“Bejako won’t be going on the field trip.”
It was my high school photography teacher, calling my mom on the phone. He was taking our photography class down to D.C. to visit some art gallery.
“Young Bejako is currently failing a class,” the teacher explained, “and unfortunately that means he can’t go on any school field trips.”
My mom turned white and looked at me.
“Which class is he failing?” she asked.
It was English. I was failing English in 11th grade. I hated everything they told me to do and I refused to do it.
Flash cards for notes? Outlines? Supporting quotes and references?
Hell no.
The irony is that, now that I’m finally out of the school system and its awful English classes, and now that I write for money, I voluntarily do all the things they once forced me to do.
I take notes and I write them up on flash cards. I spend most of my time on a project outlining. And I will refer to sources and references like crazy.
As for that last one, a reader named Robert wrote in yesterday to say:
“You sir, are a name-dropping titan. ‘Name-dropers’ are what copywriting and copywriters need. Knowing what material to listen to, read, watch, by who and who not… Man, that’s half the battle.”
Thing is, Robert actually jabbed me into a sore spot. Because I quote and refer to experts and authorities too much.
The reason I do it is that it’s a cheap way to get proof. For example, my recent book, The 10 Commandments of A-List Copywriters, gets its credibility from the names I drop therein.
But all that name-dropping doesn’t come without a cost. In fact the problem is twofold.
For one thing, there are other, more powerful ways to prove a point, such as illustrations, analogies, demonstrations, and case studies. And relying too much on authority means that I (and perhaps you) am not doing that work and getting the benefits of those more powerful modes of proof.
The second problem is more insidious.
And it’s that all this name-dropping means that I myself am not an authority. Not in my readers’ eyes necessarily, but in my own.
It’s what school tried to teach me, or beat into me, all those years ago. And that’s a shame.
And that’s basically the point I want to leave you with. Learning is great. But be careful not to become too reliant on authority opinion for your thoughts — which is what happens to me.
By the way, I’ve been reading an author who opened my eyes to this recently. I could point you to who he is… but just for today, I will hold off.
And if you want more of my ideas on copywriting, marketing, and learning — and occasional name dropping — you might like to sign up to my daily email newsletter.