The 'Why-Why-How' Technique

AI will mean one thing: more obvious content. Chatgpt has lowered the bar for online writing, which means anyone, within minutes, can publish an article on the internet.

The result? Newsfeeds will be flooded with the ‘10 Productivity Tips’ and ‘Morning Routine Hacks’. The good news? It presents an opportunity for those who write human stories to win.

In 2024, there will be a great divide.

There will floods of content that scream 'a robot created this' and there will be the identifiable few that stand out like a sore thumb because they have something robots don't, a human touch.

The ‘Obvious Content’ test

Obvious content is stuff that you can think of in 5 minutes flat. The stuff you read and think ‘yeah…duh’.

Let’s take an example.

‘The 5 am Morning Routine That x10 My Productivity’ is an article we all know far too well. So well, you could probably list off the stuff it mentions without even reading it:

• Morning journaling
• Get outside for 45 minutes
• Write a clear to-do list for the day
• Morning reading (10 pages of non-fiction)

And the reasons why a morning routine works? Well, again, the more obvious stuff:

• Sunlight is good for the brain in the morning
• The morning is quiet and you are uninterrupted
• You have space to think in the morning when the day hasn’t started

You see it’s obvious. The ‘Obvious Content Test’ is simple. If you can think it in 5 minutes, get a big red marker and cross it out. In short, you want to discount all obvious content from your writing.

The obvious content is the bar. Most people stop at the bar. They press publish because they think the hard work is done when words are on the page.

But they’re wrong.

How to reverse engineer obvious content

Here’s the weird thing, most great content comes from obvious content taken one step further. One of my favourite ways to transform content is with the ‘why-why-how’ technique.

Here’s how it works.

Step 1: Take your obvious content: Write a clear to-do list

And then do one simple thing, ask why? Why is a clear to-do list a game-changer to your productivity?

Well because it keeps you focused (it’s next to you all day), it should be tackling the biggest tasks for the day (80/20 rule), and it keeps you accountable.

Step 2: And then ask again ‘why is that important?’

Human beings have something called a present bias. They find it difficult to act in the interest of their future self, a to-do list makes the present front of mind. Also if you’re anything like me, having something to tick off gives you a dopamine hit. There’s nothing like ticking off something that’s been on your list.

Step 3: Then ask how?

Now, let’s ask ‘how’ questions. So let’s take a to-do list. Okay so you’ve got a to-do list but how do you make it an effective list?

• Where do you store it?
• Do you have rules around it?
• What happens to the stuff you miss?
• Are you rewarded when you hit your targets?

Now we have a new angle. It’s not a clear to-do list that is the productivity hack it’s the use of it, it’s the rules you put around it, it’s the consequences of not doing it, it’s the rewards you give yourself when you cross all of them off.

Then add your unique angle

In addition to the 'Why-Why-How' technique you must do two things:

1. Tell a story
2. Sprinkle in your personality

Just like I did here...

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What’s worse than obvious content? Obvious content without any personality. Eurgh. The best tips for telling stories and adding personality:

• Telling stories: context, conflict, ambition, action, resolution.
• Personality: write as if you are texting your best pal. Use those words, speak like you would your mate, write like you talk.

Robots don’t have personalities (yet) so you’ve got that on your side. Use it.

Bringing it together

The world has enough productivity blogs, morning routine articles, day in life breakdowns. What will make you stand out is if you create content that goes beyond the obvious.

That digs deep.

You must create a new angle, one way you can do that is by using the 'Why-Why-How' technique, just like I did here...

Go beyond the first thought. Ask ‘why’ and ‘how’ questions to get you to the next level of thinking. Then tell stories, your stories, stories that have changed your life or changed your day.

That’s how you go beyond the obvious.