Zoom Past One Of The Copywriter’s Biggest Challenges With This Tip …
We all do it from time to time. We procrastinate. We wait … make excuses … get distracted. It plagues even the best of us. But in our business where deadlines come with the territory, procrastination can murder your reputation … and your career!
How do you overcome what is indubitably the copywriter's most stifling problem? Here's how to get more done faster …
Dear Business Builder,
The other day, one of my students e-mailed me about his dilemma – something that's all too common in our business:
"Too many times," he said, "I have known what I needed to do, and I ALWAYS end up waiting weeks on end to do it (like getting a letter written, etc)."
"How do you cope with procrastination?"
Procrastination is probably one of the biggest challenges a copywriter is faced with. And since our job is fraught with deadlines, procrastination can also become one of the costliest, if not deadliest, problems in our business.
Some people blame it on ADD. Others, on the freedom of being a freelance copywriter without any of the usual work rules we see in a corporate job.
But whatever the reason, they are no different than the excuses we use to keep putting off until tomorrow what can – and needs to – be done today.
As Dr. Robert Anthony once said:
"Waiting is a trap. There will always be reasons to wait. The truth is, there are only two things in life, reasons and results, and reasons simply don't count."
– Dr. Robert Anthony
How to Turn Reasons Into Results
Sure, there are some deep-seated, psychological factors behind procrastination – such as low self-esteem, anxiety, fear, perfectionism, addiction, even depression. But these often refer to chronic procrastinators, which is a whole other ball of wax.
While perfectionism is a challenge in itself, in many cases it's just another excuse to procrastinate. The more we focus on trying to perfect whatever task is at hand, the less we need to concentrate on getting it done on time.
I'm a copywriter for the better part of two decades. I'm not a psychologist, nor do I play one on TV. So my advice here is limited to the more practical workarounds to defeat the most common form of procrastination in our business:
Laziness.
I believe in Parkinson's Law, which is also known as the law of contraction.
"Work either expands or contracts in order to fill the time available."
– C. Northcote Parkinson
In other words, activity will expand or contract to meet its imposed deadline. If you have seven weeks to write a letter, you will take all seven weeks. If you have only four days, you will do what you can to get it done within those four days.
Based on Parkinson's Law, you will either take your time or hurry up depending on the deadline you have. (Take, for instance, college students cramming just before exam time.)
Sometimes, my best work happens when I rush and force myself to complete the task before an impending deadline. The pressure caused by a rapidly advancing deadline pushes me into gear and forces me to not only work but also work at my best.
A looming deadline doesn't just force me to take action. I also tune out distractions … clear my environment … organize other work around it … ignore the phone and e-mail … avoid interruptions … and truly concentrate on the work at hand.
With this heightened sense of awareness and focus, being "in the zone," I kick my creativity up a few notches. Like a sponge that's squeezed under pressure, a looming deadline squeezes out my best ideas, writing, strategies, and so forth.
In fact, I noticed that my best sales letters (the ones that produced the best results) were those done working under very tight deadlines. Now, I don't recommend to purposefully wait until the last minute. (Admittedly, I do that sometimes.)
But the idea is to turn a potential nightmare – a deadline – into your best friend.
How?
By Breaking Down A Major Deadline Into
Smaller, Easier-To-Digest Mini-Deadlines!
What I do to overcome procrastination is to break down my larger projects into smaller, bite-sized chunks. I literally cut up the project into smaller pieces, and add deadlines to each piece, making each piece more urgent and real.
These mini-deadlines act like milestones throughout the course of the project, enabling me to see, at a glance, where I'm supposed to be, what I've done, and what needs to be done at that point in time, at any given time.
As the Confucian saying goes, "A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." But in this case, the journey is not a thousand miles but smaller, one-mile journeys of a thousand steps each.
Smaller steps eventually lead to bigger ones. Each small deadline reached is just one step closer to the ultimate deadline. And each step is much less intimidating, too.
But the best part is, by placing shorter deadlines on smaller, bite-sized steps, you allow Parkinson's Law to kick in. The deadlines become closer and more urgent. And work, therefore, contracts to meet them.
(And it happens almost unconsciously, too.)
Plus, each mini-deadline is a constant reminder that, if I don't meet the smaller deadline, I will have two or more to contend with if I keep waiting. This "piling on" of deadlines is something I dread, so this helps me to kick myself into gear.
If I'm late and miss one mini-deadline, I force myself to complete it so I can start – and, if need be, hurry up to finish – the next one in line. (That's Parkinson's Law in action!)
However, there's an important, more positive reason in doing it this way, too. After accomplishing each step, I feel good about myself knowing that things are indeed getting done and the project is advancing.
(It's like the carrot versus the stick approach.)
The most important part in doing this is to document your process.
The reason is, creating a visual interface allows you to see, at a glance, where you are and what you need to do, at any given time – rather than dealing with a single, intimidating deadline that's constantly menacing you.
Whether it's on paper, in your agenda, on a calendar, or on your computer with the help of software, your mini-deadlines help to visually prod you along the way.
(Personally, I use BaseCamp as my project management software.)
Each milestone is like a small reward in itself. Rather than knowing how far you have left to go, you want to know where you are and how far you've gone. Knowing what you've accomplished along the way gives you both momentum and motivation to keep going.
Plus, it's a heckuvalot easier to deal with small rewards from reaching mini-deadlines than it is with the threat of a larger punishment from not reaching the bigger one.
Or look at this way …
Like A NASCAR Race, Each Milestone
Flags You At Each Step Along The Way!
The objective of a NASCAR race is not to reach the finishing line. (Granted, that's the ultimate goal.) It's to stay in the race, always trying to be one step ahead. Each flag is telling you how many laps you've accomplished instead of how far you have left to go.
Nevertheless, here's what you do …
You chunk your project into as many small pieces as you wish. Break your project down into steps. Often, at first these steps will appear specific when they can be broken down even more. (For now, call them "phases" rather than "steps.")
Once you've broken down your project, try to break it down some more.
Be as specific as possible.
Try to break down larger projects into as many small pieces as possible. Denominate each task and give it a mini-deadline – a specific day on which the task will be carried out (rather than a specific time by which it needs to be accomplished).
That way, you instantly know what tasks need to get started on a specific day rather than by when they need to be done.
(That's why I prefer to call them "milestones" instead of "deadlines," which have a negative connotation. It's easier to reach a milestone than it is to meet a deadline.)
It doesn't matter what you use: whether it's a piece of software or plain-old, low-tech, "pen and paper." Just remember that you need to be specific.
A task like "Write letter" is not enough. Even "writing initial draft." Each task must be as clear and as specific as possible. Let me give you an example:
Major project: Write sales letter for client.
Major phases: Research, create rough draft, finalize initial draft, revisions per client, and final draft and delivery. For this example, a final deadline may be, say, one month.
So the first step is to break down the project into smaller steps, and add a deadline for each major phase of the project. Here's some examples:
- Week #1: Research
- Week #2: Create rough draft
- Week #3: Finalize initial draft
- Week #4: Revisions per client
- End of Week #4: Final draft and delivery
Now, break down each phase into smaller, bite-sized chunks. Let's take "research" to be done during the first week, and break it down some more:
- Day #1: Compile client questionnaire
- Day #2: Review and clarify answers
- Day #3: Initial product run-through
- Day #4: Interview client or principals
- Day #5: Perform competitive analyses
- Day #6: Brainstorming session
… And so on.
Of course, there might be more. But this is just one example and not the example.
For instance, some people need several days to come up with a good headline. If so, then break that down to, say, writing 10-20 headlines a day for several days, or take an extra day for doing additional research and brainstorming additional ones.
The bottom line is, it doesn't matter how you write copy or tackle a sales letter. What matters is that you break down your project into smaller, easier-to-digest, bite-sized chunks.
That way, you have closer deadlines to work with, with more manageable tasks at hand. Parkinson's Law will kick in, and you will be focusing on putting smaller things into action, one step at a time, rather than on getting everything done by a specific deadline.
This may take a while the first time, I admit. But do this again and again, even for smaller projects, and you'll soon get the hang of it.
"Life asks us to make measurable progress in reasonable time. That's why they make those fourth grade chairs so small."
– Jim Rohn
Enjoy the ride,
Michel Fortin
Guest Contributor
The Total Package
P.S. If you like this article and want more, or if know any copywriters or marketers who would enjoy these kinds of tips, then check out Michel Fortin's blog at MichelFortin.com; or, see Michel in action … Watch a free 18-minute video of a top copywriter as he rewrites a headline!
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