1# Phrases to Remove
2 
3## Throat-Clearing Openers
4 
5Remove these announcement phrases. State the content directly.
6 
7- "Here's the thing:"
8- "Here's what [X]"
9- "Here's this [X]"
10- "Here's that [X]"
11- "Here's why [X]"
12- "The uncomfortable truth is"
13- "It turns out"
14- "The real [X] is"
15- "Let me be clear"
16- "The truth is,"
17- "I'll say it again:"
18- "I'm going to be honest"
19- "Can we talk about"
20- "Here's what I find interesting"
21- "Here's the problem though"
22 
23Any "here's what/this/that" construction is throat-clearing before the point. Cut it and state the point.
24 
25## Emphasis Crutches
26 
27These add no meaning. Delete them.
28 
29- "Full stop." / "Period."
30- "Let that sink in."
31- "This matters because"
32- "Make no mistake"
33- "Here's why that matters"
34 
35## Business Jargon
36 
37Replace with plain language.
38 
39| Avoid | Use instead |
40|-------|-------------|
41| Navigate (challenges) | Handle, address |
42| Unpack (analysis) | Explain, examine |
43| Lean into | Accept, embrace |
44| Landscape (context) | Situation, field |
45| Game-changer | Significant, important |
46| Double down | Commit, increase |
47| Deep dive | Analysis, examination |
48| Take a step back | Reconsider |
49| Moving forward | Next, from now |
50| Circle back | Return to, revisit |
51| On the same page | Aligned, agreed |
52 
53## Adverbs
54 
55Kill all adverbs. No -ly words. No softeners, no intensifiers, no hedges.
56 
57Specific offenders:
58 
59- "really"
60- "just"
61- "literally"
62- "genuinely"
63- "honestly"
64- "simply"
65- "actually"
66- "deeply"
67- "truly"
68- "fundamentally"
69- "inherently"
70- "inevitably"
71- "interestingly"
72- "importantly"
73- "crucially"
74 
75Also cut these filler phrases:
76 
77- "At its core"
78- "In today's [X]"
79- "It's worth noting"
80- "At the end of the day"
81- "When it comes to"
82- "In a world where"
83- "The reality is"
84 
85## Meta-Commentary
86 
87Remove self-referential asides. The essay should move, not announce its own structure.
88 
89- "Hint:"
90- "Plot twist:" / "Spoiler:"
91- "You already know this, but"
92- "But that's another post"
93- "X is a feature, not a bug"
94- "Dressed up as"
95- "The rest of this essay explains..."
96- "Let me walk you through..."
97- "In this section, we'll..."
98- "As we'll see..."
99- "I want to explore..."
100 
101## Performative Emphasis
102 
103False intimacy or manufactured sincerity:
104 
105- "creeps in"
106- "I promise"
107- "They exist, I promise"
108 
109## Telling Instead of Showing
110 
111Announcing difficulty or significance rather than demonstrating it:
112 
113- "This is genuinely hard"
114- "This is what leadership actually looks like"
115- "This is what X actually looks like"
116- "actually matters"
117 
118## Vague Declaratives
119 
120Sentences that announce importance without naming the specific thing. Kill these.
121 
122- "The reasons are structural"
123- "The implications are significant"
124- "This is the deepest problem"
125- "The stakes are high"
126- "The consequences are real"
127 
128If a sentence says something is important/deep/structural without showing the specific thing, cut it or replace it with the specific thing.
129