Today, I want to share a few really good headlines with you:
How Does An Out-Of-Shape 55-Year-Old Golfer, Crippled By Arthritis And 71 Lbs. Overweight, Still Consistently Humiliate PGA Pros In Head-To-Head Matches By Hitting Every Tee Shot Further And Straighter Down The Fairway?
The Astonishing Sex Secrets Of the Most Satisfied… Most Knowledgeable… And Most Respected Lovers In The World!
“The Naked Girls All Laughed Behind The Little Pudgy Guy’s Back… Until He Got Into A Knife Fight With Three Enormous Bad-Ass Bikers…”
All three of these headlines were written by John Carlton. If you ask me, all three have something important in common beyond just being written by John.
But I’m getting ahead of myself.
For the past few days, I’ve been telling you about the six characteristics of a positive attitude.
You’re probably ready and eager to wrap up this sermonizing series. I know I am. Bear with me. There are just two more to go.
Today’s characteristic might sound mysterious, even misleading. But it’s very important, both for a positive attitude and for copywriting. It’s simply this:
Positive attitude characteristic #5: Inner Motivation
Inner motivation? What exactly does that mean? From the book NLP, where I first came across these six characteristics:
“These were not ‘Hollywood’ movie or ‘new age’ images of a general desire to win, or be the best, or avoid making a fool of oneself. These athletes had personal, specific, and compelling visions of desirable goals or unpleasant consequences.”
Personal, specific, and compelling visions. Notice it doesn’t say that there’s anything particularly “healthy” about this inner motivation stuff.
And that’s what I think is going on in those winning John Carlton headlines above.
The visions John paints in the prospect’s mind are not about the actual, “healthy” benefit of the product. The satisfaction of playing better golf… or more enjoyable sex… or the practical value of self-defense.
Instead, the visions John paints are squarely about impressing or even humiliating others.
That kind of motivation works very well in sales copy…
And ugly as it might sound, it can also work in your personal life.
Meaning, if you want a more positive attitude, then create a clear and convincing picture in your mind. And if that picture happens to be tainted with current envy, shame, and bitterness… well, that’s okay.
It might even be optimal.
That’s not to say that you should always keep one eye on others as you try to achieve your goals.
But I’m getting ahead of myself for the second time today. In fact, I’m stepping onto the toes of tomorrow’s final email in this series.
So let me stop myself here. In case you want to read the last email in this series right as it comes out, then sign up for my daily email newsletter.