, thanks for stopping by. I’m Eddie 👋🏼

I’m a conversion copywriter, content marketer, and the founder of VeryGoodCopy, a newsletter about copywriting and creativity read by millions of people each year. Join over 80K email subscribers—including copywriters, marketers, entrepreneurs, and other smart folks—who've subscribed to the VeryGoodCopy Newsletter and bought 𝘝𝘦𝘳𝘺𝘎𝘰𝘰𝘥𝘊𝘰𝘱𝘺: 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘰𝘰𝘬:

◾ “VeryGoodCopy shows you how to write, and how not to write. How to think, and how not to think. Eddie is a damn good marketer. I recommend him.”
—𝗗𝗥𝗔𝗬𝗧𝗢𝗡 𝗕𝗜𝗥𝗗, 𝗢𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗹𝘆 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗗𝗶𝗿𝗲𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗿

◾ “Please, God, can everyone involved in advertising—and not only copywriters—just read this book…I loved every moment.”
—𝗥𝗢𝗥𝗬 𝗦𝗨𝗧𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗟𝗔𝗡𝗗, 𝗢𝗴𝗶𝗹𝘃𝘆 𝗩𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗶𝗿𝗺𝗮𝗻

◾ “Eddie is a fantastic copywriter.”
—𝗔𝗡𝗡 𝗛𝗔𝗡𝗗𝗟𝗘𝗬, 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝙀𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙗𝙤𝙙𝙮 𝙒𝙧𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙨

◾ “Eddie Shleyner. Where to begin? Not only a fantastic writer, a historian, a gentleman, someone I'm proud to call a colleague. VeryGoodCopy is a copywriting goldmine. I often go there for inspiration. Eddie is the real deal.”
—𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗥𝗬 𝗗𝗥𝗬, 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗸𝗲𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗘𝘅𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗹𝗲𝘀.𝗰𝗼𝗺

◾ "Eddie Shleyner is one of the few people who can articulate what makes great writing great."
—𝗝𝗨𝗟𝗜𝗔𝗡 𝗦𝗛𝗔𝗣𝗜𝗥𝗢, 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗗𝗲𝗺𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗖𝘂𝗿𝘃𝗲

◾ "Eddie Shleyner is a brilliant writer who understands the art of persuasion — and teaches it — in a way few people can. I'm jealous of how he can say so much in so few words. Big fan!"
—𝗞𝗘𝗩𝗜𝗡 𝗥𝗢𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗦, 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆 𝗖𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳

◾ "Eddie Shleyner, now there's a fella who knows something about copywriting."
—𝗗𝗔𝗩𝗘 𝗚𝗘𝗥𝗛𝗔𝗥𝗗𝗧, 𝗙𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗘𝘅𝗶𝘁 𝗙𝗶𝘃𝗲

◾ "VeryGoodCopy is likely the very best reading you'll do on any given day about copywriting."
—𝗞𝗜𝗠 𝗞𝗥𝗔𝗨𝗦𝗘 𝗦𝗖𝗛𝗪𝗔𝗟𝗠, 𝗔-𝗟𝗶𝘀𝘁 𝗖𝗼𝗽𝘆𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿

◾ “Eddie gets it. He’s a joy to work with and does so at the highest level.”
—𝗦𝗖𝗢𝗧𝗧 𝗗𝗜𝗞𝗞𝗘𝗥𝗦, 𝗔𝘂𝘁𝗵𝗼𝗿, 𝗦𝗰𝗿𝗲𝗲𝗻𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲𝗿, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗳𝗼𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗿 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗢𝗻𝗶𝗼𝗻

Read hundreds of free "micro" lessons, interviews, and courses about copywriting, creativity, and storytelling on VeryGoodCopy.com.

You can also the "Featured" section below for more information about my products and services. 

Thanks again for being here—and enjoy!

Founder

"One of the best copywriting blogs around." 
- Wistia

"One of the content marketing industry's best copywriters." 
- HubSpot

VeryGoodCopy.com is a blog about the art and science of written persuasion. Over 53,000 people subscribe to receive weekly micro-articles about copywriting, content marketing, and psychology.

It's also a direct-response copywriting and content marketing agency that ships clear, concise words that sell.

Click the link below to learn more.

Not doing your job?
 
One of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite shows, 𝘔𝘢𝘥 𝘔𝘦𝘯, is about creativity and productivity: 
 
It opens with Don Draper, creative director, talking to his ad agency’s financial chief, Lane Pryce. Lane is complaining about the copywriters: they’re not being productive in the creative lounge. They’re napping, socializing, playing darts. 
 
Don looks at him: “We do this better than you,” he says. “And part of that is letting our creatives be unproductive… 𝘶𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘭 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦.” 
 
Let's unpack this comment: 
 
Creativity boils down to putting old things together in new ways, which is a two-step process: 
 
1/ get knowledge and experiences 
2/ make unexpected connections 
 
But usually, you can’t force a connection. Usually, you need to 𝘤𝘰𝘢𝘹 it out by doing something unrelated, something distracting. 
 
Like napping. 
Like socializing. 
Like playing darts. 
 
These things 𝘴𝘦𝘦𝘮 unproductive, yeh, but they’re not. 
 
Because while these things distract your conscious mind, your subconscious will continue working, incubating, processing your knowledge and experiences until a random sequence of synapses fires off in your frontal cortex: 
 
And you have a moment of clarity. 
And connect disparate things. 
And then you blurt out: 
 
“Hey, that’s interesting!” 
 
And your colleague looks up and says, “What?” 
 
And you lean back and say, “Well, what if…” 
 
And then you’re off to the races. 
 
“You’re often most creative," says artist Austin Kleon, "when you’re the least productive.” 
 
Don Draper agrees: whether you work in copywriting or any other creative discipline, part of your job is not doing your job. 

yeh?

Founder of VeryGoodCopy.com | Join 95K newsletter subscribers

Long Copy vs. Short Copy vs. No Copy...

Enjoy!

Long Copy vs Short Copy vs No Copy

Do this to develop your copywriting voice: 
 
"Ed," he said. "Close the door. Have a seat." 
 
I closed the door and sat down. My editor sat across from me. Days earlier, he hired me. It was my first copywriting job. I was a year out of school. 
 
"I read your draft," he said. "It’s good—" 
 
"Thanks." 
 
"—for an English major, I mean, nice and flowery,” he said. “But you're not in college anymore—” 
 
I didn’t speak. 
 
“You're a professional copywriter now,” he held up my contract. 
 
I didn’t speak. 
 
"I guess I saw this coming,” he said, “based on your samples.” He pursed his lips. “You know, you can't write like this anymore, all long-winded, like you're some Alexandre fuggin’ Doo-mah—" 
 
I sat there, blinking, bracing myself. 
 
"You’re a copywriter," he said, "copywriters keep it tight." He pressed a key on his laptop. "I just sent you an email," he said. “Please read it.” 
 
I went back to my desk and opened my email. There it was: 
 
𝘌𝘥, 𝘐 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘸𝘩𝘺 𝘐 𝘩𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶. 𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨, 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘰𝘰𝘬𝘴 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘵𝘶𝘥𝘪𝘦𝘥 𝘪𝘯 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘨𝘦. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘸𝘰𝘯’𝘵 𝘥𝘰. 𝘚𝘰𝘳𝘳𝘺. 𝘐 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦 𝘤𝘭𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘴𝘦. 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦'𝘴 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘨𝘦𝘵 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘯𝘦𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘣𝘦: 
 
In his email, my editor included links to classic sales letters by several direct-response icons, including Gary Bencivenga, Gary Halbert, and John Caples. He asked me to transcribe these letters by hand. 
 
Transcribing another writer's work is called 𝙘𝙤𝙥𝙮𝙬𝙤𝙧𝙠𝙞𝙣𝙜 — and it will help you internalize the writer’s syntax and diction, her punctuation and cadence, her voice: it’s all there for the taking. You just have to slow down to absorb it. 
 
(And it's not just for copywriters: Jack London and Hunter S. Thompson and Ben Franklin all copyworked their writing heroes, too.) 
 
“Do you understand why I’m asking you to do this?” 
 
I looked up. My editor was standing there, leaning on my cubicle wall. 
 
“Yeh,” I said. “I understand.” 
 
“You have to be more concise,” he said. “You write like a water hose,” he said, “I need you to be a nail gun." 
 
I nodded. “So," I said, "by hand?” 
 
“Yes,” he said. “If you type it, you’ll go too fast. It defeats the purpose.” 
 
So I did. 
 
Want to develop your copywriting voice? 
 
Transcribe the greats by hand, slowly, meticulously, over and over. 
 
And soon, your work will sound great, too.

JSESSIONID

li_at

Talks about #writing, #marketing, #creativity, #copywriting, and #storytelling

𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴, 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬: 
 
Whatever your politics, it’s impossible to deny Barack Obama’s communication prowess. 
 
He’s a magnificent storyteller, and as fine a writer as they come. And in the preface of his memoir, 𝘈 𝘗𝘳𝘰𝘮𝘪𝘴𝘦𝘥 𝘓𝘢𝘯𝘥, Obama shares how he writes first drafts: 
 
“I only write longhand,” he explains, “computer word processors give the first draft too much polish, and more opportunity to make half-baked ideas tidy enough to appear passable.” 
 
𝗪𝗵𝗲𝗻 𝗜 𝗿𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀, 𝗶𝘁 𝗳𝗲𝗹𝘁 𝗳𝗮𝗺𝗶𝗹𝗶𝗮𝗿. 
 
I recognized the sentiment, though I’d never fully acknowledged it in my own process: 
 
I don’t write longhand (my hand cramps) but I write on my phone a lot, using one finger, 𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨. In fact, almost every idea, note, and yes, first draft I've ever produced for VeryGoodCopy have been written on my phone, in a Google doc, pecking away, slow and steady, 𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬-𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬-𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘬. 
 
Writing this way — with a self-imposed physical restriction — forces me to be thoughtful and intentional and rational about every word, every punctuation mark, everything I put down. When I’m on my phone, the idea is expressed slowly, methodically, unlike when I’m typing on a keyboard at 60 words per minute and everything is suddenly there and seemingly right. 
 
Writing slow is thinking slow, which, according to Nobel Prize winner, Daniel Kahneman, is how we 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 be thinking if we want clear, coherent thoughts. 
 
And what’s good copy if it’s not clear and coherent? 
 
𝗧𝗼 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗲𝗹𝗹, 𝘁𝗿𝘆 𝘄𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬. 
 
And to write slow, create bottlenecks between your thoughts and the words you put on the page, especially when writing a first draft: 
 
Write longhand. 
Write with one finger. 
Write with physical restrictions. 
 
𝗪𝗿𝗶𝘁𝗲, 𝙨𝙡𝙤𝙬. 
 
Go on.

Let me teach you the single-most important copywriting skill...

The skill you can use to craft captivating headlines, subject lines, and just about any other line that will create curiosity, intrigue, desire, and ultimately move your audience to take action...

To subscribe to your newsletter...
To download your resources...
To buy your products...

This is how you craft a truly compelling sentence.

Enjoy!

psst...feel free to ask me anything in the comments.

How to craft a compelling sentence:

When to use cliches in your (copy)writing:

They say cliches will make your writing feel tired and tacky, unoriginal. Avoid them, they say.

Well I promise you they’re referring to literary or journalistic writing. Novels, news articles, magazine columns. Not direct-response marketing designed to compel action.

Some proof: 

A copywriter named Richard Dennis once analyzed every sales letter by the late, great Gary Halbert, the “Prince of Print” — one of the most original direct-response minds of the 20th century — and he found these cliches and idioms used again and again:
- “easy as pie”
- “sacred cow”
- “the real McCoy”
- “needed as a pen”
- “speak of the devil”
- “naked as a jaybird”
- “open and shut case”
- “in the heat of battle”
- “let sleeping dogs lie”
- “red carpet treatment”
- “out of sight, out of mind”
- “make a clean breast of it”
- “blood is thicker than water”
- “every Tom, Dick, and Harry”
- “work your fingers to the bone.”
- “a picture is worth a thousand words”
- “kill the goose that laid the golden eggs.”
- “as common as sawdust around a sawmill.”

Halbert used cliches and idioms constantly. 

But he rarely used clever turns of phrase. Because why risk it? Why risk making The Reader stop and think, even if only for a second? Every time The Reader stops to “get it” you could lose her attention forever. 

Unlike clever writing, colloquial expressions build a bridge to comprehension by making your copy more efficient, by helping you use fewer words to make a clear point. 

Cliches and idioms are tools for solving a specific communication problem. 

Use them as necessary, I say.

yeh?

Take the weekend:

“Never send a letter or a memo on the day you write it,” said copywriter David Ogilvy. “Read it aloud the next morning,” he said, “and then edit it."

Because it’s easy to get too close to your writing, too familiar and comfortable. So distance yourself from your work to regain objectivity, to ensure your message is accurate, and clear.

Take the weekend.

Leave the words. They’ll be there when you’re back, unchanged. But you—your attitude, your perspective—will be different.

And this will make a difference.

One of the best exercises you can do as a copywriter is synthesize longer writing into shorter writing. 
 
Because—and this is almost always true—if you can rewrite something to say the same thing in fewer words, you’ve made the work better. 
 
And a great place to practice is Wikipedia. 
 
Try this: 
 
Rewrite a Wikipedia paragraph to a third of its original length (e.g., edit ~150 words down to ~50 words) without sacrificing the meaning. This is an ultra-effective exercise because concision is already baked into Wikipedia’s publication rules, which state: 
 
“Articles should use only necessary words. This does not mean using fewer words is always better; rather, when considering equivalent expressions, choose the more concise.” 
 
In other words, the platform already has a strict no-fluff policy—and that’s what makes this exercise so good. Editing an already-concise paragraph for brevity demands hypersensitivity to syntax, to sentence structure, to the weight of each word. 
 
It puts your Editor Brain into overdrive, forcing a mindset so unnatural, you’ll walk away from each exercise a markedly more concise writer. 
 
𝘛𝘳𝘺 𝘪𝘵. 
 
Do it once a day, five days a week for a month, and your writing will drastically improve. Do it once a day, five days a week for 𝘢 𝘺𝘦𝘢𝘳, and the quality of your writing will surpass that of most professional copywriters. 

Need an example? 
 
I synthesized this paragraph from HubSpot’s Wikipedia page:

Writing is 𝘱𝘶𝘴𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨. 
Editing is 𝘱𝘶𝘭𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨. 
 
You can't do both at once. You can't simultaneously push and pull. 
 
So pick one, and focus all of your energy on it. You’ll be more productive. 

yeh?

Time illuminates the details. 
Details give way to connections. 
And connections are the basis of creativity, a cornerstone of copywriting.

~

psst... speaking of copy, click "Visit my website" above for a great offer 🤝

Enjoy!

To be a good copywriter:

Writing and ADHD:

“Hello,” said the nurse.

“Hi,” I said.

We were in school. There was a bed and curtain in the corner.

“What hurts?”

“Nothing.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I dunno,” I said. “I can’t focus.” I told her I zone out when I read. “It’s like my brain is reading but I’m somewhere else—” I said. “𝘍𝘢𝘳.”

“Oh,” she said. “And what do you think about?”

I looked at the bed in the corner.

“Are you anxious?”

I was sleepy. The bed looked good.

“𝘌𝘥𝘥𝘪𝘦—”

I snapped back.

“Are you anxious?”

Years later, I still go Far.

Mostly when I’m tired or bored or overwhelmed. And sometimes it’s to my detriment. It’s frustrating, painful.

But other times, it’s helpful:

As a copywriter I brainstorm. I just sit there and think about a problem. And when I do, if I go Far, I lean into it, and embrace the randomness—and then connections happen, and ideas come out. Most are bad or half-baked but that’s fine. Because it’s a numbers game. Because the more bad ideas you have the more good ones you’ll get.

Sometimes they come so fast I get a high, a rush, part excitement and part relief that it’s there, in front of me, the thing, the idea! It’s there! 𝘐 𝘩𝘢𝘷𝘦 𝘪𝘵!

I have it.

And I’m glad I do.

“I’m not anxious,” I said. “I’m just thinking.”

Yeh, years later, I’m glad I have it.

How did you write it?

“Bless The Telephone” is a song by Labi Siffre. He sings it with such tenderness:

~———
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘷𝘰𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘢𝘨𝘢𝘪𝘯
𝘐'𝘷𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘪𝘵𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘥𝘢𝘺 𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘨
𝘌𝘷𝘦𝘯 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘦 𝘢 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶
𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭
𝘞𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘢 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘥 𝘰𝘳 𝘵𝘸𝘰
𝘐'𝘥 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘢𝘮𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶

𝘐𝘵'𝘴 𝘯𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘩𝘦𝘢𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘴𝘢𝘺 "𝘩𝘦𝘭𝘭𝘰"
𝘈𝘯𝘥 "𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘺𝘰𝘶?
𝘐 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶"
𝘉𝘶𝘵 𝘷𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘴𝘰𝘰𝘯 𝘪𝘵'𝘴 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰
𝘈𝘯 𝘰𝘧𝘧𝘪𝘤𝘦 𝘫𝘰𝘣 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘰
𝘞𝘩𝘪𝘭𝘦 𝘐'𝘮 𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘯𝘨𝘴 𝘧𝘰𝘳 𝘺𝘰𝘶

𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦
𝘏𝘰𝘸 𝘢 𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘤𝘢𝘯 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘯𝘨𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶𝘳 𝘥𝘢𝘺
𝘛𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘺𝘰𝘶 𝘢𝘸𝘢𝘺
𝘈𝘸𝘢𝘺
𝘍𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘰𝘧 𝘣𝘦𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘰𝘯𝘦
𝘉𝘭𝘦𝘴𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘭𝘦𝘱𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘦
~———

“How did you write it?” said the interviewer.

“Bless The Telephone”?

“Mhm, yes.”

“Well, I was in my hotel room after a gig…and the phone rang,” said Labi, “and we talked for about half an hour…and then I sat on the bed…and I wrote the song.”

I was so happy to come across this origin story, this example of a creative person using “the moment” as it were—the energy within it—to make something good and honest, something timeless:

"And to find, after all this time," said Labi, "that the song still helps, I'm pleased about that...'cause love is a wonderful thing."

I think Labi was successful, in part, because he did not hesitate.

He didn’t let the moment cool. The tenderness he felt after that call was available to him right then and there—and he captured it. A day later it would have become a memory of tenderness rather than tenderness itself. This distinction matters: he wrote from inside the feeling, not about it.

Labi didn't hesitate before writing.

Perhaps, neither should you.

This morning, I a/b tested these 2 subject lines for my copywriting newsletter:

———
a) AI really saved me here:
b) How I’m using AI (example):
———

Which one sounds more compelling to you? Which one are you more likely to open? Feel free to share your reason(s) in the comments 🙏🏼

Thank you!

For the interested...this is the body of the newsletter: https://lnkd.in/gcCy5vpj

Here are two subject lines for a copywriting newsletter: which one sounds more compelling to you? Which one are you more likely to open?

Two article headlines. No context. Which one sounds more compelling to you? Which one are you more likely to click:

———
a) Watch this to write better:
b) Read this to write better:
———

Feel free to share your reason(s) in the comments 🙏🏼 

Thank you!

Two article headlines. (See above.) No context. Which one sounds more compelling to you? Which one are you more likely to click?

Pictured (in slide 2) is my former Creative team, part of G2's 35-person Marketing department...

From left to right: Lishen, me, Maia, Laura.

I miss working with these folks, but I'm glad for everything I learned during my time with them...

Enjoy!

Copywriting innovations:

Work with me? More info here: 


https://lnkd.in/gwQDQH8p


Thanks for considering!

"The ugly thing in a world of beauty stands out." ~ Eugene Schwartz

Do you think this "ugly" landing page I created is converting MORE or LESS than 5% of visitors: https://lnkd.in/gvbgJyjY 

Feel free to share why you think so in the comments...
Or ask me anything about the page, my creative decisions, etc. 

Thanks!

Inside:

✅ Even good copywriters commit ​this typical landing page mistake​, making it incredibly difficult to achieve a high conversion rate. ​
➜ see lesson A3

✅ ​This “ideal landing page”​ is your transformational blueprint: use it with the companion template (clearly labeled, color-coordinated, and presented side-by-side) so you’ll never need to guess when formatting a landing page. ​
➜ see lesson C2 + C3

✅ For decades, marketers have been utterly derailed by this research mistake. But there's a lesser known and more effective (not to mention easier) way to ​deeply understand your audience​. 
​➜ see lesson D1

✅ ​“Truth Serum” interviews​: use this 2-step technique to keep customers talking, sharing honest and often original insights about your product or service (things no AI could reveal). ​
➜ see lesson D6

✅ The most important section of your landing page has ​these 6 essential elements​, each with its own specific purpose to fulfill. (Complete breakdown inside.) ​
➜ see lesson E1

✅ ​This mechanism is like “conversion insurance” for your landing page​—designed specifically for on-the-fence prospects, you can use it to reliably capture emails for your nurturing and re-marketing campaigns. ​
➜ see lesson E6

✅ ​Want to book more demo calls?​ Use this step-by-step process to create your demo-request page. ​
➜ see lesson G4

✅ How to ​basically “force” your landing page visitors to read your copy​. (Don’t worry, people actually enjoy this—and even welcome it.) ​
➜ see lesson H6

✅ How to “program” your brain (or AI) to quickly and repeatedly write compelling hooks for headlines, subject lines, fascinations, etc. using ​my unique, 3-step process:​ I hold nothing back, demonstrating each step against 18 clear examples. (Plus...I share a template you can use to visually and systematically develop this skill until it’s like second nature.) 
​➜ see lesson I1

✅ ​18 “fascination filters”​ you can apply to basically any piece of information (as long as it’s valuable to your market) to create irresistible headlines, subheads, email subject lines, and more. ​
➜ see lesson I4

✅ Instant credibility: properly leveraging this evolutionary trait (present in all humans) can ​make people immediately trust your claims​—without even reading all of your copy. ​
➜ see lesson L3

✅ ​4 ways to reliably “manufacture” urgency​ on your landing page, creating offers that compel visitors to act much faster. (In some cases, these techniques will even create a feeding frenzy the moment you launch your campaign.) ​
➜ see lesson M1

✅ Give me 5 minutes and I’ll give you ​the testing strategy that helped Eugene Schwartz sell over $100M per year in books​. (Yes, it’s absolutely transferable to landing pages.) ​
➜ see Module 9: Introduction

And much, much more…

Enjoy 86 video "micro" lessons across 9 modules and 2.5 hours of video and start compelling more landing page visitors to buy, download, or subscribe:

Body and Bank Vitality

I help high-performing professionals reclaim their energy, elevate execution, and scale their life and business, without burnout.

💥 My Body Vitality began as an award-winning, scientifically backed fitness transformation program helping busy men and women over 30 burn fat, boost energy, and regain confidence without restrictive diets or long workouts.

But as my clients evolved, so did the mission.

I realised: true transformation isn’t just about getting leaner ...it’s about becoming a stronger Operator across all areas that matter.

That’s why I launched The Operator’s Edge™ -  a high-performance mastermind designed to help founders, professionals, and growth-minded leaders engineer full-spectrum success across:

🔹 Health – Energy systems, recovery, and mindset
🔹 Wealth – Strategy, systems, and scalable execution
🔹 Relationships – Communication, leadership, and legacy

This is where body, business, and balance align.

Inside The Operator’s Edge™, we don’t hustle harder. We operate smarter. Because when you upgrade the Operator, everything else scales faster and more sustainably.

If you're ready to stop trading success in one area for sacrifice in another… let's connect.

My Body Vitality + The Operator’s Edge™ — Transformation Architect

Financial Vitality - 90 Day Financial Transformation Program
Helping individuals optimise their finances and achieve financial fitness using our patented Financial Vitality 3 step transformation model.

Personal Finance Transformation Specialist

RN FINANCIAL CONSULTING

Leading various financial transformation projects for banking clients including Lloyds banking group, Santander Global Banking, Societe Generale and M&G group

Business Transformation Consultant

RBS International

Business Analyst

BNY Mellon

BMS Finance AB Limited

Finance Manager

Award Winning Online Fitness Coach | Author | Finance Expert | Get My Metabolism Boosting Guide or DM "VITALITY" to start Performing at Peak Today!

Most leaders think the bottleneck is the business.
It’s not. It’s the Operator running it.

I know this because I lived it.

After 20+ years in corporate finance. I was the classic “successful but burned out” leader. On paper, I was moving millions for global banks. Behind the scenes, I was trading health, energy, and relationships just to keep up.

That’s when I rebuilt myself from the ground up.

From chubby banker to award-winning author of The Body & Bank Connection.
From endless corporate hours to coaching Fortune 500 executives on sustainable high performance.
From burning out to architecting The Operator’s Edge™ — a framework for scaling Energy, Enterprise, and Legacy without sacrifice.

Over the years, I’ve:

- Coached hundreds of leaders — from founders to C-suite execs

- Delivered keynotes & workshops on high performance without burnout

- Been featured in FOX, The Times, International Business Times, Digital Journal, and more

Why does this matter?

Because I’ve lived the grind. I know what it feels like to win on paper while quietly losing behind the scenes. And I know from experience that success without energy and legacy isn’t real success at all.

📌 Core Programs:

- 12-Week Accelerator → Reset energy + execution fast

- The Operator’s Edge Mastermind™ → Annual container for scaling Energy • Enterprise • Legacy

- Speaking & Workshops → High-performance without burnout, for teams & events

If you’re scaling but feel the cracks in your energy, systems, or leadership capacity… you’re not broken. You’re just operating with an outdated system.

This is where we fix that permanently.

📩 Want to scale your business and your capacity to lead it?
DM me “EDGE” to apply.

Let’s turn your performance into your advantage.

Ritchie Nkana

Purpose beats pressure.

I’ve coached leaders who try to “motivate” with pressure. It works… briefly.

The real lift happens when the work serves a clear purpose. People lean in and results follow.

Human-centred leadership isn’t soft... it’s smart. 

When teams connect meaning with metrics and feel genuinely supported,
performance climbs (engaged units often see ~23% higher profitability and ~18% higher productivity). 

Build the PURPOSE → PLAN Bridge (15 min, monthly):

1. Why Map (Me): Write your 1-sentence mission for this season.

2. Value Link (Team): Turn it into 3 outcomes your team owns.

3. Metric Match (Org): Tie each outcome to a company KPI.

4. Ritualise: Install one weekly ritual (try the “Purpose 5”... open Monday with five minutes connecting tasks to mission).

Pressure is a short sprint. Purpose is a flywheel.

Helping Founders & Executives Scale Without Burnout | Ex-Banker Turned Peak Performance Architect | The Operator’s Edge™

Your team isn’t burning out because they work too many hours.

They’re burning out because they don’t feel safe or connected.

Gallup estimates 59% of employees are “quiet quitting”... not engaged, just filling a seat.

That’s not just a workload issue.
That’s a leadership issue.

I was working with a senior leader who was proud of how “hard his team worked”.

Long hours.
Weekend emails.
Always “on”.

But their engagement scores were sliding.
Turnover was creeping up.

He asked me:
“Ritchie, do we just need more resilience training?”

I asked him a different question:
“If you weren’t in the room, would your team feel safe telling the truth about how work feels?”

He paused.
Then admitted:

“Probably not.”

When we spoke to the team, here’s what came out...

- They didn’t feel they could say no without consequences
- They couldn’t see how their work linked to any bigger purpose
- They felt decisions were made to them, not with them

On paper, they were well paid.
In reality, they were burnt out and disconnected.

Burnout is a culture signal, not a personal failure
Professionals don’t just burn out from the amount of work.

They burn out when there’s a chronic gap between:
1. Autonomy – Do I have any real control over my work and time?
2. Purpose – Does this matter beyond the next KPI?
3. Culture & safety – Is it safe to say “this isn’t sustainable” without being punished?

Research keeps linking psychological safety and healthy culture with lower burnout and better performance.

This is where performance-minded leaders have real leverage.

What leaders can actually do about burnout...

1️⃣ Normalise honest check-ins
Swap “Everything okay?” (which invites a polite lie) for:
- “On a scale of 1–10, how sustainable is your workload right now?”
- “What feels most unsustainable about how we work?”

Then listen. Really listen. And resist the urge to get defensive.

2️⃣ Offer real flexibility, anchored in trust
Let people influence how they get to outcomes:
- Meeting-free focus blocks
- Flexible start/finish times where possible
- Clear norms around out-of-hours messages

Flexibility without trust is just PR.
Trust without flexibility is just a slogan.

3️⃣ Connect tasks to a clear purpose
Regularly show people:
- The customer impact of their work
- How their role links to the mission
- Why this project matters now

Burnout accelerates when work feels like an endless to-do list with no bigger “why”.

You can’t yoga your way out of a culture problem.

But you can design a team environment where burnout is the exception, not the norm.

What one change would you make to reduce burnout on your team?

Drop it in the comments... your answer might help another leader reading this.

Two right stages will beat 20 “high-performing” posts.
Every. Single. Time.

Because momentum doesn’t love content.
It loves pipelines.

Let’s be honest:
Posting is not a pipeline.
It’s an activity.

Most founders and consultants are “consistent on LinkedIn” and still:

- Ride lumpy revenue
- Have slow, meandering deals
- Live in “just circling back on this…” threads

The problem isn’t that content doesn’t work.
It’s that content alone doesn’t move people through a clear decision path.

A stage pipeline does. 👇

Here Why a Stage Pipeline Beats Constant Posting...

1️⃣ You start with rooms, not reach
You stop chasing views from random people.
You start choosing aligned rooms where your ideal buyers already gather.

- Every talk becomes:
- A pre-qualified room
- Of the right people
- Paying full attention

That’s not “reach”. That’s leverage.

2️⃣ You present one argument, not 50 disconnected tips

A signature talk lets you walk people through:

Problem → Perspective shift → Proof → Pathway → Next step
…in one sitting.

That’s how you compress a 3–6 month “warm-up period”
 into a 45–60 minute experience.

They don’t just “like your content”.
They get you. And they remember you.

3️⃣ You design follow-up as a system, not a hope

Every stage feeds a simple, repeatable sequence:

1. Lead capture

2. Value (debrief, resource, or short training)
Call / next step

3. You know exactly what happens after each talk.

No more “great session, then nothing”.

This is the B2S GET piece:
A repeatable way to Get aligned stages, deliver your talk, and move the right people into your world... predictably.

In our Brand→Stage™ work, the target is simple:

By the end, you don’t just “feel better about speaking”.

You have:
- A signature talk designed to convert
- A stage-booking system
- A pipeline aimed at 2–4 client-winning stages a month

Not once.
Every month.

That’s what beats 20 posts...
A pipeline you can actually point at.

If you’d rather manage a simple stage pipeline
than wonder whether the algorithm likes you this week…

👉 DM me “STAGE”

and I’ll walk you through the exact structure we use to build it.

Don’t crash into Friday. Land the plane.

My old pattern: sprint to Friday, skid into the weekend, spend Sunday rebuilding a cockpit. 

When I started landing the plane... a simple 45-minute reset, Mondays got lighter and results stacked without extra hours.

Weeks don’t end themselves. If you don’t close loops, they tax your energy, focus, and relationships. 

A tight, repeatable Friday ritual is how operators conserve fuel and carry momentum.

The 45-Minute Full-Spectrum Reset (Operator’s Edge™): 

1. 10 min — Operator (Energy): Rate Sleep, Stress, Movement, Nutrition (1–10). Choose one micro-fix for next week.

2. 10 min — Architect (Direction): Reconfirm North Star + This Quarter’s 3. Kill one stale task that doesn’t serve them.

3. 10 min — Builder (Execution): Move open loops. Set 2 MITs for Monday + block your 2×90 focus slots.

4. 15 min — Leader (Relationships): Send 3 quick notes (thanks / repair / nudge). Book one meaningful touch for next week.

DM  “RESET” and I’ll send the full checklist.

Identity before strategy.

I used to plan from tasks and built faster… in the wrong direction.

When I started planning from identity...

- Who am I this quarter? 
- What does that person do this week?

the noise dropped and the wins stacked...

Strategy without identity breeds scattered execution.

Identity clarifies trade-offs and turns “maybe” into “no”.

The Sunday Compass (15 minutes):

1. North Star (1 line): Who you’re becoming this quarter.

2. 3 Bets: The three outcomes that change the game.

3. 1 Promise: One non-negotiable behaviour that proves it daily.

4. Stoplist (≤3): Good things you’re not doing this week.

5. Moments That Matter: One health, one work, one relationship moment... scheduled.

Start from who, then plan the how.

Stop living in your DMs just to keep your speaking calendar full.
Your problem isn’t “not enough hustle”.

It’s no stage system.

A lot of great speakers secretly resent their speaking strategy.

They love the stage…

But hate the pitching.
The ghosting.
The “grab a coffee and see” chats that go nowhere.

Here’s a 3-step Stage OS that turns that chaos into a predictable, energising pipeline 👇

1️⃣ Build a foundation that pre-sells you

Before you send a single pitch...

Nail your sharp niche:
- I help [who] achieve [outcome] through [topic].
- Make your profile a landing page, not a CV.
- Your banner, headline and About section should scream that promise.
- Add 1–2 clear lead magnets tied to your talk
 (scorecard, checklist, mini-training).

A good host should land on your profile and instantly think:

“This is exactly what our audience needs.”

If they’re confused, they won’t enquire.
Confused hosts don’t book speakers.

2️⃣ Only say yes to “energising stages”

Your metric is not number of talks.
It’s number of aligned rooms.

Filter ruthlessly:
- Would you happily speak here for free and leave energised?
- Is the audience 70–80% your ideal buyer or key connector?
- Does the format match your best delivery style (keynote, fireside, workshop)?

If it fails the energy/fit test, it’s a no.

Random rooms = random results.
Aligned rooms = compounding demand.

3️⃣ Run “stage ops”, not vibes

Treat speaking like a pipeline, not a passion project:

▪️ One simple tracking hub
Outreach → Status → Next action → Result.

 ▪️  A story bank
Organised by themes, objections and outcomes so you’re never starting from scratch.

▪️  Weekly 15-min review:
Who needs a follow-up?
What stages moved?
What stories/talks need sharpening?

This is where burnout disappears.
You’re no longer “hustling for gigs”; you’re running a repeatable machine.

A sharp foundation, energising filters, and a simple Stage OS
will do more for your speaking career than another 50 cold pitches.

👉 If you’re already speaking and want a simple template to track and organise your stage pipeline, DM me “SYSTEM” and I’ll share the breakdown with you.

You’re not “low energy”.
Your system is misaligned.

Most operators I speak to heading into 2026 share the same Monday pattern:

7–8 hours “in bed”
Smart ring says: Sleep 78 / Readiness 62
Double espresso by 9:15
Gym 4x/week… still wired at night, flat by 3pm

On paper, they’re “doing the right things”.

In reality, their energy system is running with conflicting rules.

2026 reality check...

We’re now in a world where energy is fully systemic:

Wearables track sleep, HRV, recovery and strain in real time.

AI dashboards tell you when to push vs when to recover.

Sleep tech and holistic recovery are mainstream, not niche.

But most high performers still treat energy like:

Willpower + caffeine + guilt workouts.

That’s not a high-performance strategy.
That’s an emergency coping mechanism.

Energy is a system, not a mood
Energy isn’t “I feel on / I feel off”.

It’s the output of how your systems are configured.

Think of your body like an operating system:

If one core process is corrupted, everything lags.

The operators still with margin on Friday usually have 3 things dialled in 👇

The 3-Part Energy Reset for 2026...

1️⃣ Sleep Architecture – how you switch off

- One anchor time: fixed wake-up, even on weekends
- 90-minute runway: no email / “one more task” before bed
- Light hygiene: dim lights, no harsh overheads late
- If readiness is consistently low → today is not a PR day

You can’t out-train, out-supplement or out-hustle bad sleep architecture.

2️⃣ Recovery Load – how you bounce back

- Let recovery/strain scores set effort, not ego
- Run a 2:1 rhythm → 2 intense days, 1 lower-intensity day
- Book walks, mobility, sauna, reflection like investor meetings

Recovery is not what’s “left over” after work and training.
It is the work.

3️⃣ Hormone Signals – how your body prioritises

- Morning light + movement within 60–90 minutes of waking
- Protein-forward breakfast to stabilise blood sugar and mood
- Caffeine cut-off 8–10 hours before bed
- If, after 8–12 weeks of foundations, you’re still wrecked → that’s a cue to involve a professional, not guess in the supplement aisle

Think of hormones as your internal priority system.
If they’re misaligned, everything feels uphill.

You don’t need “more motivation” in 2026.

You need:

- Sleep that actually restores you
- Recovery that matches your ambition
- Hormones that are signalling “go”, not “survive”

Dial the system in, and your calendar, training and relationships all feel lighter.

If you want 2026 to be the year you stop flirting with burnout and start operating with margin:

👉 DM “ENERGY RESET”

and I’ll send you the 3-Part Energy Reset as a one-page checklist you can keep next to your desk.

Scaling without recovery isn’t leadership.
It’s delusion dressed up as hustle.

I sat across from a CEO doing $20M+ in ARR.
Looked like a winner on paper.

 But he opened with this:

“I’m exhausted.
 I can’t remember the last time I thought clearly.”

This wasn’t burnout.
It was self-inflicted operational collapse.

Here’s the brutal truth:

Most high-performers only realise they’ve over-optimised for speed…
once they’re too fried to think straight.

They built the engine, but forgot to protect the driver.

I didn’t give him a time-blocking hack...

I gave him a mirror:

- Why do you feel guilty resting?
- What are you hiding from by “staying busy”?
- Who taught you that exhaustion = effectiveness?

That cracked it open...

Then we installed:
The Recovery OS™ for High-Growth Founders

1. Energy capacity tracking (not just tasks)
2. 9-day performance/rest cycles
3. One “unavailable” day per week
4. Strategic decompression before every board week

Not fluffy wellness nonsense.
This is high-performance hygiene.

Rest isn’t relief. It’s ROI.

You’re not scaling the company.
You’re scaling your decision-making stamina.

90 days later, he told me:

“I’m sharper than I’ve been in years.
 And weirdly… everything’s growing faster.”

Want the Recovery OS template I use with high-growth founders?
DM “ENERGY” and I’ll send it to you.

If your strategy for dealing with pressure is
 “just push through”…

You’re not being resilient.
You’re running on fumes.

Most high performers don’t need more grit.

They need a better system for handling pressure without burning out.

Earlier this year, a client said to me:
“Ritchie, I think I’ve lost my edge.”

From the outside, everything looked great:
- Senior role.
- Great comp.
- Strong reputation.

On the inside:

- Sunday dread, every week
- Sleep all over the place
- Training reduced to the odd “guilt workout”

He thought the answer was to push harder.

But as we dug in, it wasn’t a motivation issue.
It was a resilience system issue.

We didn’t start with “do more”.
We started with:

- Recovery cycles – building real off-switches into his week

- Self-awareness – spotting his stress signals early, not when he’d already snapped

- Workload boundaries – deciding what a sustainable week actually looked like

Within a few weeks, his output was the same (in some areas, better)…
 
but his state was completely different.

Resilience = how well your systems handle stress

Resilience isn’t:

“Just keep going.”

Real resilience is:

“I can stay engaged under pressure because I know how to replenish.”

That comes from systems, not slogans:

- Recovery cycles – planned, protected, regular
- Self-awareness – knowing your tells (sleep, mood, mistakes, irritability)
- Boundaries – clear lines around time, focus, availability

You don’t wait for burnout and then ask,

 “Am I resilient?”

You train the capacity long before the storm hits.

The 1-Minute Reset (use this today)
Here’s a tiny pattern interrupt I install with clients 👇

1️⃣ Breathe (20 seconds)
4 seconds in through the nose
4-second hold
6–8 seconds out
Repeat a few rounds.
You’re telling your nervous system: you’re safe.

2️⃣ Reprioritise (20–30 seconds)
Ask:

“Given my energy right now, what are the 1–2 things that actually move the needle?”

Write them down. Park the rest.
Your job isn’t to finish everything... it’s to finish the right things.

3️⃣ Reset posture (10–20 seconds)
Un-hunch your shoulders.
Plant your feet.
Open your chest, look slightly up.

You’re signalling: I’m in control. I can handle this.

That’s your 60-second bridge
between “I’m overwhelmed” and “I’m back in the driver’s seat.”

Resilience isn’t a personality trait reserved for a few.
It’s a trainable system made of recovery, awareness and boundaries.

What’s your go-to reset when the day gets heavy?

Share it in the comments...someone else might need that play today.

Resilience is trained like a muscle.
Most founders just never step into the mental gym.

I watched a brilliant operator quietly fall apart while their company took off.

Revenue up.
Team growing.
Brand exploding.

But behind the scenes?

- 4 hours of sleep
- Constant reactivity
- Numb to wins, triggered by every setback

They thought resilience meant “toughing it out”.

It doesn’t.

Resilience is your nervous system’s ability to recover so you can keep making clear decisions under pressure.

Here’s the simple Mental Gym Circuit I give high-responsibility leaders 👇

1️⃣ Daily reset (5–10 mins)

- Sit in silence or use a short guided meditation.
- Rule: phone in another room.
- No inputs. No scrolling. Just a hard stop for your brain.

You’re teaching your system: “We get to switch off on purpose.”

2️⃣ Mental clean-up (5 mins)

Journal on three prompts:
- What am I worried about?
- What’s in my control?
- What’s not?

Turn vague anxiety into a shortlist of moves.
Clarity is nervous system medicine.

3️⃣ Active recovery (15–30 mins)

Walk without your phone.
Light training or stretching.
Play with your kids or your dog.

Anything that reminds your body:

“I am safe. I can downshift.”
This isn’t “nice to have”.

This is where your next good decision comes from.

Do this consistently and one thing changes fast...

Your time-to-bounce-back shrinks.
You still feel stress but you don’t stay stuck in it.

That’s what resilience looks like in the real world.

👉 Your turn:
 What’s your go-to resilience ritual when the pressure spikes?

 Drop it in the comments... you might give someone the tool they need this week.

Digital detox isn’t a luxury... it’s the fastest way to reclaim your energy.

Right now, around 28% of adults are online almost constantly
and psychological research keeps linking heavy screen use to higher anxiety, stress and lower wellbeing.

But most leaders still think, “I just need more discipline.”

When I looked at my own days, I realised my day was effectively over by 10:30am.

Not because I was done with work…
but because my attention was cooked.

Typical morning:
- Wake up → grab phone
- 47 notifications before coffee
- Email, WhatsApp, LinkedIn, news… and maybe, if there’s time, my own priorities

By 9am, my brain was in reaction mode.
I felt wired, not sharp.

So I ran a 7-day experiment:
- Phone-free mornings until 9am
- Non-essential notifications OFF (social, news, random apps)
- Scheduled screen-free breaks: 10 minutes every 90 minutes, no phone, just walking or paper

No biohacks. No new app. Just less digital noise.

By day 3, my focus felt… quiet.
By day 7, I was finishing deep work before most people finished their inbox.

Most leaders don’t have an energy problem.
They have a constant stimulation problem.

Your nervous system wasn’t designed for:

- Infinite scroll before breakfast
- 12 parallel chat threads
- A screen in your face from 6am to 11pm

You can’t expect deep focus when your brain never gets a clean boot-up.

Try this 3-Step Energy Reset for one week:

1️⃣ Phone-Free First Hour
 No phone for the first 60 minutes after waking.
 Movement, reflection, or planning only.
 If you need an alarm, buy a £10 analog clock.

2️⃣ Notification Sweep (5 minutes)
Turn off all non-essential notifications: social media, news, promo emails, random apps.
Keep only: calls, calendar, genuine emergencies.
Your attention is not a public utility.

3️⃣ Analog Planning Block
 Before you open your inbox, grab pen and paper.
 Write your top 3 priorities for the day.
 Only then open your laptop/phone and let the world in.

Run this for 7 days and watch what happens to your:
- Focus
- Energy
- Background anxiety

You don’t have to disappear offline to feel better.
You just need better digital boundaries.

AI isn’t burning you out.
Your content boundaries are.

AI didn’t suddenly make people noisy.
It just removed all the friction.

Now anyone can spin up 10 posts, 3 carousels, and a newsletter in an afternoon.

Your feed isn’t “smarter”.
It’s just louder.

Look at your last week honestly:

How many times did you open LinkedIn “for 2 minutes”…
…and crawl out 25 minutes later with 5 new tactics and 10 new tabs?

By Friday, your brain isn’t tired from leading...

It’s tired from constantly processing other people’s priorities.

That’s the real shift AI created..

Not killer robots.
Just infinite, low-friction content competing for your nervous system.

For performance-minded leaders, that has consequences:
- Your brain was not built to evaluate 10,000 ideas a week
- Every “maybe I should try this too” is a tiny energy leak
- Decision fatigue doesn’t start in the boardroom... it starts in your feed

In an AI-saturated world, the leaders who win aren’t the ones who consume the most.

They’re the ones with the tightest filters and strongest boundaries.

Energy > information. Every time.

Tool: The Digital Boundary Stack (7-day test)

1. No-feed mornings
No social feeds before your first deep work block.
Use that window to write, plan, or solve one meaningful problem.

2. Single-source learning
Pick one primary AI / industry resource (newsletter, podcast, or creator).
Commit to it for 30 days. Ignore the rest. Depth over noise.

3. The 20:10 shutdown ritual
20 mins: close loops, capture unfinished thoughts, set tomorrow’s top 3
10 mins: offline wind-down (walk, stretch, journal.. no screens)

You’re not fighting AI.
You’re upgrading your operating system to live sanely in an AI-amplified world.

Your energy stops leaking through 100 open tabs and starts concentrating where it matters: decisions, relationships, strategy.

If you want more installs like this across energy, systems, and leadership, hit follow and share this with a leader who keeps blaming “AI burnout” when it’s really their inputs and boundaries.

Burnout isn’t a tough-it-out problem. It’s a design problem.

In my banking days, I sprinted on fumes. One quarter, numbers were up… 

and I blanked on a colleague’s name in a meeting.

That’s not ambition. That’s a warning light.

High performers don’t burn out because they’re weak. They burn out because their operating system rewards output and ignores recovery.

Smart organisations are moving from wellness perks to proactive prevention... less “firefighting”, more built-in guardrails. 

It works at the personal level too. 

M.E.S.H. your week (20 minutes to install):

1. M—Margins: Book two 25-min buffers each day for breathing room + admin.

2. E—Energy Floors: Never let sleep drop below 6.5h two nights in a row; if it does, delete tomorrow’s lowest-value task.

3. S—Stop Rules: Pick one: no Slack after 7pm / no-meeting Friday mornings / phone out of the bedroom.

4. H—Humans: Run a weekly check-in (boss, peer, or partner): What’s heavy? What’s helping? What needs to change?

You don’t need more grit... you need guardrails.

DM “MESH” and I’ll send the 1-page planner.

If your signature talk ends in applause but not enquiries…
You don’t have a talk.
You have a show.

Your signature talk is not a performance.
It’s a system that quietly prints clients.

Most people chase:
👏 “That was amazing!”
👏 “You’re such a good speaker!”

Then wonder why their calendar is still empty.

I learned this the hard way...

Years ago, I stepped off stage to a standing ovation.
People loved it.

Tons of compliments.
…but not a single call booked.

That’s when it hit me:

The talk was built for approval, not action.

After speaking on 100+ stages this year, here’s what I know:

The talks that convert are designed like systems, not performances.

They all share 3 essentials 👇

1️⃣ A clear arc
- Where are you taking the room?
- What’s the before → after?
- What problem are they walking in with?
- Who are they by the end of the talk?

If the audience can’t answer, “What changed for me?”
They’ll clap… and carry on with their day.

2️⃣ A transformational moment
One insight, story, or demo that makes people feel:

“I can’t go back to how I was doing this.”
Not 27 tips.

One moment that lands in their nervous system.
That’s what flips them from interested to I need to go deeper with this.

3️⃣ A purposeful call to action
Not a hypey pitch.
Not “so yeah… if you want to chat, feel free to reach out.”

A next step that feels obvious and safe:
- A scorecard
- A debrief call
- A short workshop for their team

Clear, specific, low-friction.

In an AI world where timelines are flooded with content,
45 minutes in a room can out-convert 6 months of posting…

…but only if your talk runs on a simple system:

Hook → Framework → Story → Gentle CTA

1. Hook – Name the exact tension in the room and open a loop.

2. Framework – Give them a simple model for how you solve it.

3. Story – Layer in 1–2 emotional, specific stories that prove the framework.

4. Gentle CTA – Invite them to take one clear, low-risk step with you.

When you architect your signature talk this way, the stage becomes:

✅ A diagnostic for the right people
✅ A filter for wrong-fit clients
✅ A warm runway into your world

No theatrics required.
Just structure.

If you want your 2026 signature talk to act like a client-generating asset (not a one-off performance), DM “SYSTEM” and I’ll share the outline I use before every stage.

Ignoring recovery costs more than you think.

A founder I coach loved to “run hot.” Revenue up, Slack green, calendar packed.

Then six weeks happened: a mispriced proposal, a key engineer resigned, and a partner launch slipped.

Not strategy problems. Red-Zone Tax problems... tiny errors that get very expensive when leaders normalise tired.

When recovery is optional, cost shows up as:

- Rework (quality drops, projects stretch).
- Narrow decisions (fewer options, more risk).
- Brittle culture (retention and morale quietly bleed).

Recovery isn’t a spa day. It’s infrastructure for clean execution.

Install: Recovery-as-Infrastructure (RAI)

1. Pace Bands: Red (no new bets), Yellow (maintain), Green (build). Share weekly.

2. Quality Gates: Any decision >£10k impact requires a “fresh mind” review (sleep + walk + water) before commit.

3. Cadence Map: Protect one no-meeting morning + a 2-hour deep-work block per lead + a 15-min Friday reset ritual.

4. Energy Telemetry: Track sleep/win/loss signals in retro... mistakes, context switches, handoff delays.

You don’t need more force. You need less friction.

If you want my RAI checklist, DM “RAI” and I’ll share it.
(Leaders who install this usually see rework fall and first-pass quality rise within a quarter.)

If your week keeps derailing by Wednesday, it’s not a discipline problem.
It’s a system problem.

High-performing founders and operators tell me the same story:

“I start Monday with good intentions… then the week hijacks me.”

The fix isn’t “trying harder”.

It’s installing a weekly planning ritual that does the heavy lifting for you.

Here’s a 4-part Builder Routine you can run every Sunday in 30–40 minutes:

1️⃣ Decompress: clear the mental cache

Do a quick brain dump of everything open: tasks, worries, ideas
Capture it all in one place (not 5 different apps)

Mark anything that is actually urgent vs just noisy
You can’t design a calm week with a cluttered mind.

2️⃣ Align: reconnect with your quarterly priorities

Look at your 1–3 main quarterly outcomes. Then ask:

“What must move this week to stay on track?”
“What can I safely ignore this week?”

Pull 3–5 concrete moves from your quarterly plan into this week.
This keeps you out of “busy but off-course” mode.

3️⃣ Architect: build your Ideal Week skeleton

Before real life hits, design the structure:

Deep work blocks (2–3 per week)
Meeting windows (not scattered everywhere)

CEO time: thinking, strategy, relationship-building
Personal non-negotiables: training, family, recovery

Then, only after that, layer in existing commitments.

4️⃣ Commit: write tomorrow’s plan today

Finish with a simple question:

“What does a win look like for Monday?”

Write 3–5 concrete actions for the next day and put them in time blocks.

You should be able to close your laptop on Sunday thinking,
 “Future me is handled.”

Weekly chaos is optional when your planning ritual is repeatable, not random.

👉 Do you currently have a Sunday planning ritual, or are you still “winging it” week by week?

If you’d like the Weekly Builder checklist I use with clients, DM me “PLAN” and I’ll share it.

The next wave of authority won’t be built in feeds.
It’ll be built on stages.

Content has been the default move for a decade.

“Post every day.”
 “Document the journey.”
 “Create more, more, more.”

But here’s what I’m seeing with operators who are actually winning:

They’re not trying to out-post AI.
They’re getting their pressure-tested story onto stages, podcasts, and summits and letting one clear talk do the heavy lifting.

Because when you speak live, a few things happen:
- Your message has to tighten.
- Your story has to be real.
- Your conviction has to show up in your body, not just your copy.

You can fake polish in a feed.
You can’t fake presence in front of a room.

Think of it like this:

1. Content-only game
- Visibility = volume.
- You’re judged by frequency and aesthetics.
- AI can mimic 80% of what you do.

2. Brand→Stage game
- Visibility = moments.. live, memorable, human.
- You’re judged by clarity, story, and how you hold space.
- AI can’t stand in for you.

And the leverage?

A signature talk can become:
- Your best sales call, done once to many.
- Your best nurture sequence, delivered in 45–60 minutes.
- Your best content engine, sliced into clips, posts, and emails for months.

Instead of wondering, “What should I post today?”
You start asking, “Where should I deliver my talk next?”

That’s a different level of authority.
And a much saner way to build demand.

If you’re tired of trying to “stand out” with more posts and you’re ready to build a talk that carries your brand for you, DM me “STAGE” and I’ll send over the simple Brand→Stage™ structure I use to turn a lived story into a client-winning talk.

If you’re planning 2026 with a 2023 skillset…
You’re the risk, not the market.

Every serious future-of-work report keeps converging on the same pattern:

The leaders who’ll still be winning in 2026 aren’t just “smart” or “experienced”.

They’re deliberately building 5 leadership skills that compound 👇

1️⃣ Adaptability.. your change muscle
 You pivot without panic.
 You update your playbook fast.
 You model calm when everything moves.

If everything around you shifts and you’re still running last year’s play… that’s not stability, that’s fragility.

2️⃣ Emotional Intelligence.. your trust engine
 You read the room accurately.
 You regulate your own state.
 People leave conversations with you calmer, not tenser.

In high-change environments, people don’t follow the smartest leader.
They follow the one they trust.

3️⃣ Experimental Thinking.. your innovation lab
 You run small tests, often.
 You treat failure as data.
 You reward curiosity over certainty.

“Set and forget” strategies now age in months, not years.
 If you’re not experimenting, you’re guessing.

4️⃣ Critical Thinking.. your noise filter
 You slow down before big calls.
 You challenge assumptions.
 You separate evidence from opinion.

AI has made information cheap and judgement priceless.
Your edge is no longer what you know, but how you think.

5️⃣ Tech-Savviness.. your multiplier
 You don’t outsource “the tech stuff”.
 You ask sharper questions of data & AI.
 You use tools to free humans for deeper work.

Digital and AI fluency are now baseline leadership skills, not “IT’s job”.

Your 2026 Leadership Self-Check (Wednesday edition)

Rate yourself 1–5 on each:
- Adaptability
- Emotional intelligence
- Experimental thinking
- Critical thinking
- Tech-savviness

Then ask yourself, honestly:

➡️ Which ONE skill would move the needle most for my impact in 2026?
➡️ What’s one concrete action I’ll take in the next 30 days to build it?

I use a simple 7-slide 2026 readiness check with leadership teams.. it usually triggers some uncomfortable (and useful) truths.

👉 DM “2026” if you’d like the 7-slide self-assessment I use with clients, and I’ll share it with you.

Context switching is wrecking your output.

In my banking days I wore “multitasker” like a medal. I was paying a hidden tax on every switch... busy, not effective.

When I split my week into two lanes, output jumped without longer hours.

Most operators run one cluttered lane. Meetings, deep work, and admin fight for the same space.

Systems win when you dedicate capacity and reduce switching.

The Two-Lane Workweek (install in 20 minutes):

Lane 1 — Focus Blocks: 2×90 minutes/day, Mon–Thu. One mission per block, notifications off.

Lane 2 — Flow Blocks: Batch meetings, comms, and admin into 2–3 windows/day.

Friday Reset: 30 minutes to review wins, move unfinished work, and set next week’s 2 MITs.

Guardrails: No meetings inside Focus Blocks. Non-urgent pings land in Flow.

You don’t need more hours... you need better lanes.

Flexible work isn’t a perk. It’s fuel... if you set the guardrails.

A founder I coach went “hybrid” without boundaries. Result: longer days, blurrier nights. 

We added simple flex rules... capacity rose, guilt fell.

Flex helps only when time and attention have edges.

Tool = F.L.E.X. Guardrails (install in 15 mins): 

- F—Focus Hours: 2×90 min/day, calendar-protected.
- L—Location Logic: “Office for X, home for Y” (decide once, review monthly).
- E—Email/DM Cut-offs: Hard stop (e.g., 7pm) + delayed send.
- X—Exchange: If you stretch one day, trade back time within 48 hours.

What one guardrail are you installing this week and the trade-back you’ll use when it slips?

taplio

The Battle

🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner

Ritchie Nkana

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreRitchie Nkana's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

taplio

The Battle

🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner

Ritchie Nkana

Followers

Posts

Engagements

Likes

Performance Score.css-goub6s{font-size:var(--chakra-fontSizes-md);font-weight:500;color:var(--chakra-colors-gray-600);display:block;margin-top:var(--chakra-space-1);}🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner's LinkedIn Performance

Performance ScoreRitchie Nkana's LinkedIn Performance

Ready to grow your LinkedIn presence?

Performance Score🇺🇦 Eddie Shleyner's LinkedIn Performance