A while back, some scientists at Cambridge University studied a bunch of hunter gatherer tribes, and they came up with an inspiring conclusion:
Hunter gatherers do not work very hard.
In fact, when you add up all the hunting and gathering they do in a typical week, it adds up to about 20 hours.
Compare that to the typical work week of a human being in agricultural society (30 hours) or in an industrial society (40+ hours).
The point being that maybe we’re not evolved to be all gung-ho about non-stop sweat and toil.
And so if you feel a little lazy sometimes, blame it on tens of thousands of years of evolution that our ancestors spent hanging around caves and watching the caveman equivalent of Netflix.
Now, here’s a bit of good news.
If you aren’t all that crazy about long work—weeks, then copywriting might be a good career choice for you.
Some of the top copywriters out there — including Gene Schwartz, Gary Bencivenga, and Parris Lampropoulos — have stated that a good day for them consists of three hours of solid writing.
Pretty cavemannish schedule.
Plus it gets better.
If you’re easily distracted on top of being a little lazy, you’ve got an additional leg up (three legs down?) on all those other monkeys who want to write successful copy.
Because much of copywriting — 60% according to top copywriting coach David Garfinkel — often goes to research.
Ie. reading.
Following random links.
Kicking rocks around.
And looking for that great idea that will help you sell this weeks copy assignment.
So maybe you’re wondering where I’m going with this.
And it’s simply to give you a bit of encouragement in case you’re wondering whether you have what it takes to be a copywriter.
Odds are good that even the things that you might blame yourself for — such as apparent laziness and distractability — might help you in your journey to get to that top level of marketing and writing copy, if you know how to use them.
Of course, there are lots of other things you’ll need as well.
So if you have questions about succeeding as a copywriter, and if you want my opinion on the steps you need to take besides not working very hard and clicking on lots of seductive links, here’s where to go:
Hunter gatherers do not work very hard.
In fact, when you add up all the hunting and gathering they do in a typical week, it adds up to about 20 hours.
Compare that to the typical work week of a human being in agricultural society (30 hours) or in an industrial society (40+ hours).
The point being that maybe we’re not evolved to be all gung-ho about non-stop sweat and toil.
And so if you feel a little lazy sometimes, blame it on tens of thousands of years of evolution that our ancestors spent hanging around caves and watching the caveman equivalent of Netflix.
Now, here’s a bit of good news.
If you aren’t all that crazy about long work—weeks, then copywriting might be a good career choice for you.
Some of the top copywriters out there — including Gene Schwartz, Gary Bencivenga, and Parris Lampropoulos — have stated that a good day for them consists of three hours of solid writing.
Pretty cavemannish schedule.
Plus it gets better.
If you’re easily distracted on top of being a little lazy, you’ve got an additional leg up (three legs down?) on all those other monkeys who want to write successful copy.
Because much of copywriting — 60% according to top copywriting coach David Garfinkel — often goes to research.
Ie. reading.
Following random links.
Kicking rocks around.
And looking for that great idea that will help you sell this weeks copy assignment.
So maybe you’re wondering where I’m going with this.
And it’s simply to give you a bit of encouragement in case you’re wondering whether you have what it takes to be a copywriter.
Odds are good that even the things that you might blame yourself for — such as apparent laziness and distractability — might help you in your journey to get to that top level of marketing and writing copy, if you know how to use them.
Of course, there are lots of other things you’ll need as well.
So if you have questions about succeeding as a copywriter, and if you want my opinion on the steps you need to take besides not working very hard and clicking on lots of seductive links, here’s where to go: