Copy Challenge

If you’ve read many other posts, you’ll pretty quickly realize I like to read.

But sometimes reading, for me, is nothing but procrastination.

When I get uncomfortable with the next step I need to take, I’ll grab a book and read.

On the surface, this might seem like a pretty sweet coping mechanism. I mean I’m not binging ice cream…

But the reality is, it’s just an escape to me. In many ways, it’s not much different than booting up the computer and playing video games all day if I don’t get anything else out of it.

So recently, I’ve tried to tweak my schedule a bit more. Oddly enough the copywriting challenge I’m putting myself through – it’s still going… but it’s morphed a bit – has been freeing more than limiting on my time.

Let me explain…

Before I created a plan with deadlines each week… I would try to allocate “more time” to learning how to write copy.

The problem with “more” anything regarding goals is that it’s super easy to hit… but never satisfying.

I could read about one extra tip. Not even apply it and I would still know “more” than I did a minute ago.

Did I feel like I was better? Or getting closer to skilled?

Not even close. So then I would try harder… and get no closer.

Enter this challenge.

I have a definite output. Definite targets to hit each week. Something I can check a box on.

The craziest part about this.

Last night, I spent an hour after work putting some more time into the challenge and I was able to hang out with my wife the rest of the evening.

Before this, I might be putzing around all evening trying to do “more”.

Today, for example. I’ve set aside 5 hours to dedicate to writing. I’ll be reading and hand copying promos.

And I will have spent 20 hours towards specific checklist items.

So this afternoon I’ll be able to hang out with my wife.

And tomorrow. A day off.

It’s going to be nice to take the time off without the guilt of feeling like I should have done “more”.

I talked a couple of days ago about getting to know the market of the people you’re wanting to copywrite for. It stays top of mind for me and I woke up again today thinking about it.

Ideally, you should be a part of the market which you want to sell. If not, you need strong connections with that market. These are pretty obvious statements.

But what I want talk about today is knowing yourself along with knowing your market. This also has a pretty big impact on my copywriting challenge as well.

Some things come easier to me in the whole process of copywriting. When I take the Strengthsfinder assessment, I always have Learner show up in my top 5. I’ve taken it three times. Approximately every three years to see how things might have changed at different times in my life.

For me, my strengths make the research and reverse engineering portion of copywriting pretty exciting and effortless. But my strengths also make those portions easy to spend too much focus on.

I can find myself going down a rabbit hole of research and end up spending entirely too much time on the process.

I’m trying to apply a concept I read about in Ultralearning to this process myself. The concept is diminishing marginal returns. It shows up often in learning finance as well.

The point is the more work you do on one area… the less additional (marginal) value… learning… etc. that extra work brings. This would apply to every bit of work you do.

So eventually, you’ll spend an hour in research and essentially learn nothing new. You often see this show up as analysis paralysis.

Here’s the kicker that I’ve noticed so far for myself.

It feels like there’s only so much you can really absorb with your current foundation of knowledge. More research when the marginal returns are very low lead you to waste a lot of that effort.

When I shift gears to apply the knowledge and utilize the learning that I’m doing, I feel like I lock in some of that knowledge to a solid foundation. What I’ve learned isn’t hypothetical anymore. It’s applied.

If I do that before going back to the research phase, I have a stronger base to build from and I can see new, often better connections that I would never have seen before.

I’m sure there’s science out there somewhere to explain in detail what’s going on with all this.

But let’s not let science get in the way of progress (hah).

The big takeaway here is you need to pay attention to yourself in this learning process as well.

Don’t let this whole process turn mindless or you’ll end up wasting a lot of time.

Today was a bit of a ramble. But hey… it’s Saturday and I’m loving life. I’ve got a long list of copywork I’m excited to work on today and this post is just priming me to write.

Have a great day.

If you want some more information on the Copywriting Challenge I’m putting myself through right now, the email list is the place to be.

Sign up in the sidebar and I’ll send you more detailed information on what and how I’m figuring out this whole copywriting thing.

Two years ago I tried my hand at growing tomatoes from seed.

I picked some different types from the store and made some soil cubes. Grow lights, custom trays, special soil. The whole shebang.

Then every morning, I got up at the same time. Turned on the light and watered them.

Each cube had several sprouts coming out of it before long so I would constantly monitor the health and progress of each little sprout. Several cubes didn’t have anything come up, so I would try to transplant some others in.

Eventually I had to snip off the less thriving seedlings so the the best could grow to full strength.

This situation comes up in so many areas of your life.

You need to prune your friends to make sure the ones you keep are the best to help you thrive.

I noticed this to be very important as I’m working to build solid habits and a working on consciously developing new skills.

Your support network can often make or break you.

If you’re anything like me, you’re doing this while working a day job. You’ve got a family to feed and support and having the space to work and a nudge when things get hard is a Godsend.

Yesterday was my wife’s birthday. She’s been my biggest supporter and cheerleader for quite a while now.

But she’s not the only one. I’m currently building relationships with others doing what I want to do.

People that have walked the path successfully and can provide a more robust example (and potentially advice) about how to get myself from where I am to where I want to be.

Having or creating a support group that does more than just stay out of your way to let you do your thing is powerful.

It’s something you have to be intentional about.