My Current Favorite Tools (and How I Actually Use Them)
The Copywriter Column #232
Summary
We all chase “the perfect tool” hoping it’ll finally make us more organized or creative. But the truth is, tools don’t make you better — they just remove friction between ideas and action. These are the tools I actually use every day (digital and analog) and how they help me think sharper, write faster, and work with less clutter.
Most people treat tools like magic pills.
“If I just find the right app or system, then I’ll finally feel organized. I’ll finally be productive! I’ll finally get my ideas out of my head and into the world!”
I’ve been there too.
It’s easy to think the next shiny tool will fix the fog.
But over time, I’ve realized: tools don’t make you better. They just remove friction.
They help you think more clearly, capture ideas faster, or move from thought to execution without getting in your own way.
So in this post, I’m sharing a few tools I’ve been using lately — some digital, some analog — and how they actually help me work, write, and think with less resistance.
Nothing here is sponsored. These just happen to be the ones that’ve earned a permanent spot in my process.
Take what’s useful. Leave what’s not. The goal isn’t to collect more tools — it’s to find fewer that work better.
My Current Tools Stack
Pen & Paper
Still undefeated.
It’s where most of my best thinking starts — jotting hooks, scribbling layout sketches, mapping frameworks, or just untangling mental clutter.
Writing by hand slows my brain down in the best way. I can see and feel the ideas take shape.
Half the time I don’t even revisit the notes. The value was in writing them, not keeping them.
ChatGPT
I treat it like a creative/thinking partner, not a ghostwriter.
One of my favorite ways to use it is through the voice tool — I’ll ramble ideas out loud, and it captures the mess so I can start shaping it into something useful. It’s great for refining structure, stress-testing clarity, and pulling scattered thoughts into a clearer throughline.
Also: it’s wildly useful for analyzing data, especially customer reviews. I’ve had it sort through thousands of them to help uncover angles, messaging cues, and voice-of-customer snippets worth using in campaigns.
Oh! And I built a custom GPT that knows how I think, which makes it even sharper.
Claude
Claude feels like it has a better pen than ChatGPT.
If I’m looking for fast ideas, ChatGPT is still my go-to. But when I need tone consistency or deeper thinking, Claude gets me closer to the finish line — often 80 to 90% there.
It handles frameworks really well and makes shaping ideas smoother. I use it more for refining than generating.
PromptCowboy
Think of it like a swipe file, but for prompts.
It lets you turn lazy ideas into sharp prompts and saves your best ones so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel every time. I’ve noticed a clear difference in output quality when I run prompts through PromptCowboy first. You don’t have to be a prompt expert. It kind of does that part for you.
Feedly
It’s how I stay informed without drowning in browser tabs.
I use Feedly to track newsletters, competitor content, and industry updates. It works like an old-school RSS feed (shoutout to Google Reader) and makes it easy to highlight, annotate, and save content for later.
Every article I recommend in the Weekly Roundup starts in Feedly.
Notion
This is home base.
I run my newsletter out of it, manage prompt libraries, take notes, and organize everything for client work.
Simple setup: Ideas → Drafts → Published.
It’s less about getting organized and more about removing excuses not to be. Everything lives here now.
NeetoRecord
Like Loom, but free.
I use it daily for quick video walkthroughs, feedback, and async team updates. It cuts down on meetings, adds context, and feels more personal than a Slack message. It’s probably the most efficient communication tool in my stack right now.
Gemini Transcript/Notetaker
This one’s been a game-changer for meetings.
It auto-records, transcribes, and summarizes every Google Meet. You get a post-call email with a recap and clear action items. Helps me stay present instead of scribbling notes.
Bonus: you can feed those transcripts into ChatGPT or Claude to get feedback on how you run meetings or ask for coaching insights.
The Point Isn’t the Tool!
At the end of the day, no tool is going to make you a better copywriter.
That part’s on you — your thinking, your taste, your reps.
But the right tools can help you think faster, organize better, and execute with less friction. That’s why I use them. Not because they’re trendy or packed with features — but because they get out of the way and let me focus.
My rule is simple: if a tool doesn’t help me write or think better, I stop using it.
Most of what I shared here fades into the background once I’m in flow. And honestly, that’s the goal.
Quick Question
I’ve been getting a lot of questions lately about how I actually use AI in my writing process — without letting it turn everything into slop.
Would you want me to go deeper on that next?
Just hit reply (or leave a comment below) and let me know!
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