A Copywriter’s Achilles’ Heel
Ever make an embarrassing mistake then a few days later repeat it all over again?
I have to confess I have. Even though I write full-time, I still make the same “dumb bunny” mistakes over and over again. The difference now is that I catch the worst ones before they get published or mailed. Thank God.
How about you?
I’m sure you’ve done the same.
Maybe you wrote an article or blog post and then came back to read it in a day… and found it riddled with typos. Or maybe you keep on burning your toast every morning. Same difference.
Anyway, here’s my theory about this. I believe we have certain “patterns” or “default settings” we follow without thought. After all, as human beings we’re creatures of habit. And I think this really holds us back at times. Because let’s face it, in writing sales copy or in life… it doesn’t take much to throw your results off track.
Another example of this would be the guy who exercises every day and then “pigs” out all night. He never really gets in shape because his patterns of behavior are holding him back.
You could call it a BOTTLENECK because it’s the narrow point that all of our actions funnel through.
You see, we all have “bottlenecks” in our lives. They’re our “defaults” our “patterns” of behavior and they’re holding us back from being truly great.
And a really simple way to break out of these “patterns” is to simply write them out on index cards and place them near your workplace. Before you do any work (or writing) at all, simply pick them up and read through them.
You’ll find it gets easier to avoid repeating your mistakes again… and all of the sudden the results you’ve been struggling to get… flow naturally.
It’s like a bow and arrow. Your arrow could be sharp, straight and fletched with golden plumes but if your bow is crooked you’re NEVER going to hit your target.
Fix the bow and all of the sudden it feels like something MAGICAL happened…
You hit the target.
To the outside observer it looks like success came instantly or “OVERNIGHT.”
Of the course the truth is a little harder to accept. Because all the luck and practice in the world won’t bring you success overnight if you’re shooting with a broken bow.
Your obvious friend,
Courtney James
Obvious
P.S. Does any of this make sense to you? Let me know what you think and leave a comment below if it pleases you.
Habits are, indeed, a serious road block. I find myself misspelling the same words over and over. To combat this, I’ve stopped using spell-check! Now I just sit there and play around with letters until it comes out right, and I don’t misspell the word again!
Unfortunately time management doesn’t work like that, haha. I suppose I’m destined to be a lazy teenager until…I’m not a teenager anymore.
The same problems occur when you’re writing and you use the same words over and over. I’ve enabled my desktop thesaurus widget and whenever I spot the same word twice within a paragraph, I try to find a new word that fits better. I hate when the same phrases or words line up between lines on a page. It’s a pet peeve of mine…
Anyways haven’t dropped by in a while. Glad to see you’re still updating with invaluable information!
Corey Freeman
30 Aug 09 at 9:01 am
Hey Corey,
I wouldn’t call you a lazy teenager. If you keep up the pace you’re setting you’ll be miles ahead of your peers by the time you’re out of school and retired by the time you’re 30.
You’ve impressed me to no end with your keen insight and skills. And it’s fair to say that you’ll be an incredible asset to some lucky company in the future or just as successful on your own.
Wish I had started writing when I was younger… I’ve always been an avid reader but visual art was in my blood back then… when I didn’t understand the power of painting pictures with words.
Your friend,
Courtney James
cjhoude
30 Aug 09 at 11:21 am
Hey Courtney, sounds like you’ve been reading the latest copyblogger post about confessions
Anyway, this is really great advice and you know, I think I might try it. For example, I have lots of stuff I know I need to be doing for my business to flourish, but I don’t have the time. But that’s really just an EXCUSE. I do have the time, but sometimes I let unimportant things get in the way. (Or I get up too late!)
So I’ll give this a go. I think it’s a great idea. I’ve already got back into scheduling my day again. Instead of cards, I might write them on my daily “To Do” list.
Paul, copySnips.com
30 Aug 09 at 12:37 pm
@Paul
Hey man,
Thanks for stopping by. I’ll have to check out that Copyblogger post. Love that guy and it’s been a bit since I’ve been to his site.
You know, it’s weird how one little “bottleneck” can hold you back for months. And no matter how much you read or practice it feels like everything’s going backwards until you break through it.
A “To Do” list is great too. Every morning I write mine out and although it’s a simple idea I find it really makes a huge difference.
Courtney
cjhoude
30 Aug 09 at 5:25 pm
@Courtney,
Lol this is me being lazy. When I get some seriously impressive things done.
Corey Freeman
31 Aug 09 at 6:29 am
That last comment was missing several words….
“When I get serious about my projects, I can get some seriously impressive things done.”
Corey Freeman
31 Aug 09 at 6:30 am
@Corey,
Haha… well then. I can’t wait to see what you do when you get serious.
cjhoude
31 Aug 09 at 10:22 am
It’s not precisely a habit, but it is an Achilles heel with me: My beef is… how come I can proof, and proof, and proof till my eyeballs bleed (using all the tricks, like waiting a day or two before re-reading)… but the *moment* I hit that “Send” button, my bleeding eyeballs instantly catch… a spelling mistake???
Marya Miller
20 Nov 09 at 3:57 pm
Hah. Marya. I know how you feel. The worst is when you
know for sure a whole bunch of people are reading every
word… not talking about this blog because almost nobody
visits this one… I kinda let it die… but when you’re publishing,
posting or printing… man it gets to you.
cjhoude
20 Nov 09 at 4:05 pm
Same with my blog, because I’m too busy slaving away for a bigger copywriter to update it as regularly as all the experts keep telling me I should (me being a copywriter first and marketer second).
But only on Twitter this morning, I realized I’d used entirely the wrong surname for a guest poster when announcing their post on another blog. Talk about dyinnnnnng of shame… back in my editing days, getting someone’s name wrong was the worst sin you could ever commit; and I broke a 20+ year record today when I finally committed it.
Fortunately, my guest poster was really nice about it, when I ‘fessed up and let her know I goofed.
Marya Miller
20 Nov 09 at 4:31 pm
Ouch!
I did that once… on a minor project. Thankfully, corrections were soon made. The beauty of the internet.
Unlike print.
cjhoude
20 Nov 09 at 6:37 pm
LOL! So true.
Marya Miller
20 Nov 09 at 9:27 pm