I learned this from a friend: keep a running list of times you get “got.”
You’re scrolling and a headline stops you. You click. You buy the book. You sign up for the thing. You forward the link to someone. Whatever it is, you got got. Something worked on you.
Write it down.
That’s it. That’s the whole practice. A note on your phone, a markdown file, a Google Doc, whatever. Just start logging the moments where something hooked you and you couldn’t look away.
Why this matters
Because the next time you need to write a subject line, or name a workshop, or pitch a client, or make a landing page, you’re not starting from nothing. You’ve got a pile of examples of things that actually worked. Not things that are supposed to work according to some marketing textbook. Things that worked on YOU, a real human with actual taste.
I have a book in my file called “Hourly Billing Is Nuts.” Saw it on a recommendation list, went to the site, bought it immediately. When I went back and thought about why, it was simple: the title was honest and funny, the site felt professional, and I scanned through a few testimonials really fast. Took maybe 90 seconds from seeing it to buying it.
That’s useful information! Not because I’m going to copy that exact formula, but because now I know something about what moves me. Short, honest, a little funny, no bullshit. That’s data about my own taste that I didn’t have before I wrote it down.
It’s also a taste map
The things that hook you are the things you’re drawn to. Even the ones you don’t want to admit. Especially those, actually.
I have a NYT headline in my file right now: “I Went to Florida to See the 31-Year-Old Candidate Thrilling Gen Z. We’re in Trouble.” I don’t even care about Florida politics that much. But I HAD to click. The headline did everything. It told me just enough to make me need to know the rest.
Keeping track of these moments starts to show you something about yourself. You see patterns. Maybe you’re a sucker for specificity (the “31-year-old” in that headline, not “young candidate”). Maybe confessional openings get you every time.
That’s taste. Or at least some corner of it. The part you can actually look at and learn from.
Build it as a skill
One of the things we do in Code for Creatives is build tools that work the way your brain works. A got-got file is a perfect example. You could build a Claude skill that captures these moments when they happen, asks you why it got you, and files it somewhere searchable. Then when you’re stuck on a headline or a pitch, you tell Claude “show me my got-got file” and you’ve got a personal reference library of hooks that actually landed.
You end up studying yourself more than any marketing theory.
How to start
Next time something hooks you, stop for 10 seconds and write down what it was and why. That’s the whole thing. Don’t overthink the format. Don’t build a system first. Just start noticing.
The file gets good around entry 10. By entry 20, you’ll start seeing your own patterns. And the next time you need to write something that hooks someone, you won’t be guessing. You’ll have a record of what actually works, because it worked on you.
My got-got file
Here’s mine. A living list. I’ll keep adding to it.
“I Went to Florida to See the 31-Year-Old Candidate Thrilling Gen Z. We’re in Trouble.”
NYT Opinion, Mar 2026. I don’t even care about Florida politics. But that headline? 31 years old, thrilling Gen Z, “we’re in trouble.” I HAD to click. The specificity does all the work.
The Ezra Klein Show: “I Asked a Former Trump Official to Justify This War”
Mar 2026. The framing is what got me. Not “I debated a Trump official.” Not “here’s why they’re wrong.” Just “I asked them to justify it.” That’s confident, curious journalism. The title promises you’ll hear something you haven’t heard before.
“I asked Claude to implement an idea, took a nap, and it came back with this”
Feb 2026. This was me, actually. I told Claude to build something, went and took a nap, came back and it was done. The got-got here was realizing this is the pitch for everything I’m doing with Code for Creatives. You don’t need to code. You need to think clearly and ask well. Then go take a nap.
Masterclass Executive: $2500 to be taught by AI
Feb 2026. This one got me in the opposite direction. Masterclass launched a tier where the teaching is done by AI, not the experts. And they charge MORE. I had a visceral reaction. People pay for Masterclass because of the humans. Meanwhile Code for Creatives charges less and I’m the actual teacher, live, in the room. Sometimes getting got means getting mad.
“An agent is an LLM that can act. It has tools.” — Boris Cherny
Feb 2026, from Lenny’s podcast. One sentence that nails what an AI agent is. No jargon, no hype. That’s the kind of definition that sticks in your brain and changes how you explain things.
Rachel Jepsen’s coaching page
Jan 2026. racheljepsen.com/coaching. I landed on this page and immediately felt like I was in good hands. Haven’t fully unpacked why yet, but something about the copy and the design just worked.
Antigravity + Nano Banana: “Less like coding, more like directing a small studio”
Dec 2025. Reddit post about an IDE where you can generate images inline with code. Ask for “energy sprites with electric blue palette” and it writes SwiftUI AND generates the pixel art. The reframe from “coder” to “studio director” is the real hook.
The Welch Labs Illustrated Guide to AI
Dec 2025. A physical book, beautifully designed, that explains AI concepts through illustrations. welchlabs.com/resources/ai-book. The kind of book you want on your shelf before you even read it. Design doing the selling.
“Hourly Billing Is Nuts” by Jonathan Stark
Nov 2025. Saw it on a list, went to the site, bought it in 90 seconds. The title was honest and funny, the site felt professional, testimonials loaded fast. jonathanstark.com/hbin. Three things worked and I didn’t even realize it until I wrote it down later.
A Reddit post that was definitely an ad for MGX
Nov 2025. Read the post, googled MGX, almost signed up. Didn’t, because their website flow was confusing and the FAQ didn’t answer my only question: what the fuck is MGX? Got got by the post, un-got by the landing page. That’s useful data too.