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Trust Your Instincts and Get More Projects Done?

by Stephen Dean
7 replies
The other day I was re-reading a Michel Fortin article about getting more done faster.

He mentions one of my favorite productivity tips, Parkinson's Law, that says "Work either expands or contracts in order to fill the time available." So if your project deadline is 7 weeks out, you'll take all 7 weeks. But if your deadline is in 4 days, you'll finish the same work in 4 days.

Then the even more interesting part was this - he said some of his best performing letters were the ones written in 4 days?

How can this be?

I assume it must be because it forces you to trust your instincts.

You don't have time to second guess every decision, every strategy, every sentence. You write as fast as your instincts will let you and, often, you let the words make it to the final draft.

Now, the pressure of the deadline forces you to trust your instincts...

...but what if you just trusted your instincts to begin with. Could you write more copy - and BETTER copy - by writing extremely quickly and then trusting your initial instincts by not editing too much?

Cheers,
Stephen Dean
#instincts #projects #trust
  • Profile picture of the author marciayudkin
    Stephen,

    I definitely agree that you save time when you trust your instincts.

    In my training of dozens and dozens of copywriters one-on-one, I've observed that the slow ones spend ages on an assignment, attack it all wrong, then when I explain how I approached it, they invariably say, "I thought of that," and I say, "Next time try to listen to those thoughts." Over the course of 10 weeks they become more and more confident, in large part by trusting what they thought they should do and learning to ignore their worry that they were doing it all wrong.

    Marcia Yudkin
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    • Profile picture of the author Stephen Dean
      Originally Posted by marciayudkin View Post

      Stephen,

      I definitely agree that you save time when you trust your instincts.

      In my training of dozens and dozens of copywriters one-on-one, I've observed that the slow ones spend ages on an assignment, attack it all wrong, then when I explain how I approached it, they invariably say, "I thought of that," and I say, "Next time try to listen to those thoughts." Over the course of 10 weeks they become more and more confident, in large part by trusting what they thought they should do and learning to ignore their worry that they were doing it all wrong.

      Marcia Yudkin
      Thanks Marcia, I had the same experience teaching family members copy.

      Once after teaching them what I do to write a PS and leaving them an example, I asked them to try to write one while I made a quick trip to the store. I came back, and they were still staring at the screen - without writing one word.

      But when we "talked" copy, I could tell they learned a lot. Sit them down to write, and it was a battle.

      Cheers,
      Stephen
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      • Profile picture of the author BrightShinyObjects
        I tend to procrastinate when I have a deadline, especially for a big job. I keep thinking I don't know enough yet to do the job right. When I remind myself that I know more than I realize, just write, get something down, I tend to surprise myself.

        So I agree wholeheartedly with this. My instinct knows I've absorbed more than enough info. And that I know how to convey that in a sales letter, article, blog or whatever form it takes.

        I sure take some convincing though! :p

        Enough time for a deadline is good. But too much time just lets me over-think and over-worry.

        Mary
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  • Profile picture of the author DavidG
    It plays into the whole "gun to your head" kind of feeling...so it might depend on whether the results of the letter can change your career or not, if your doing it for free, if Clayton hired you...etc

    Other than that, I think it might only work for top notch copywriters... even then I'd still let my copy sit and then edit, edit, edit and finish off after.

    I like to make sure I know all the possible variables to the puzzle first.


    David
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  • Profile picture of the author copyassassin
    Originally Posted by Stephen Dean View Post


    Then the even more interesting part was this - he said some of his best performing letters were the ones written in 4 days?

    I like this approach because it focused on 80/20.

    Most copy projects fail.

    Shocker, I know.

    The trick is to produce enough products in the shortest possible time to test and see what works and what doesn't.

    And what works deserves to have the backend built out.

    Fail Fast, may friends.

    Adam
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    The Most Bad-Ass Tax Reduction Strategist for Internet Marketers who HATE paying taxes. See my happy clients

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  • Profile picture of the author BrianMcLeod
    Hey Stephen,

    Good to see you posting here.

    I agree that you have to learn to trust your instincts and not talk yourself out of a great pitch with self-doubt.

    I think there's one more dimension to the conversation also:

    Trust your RESEARCH.

    Do the hard yards before you ever sit down to write the copy.

    When you have a good handle on who you're really trying to reach, the problems that frustrate them, the dreams they long for, and the language they use to describe all of that to themselves - the copy often flies right out of your fingers.

    Best,

    Brian
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    Brian McLeod
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  • Profile picture of the author The Marketeer
    Good post.

    I've found this to be very true in some of my work.
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