Welcome to Issue 188 of Total Annarchy, a fortnightly newsletter by me, Ann Handley, with a focus on writing, marketing, living your best life. Was this email forwarded to you? You can subscribe here.

Sunday, June 1, 2025

Morning, Glory.

There's a policy in my personal Code of Conduct I'm drawn to with as much determination as cat feet to a laptop keyboard. The policy is... Always Answer Subscriber Emails!

Welp. I broke my Code last week.

The previous issue of this letter started an underground rumble that triggered a landslide that caused a tsunami—which is probably not how that natural chain of events actually occurs but let's keep going anyway...

The effect was this: My inbox flooded. I fought my way to the surface, bailed water, rigged sump pumps, tried to answer as many emails as I could get to. But, eventually, I drowned. {glurg}

If I didn't answer you, I'm sorry. But I read every response. Thank you for writing. It means a lot to me.

* * *

In the Age of Artificial, Analog Intelligence is crucial.  

We talked about this other A.I. last week. If you missed it, here it is. (I posted a version on LinkedIn, too. Which went cuckoo for Cocoa Puffs.)

There's no One Way to Analog Intelligence, we said. There's only the way that works for you.

Here are some Analog Intelligence boosters to get you started, backed by science (not just vibes). And some of them shared by you last week.

👉 Write or sketch by hand. The physical friction slows your thoughts so your brain doesn't race onto the next thought before you're finished with the current one. 

The slower pace often helps boost both your capacity for thinking and learning and creativity; your hand talks to your head as much as your head talks to your hand. Use paper. Tablets. A whiteboard. Whatever works for you. There's no one way to Analog.

But it's not just writing or drawing... you might also:

👉 Rearrange sticky notes. Shuffle index cards. Think with your hands—scientists call this embodied cognition. Thinking, they suggest, is a full-body effort. It doesn't happen just in your noggin.

A few of you use Niklas Luhmann's Zettelkasten method—a way to organize your thoughts and ideas by writing them down as individual notes on cards and linking them together. Instead of sorting by topic, you connect related thoughts so over time they grow and build on each other. (Zettelkasten loosely translates to note box or slip box.)

You can be meticulous about it. Or you can be like Eminem, who jots lyrics and phrases on whatever's around—legal pads, hotel notepads, scraps of paper—building a chaotic but rich archive of ideas.

👉 Let yourself be bored. Let your brain wander without direction. "When I'm not talking, just walking (which is most of the time), I try to cultivate the most bored state of mind imaginable," writes author and photographer Craig Mod.

"My rules: No news, no social media, no podcasts, no music. No 'teleporting,' you could say. The phone, the great teleportation device, the great murderer of boredom. And yet, boredom: the great engine of creativity," he says.

"I now believe with all my heart that it's only in the crushing silences of boredom—without all that black-mirror dopamine—that you can access your deepest creative wells."

Walking without earbuds is one way to do it. Or driving without music or audiobooks. 

That wandering "blankness of mind" lights up your default mode network—the brain's behind-the-scenes processing center. The default mode network is most active when you're not focused on anything in particular. Daydreaming, taking a shower, walking: all times when your default mode network gets busy connecting the dots.

👉  Read with a pencil. Underline. Write in the margins. Make a book messy! Use it up!

Annotating in the margins and on a page fuels active engagement, boosting comprehension and also helping you link up ideas, like a Hinge for your thoughts.

Fun aside: It's cool to look back on a book you read and remember what you were thinking then; it's like visiting a ghost of your past self.

👉  Read and listen outside your usual zone. Car magazines. Obituaries. Hobby zines. Unusual-for-you inputs feed what science calls combinatorial creativity, or the idea that new ideas are born by remixing old ones in new ways.

"Originality" is just a smart combination of everything you've picked up along the way.

👉  Talk to strangers. Ask unexpected questions. Notice how people think. Conversations with strangers don't need to be small talk.

Riding in an Uber outside Dallas, I asked the driver if anything had surprised him recently. He told me a story about moving 11 months ago to Texas from South Africa and being surprised at how much things cost.

"Like what?" I asked.

"Like... everything," he said, gesturing at the flat, expansive emptiness of the brown dirt beyond the highway.

Then, as if to read my thoughts, he said, "Not the dirt. But everything else."

He laughed. I laughed.

It was a fun little moment of connection, and it made me think about how even in an age when the technology that is Uber brought us together and optimized our time together...

And even in an age when I'll never likely see him again, the connection of that one conversation was priceless. We were from completely different worlds. But we laugh at the same things.

It was a nice reminder of how new connections and perspective can fuel more flexible thinking.

OTHER A.I. (ANALOG INTELLIGENCE) BOOSTERS

• Build something with your hands
• Use real maps
• Use physical timers (one of you uses an hourglass! Respect)
• Practice slow looking
• Send a handwritten letter
• Memorize a poem
• Pin pages to a wall
• Write a collaborative story, where a few people each write a line at a time. (A version is called the "exquisite corpse" game, where each person writes a word or phrase or sentence on a folded sheet of paper without seeing what the others wrote before. Dramatic name, fun to do.)

* * *

Analog isn't a checklist—it's a choice to engage with the world more fully and playfully. Which is why it shows up differently for each of us.

You don't have to try all of those analog boosters. Just notice what opens you up. And hit reply and tell me! And I'll try to respond! (Try!)

NEW DATA SAYS... POST LESS?!

"Dear social media teams: It's time to start posting less."

I read that in Sprout Social's brand-new 2025 Content Benchmarks Report and I want to weep with gratitude. I love it that much.

"Wait—post less?" you say, incredulous. "Yes!" the Sprout Social data says.

Like Shakira's hips, the data don't lie:

Posting less can actually drive more engagement.

Last year, brands posted slightly less—but inbound engagement increased nearly 20%. The winning brands aren't chasing volume, they're choosing resonance. (I want to wear that on a T-shirt.)

Here's what is working now:
 

• Originality, not overload—it's the #2 reason people follow brands (right after product quality). (Might want this on a T-shirt, too.)
   
• Engagement builds trust—73% of users will switch to a competitor if they feel ignored on social.
   
• Short-form video still dominates, but thoughtful storytelling beats high volume. (Forget the T-shirt. This is a tattoo.)
   
• Trendjacking works—if it's done quickly & on-brand.
   
• Influencers must be true content partners, not just amplifiers. More than half of brands plan to grow their influencer relationships in 2025.

Here's the biggest takeaway I can offer from this stellar new research:

>>> Posting less makes it possible to do more. <<<

Less pressure, more purpose.

Fewer posts, better content.

Stronger connections, not just stronger metrics.

🔥 Hot take: Posting less is a power move.

 (Actually, that is the tattoo.)

I've been saying all this since the history of forever. And now Sprout Social gives us the numbers to back it up.

>> GET THE GLORIOUS DATA HERE << 
(...along with examples of brands doing it right)

COMING UP!

 📆 EVENTASTIC, June 5-6, 2025 (THIS WEEK!)

Come hang with me! Andy Cohen! Jay Schwedelson! For 1000% FREE!

It's the world's largest virtual event about events. For event directors, marketers, sales, swag vendors, and for fans of Real Housewives series. Click my face to register. (Did I mention it's free?) 

 

📆 MARKETINGPROFS B2B FORUM, November 17-19, 2025

It's THE B2B event of the year, back in Boston! 

Stellar content. Stellar people. Fun vibe. Lobster rolls. 

Join us or live with FOMO and FOMNF (Fear of Missing New Friends) and FOMB (Fear of Missing the Buffet) and FOMR (Fear of Missing the Room Where It Happens)! CLICK TO JOIN US!  

DEPARTMENT OF SHENANIGANS

Why AI will never write like you, in one illustration.

Thanks for reading this far.

Thanks for your kindness and generosity.

🫡 See you June 15!

P.S. If you like this newsletter and want to support it, there are 4 WAYS THIS WEEK! PICK ONE right now before you forget:

1) Buy a book.

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