Stepping out into the void
“You must believe, boy”
— Indiana Jones’s dad
There’s a scene in the 3rd Indiana Jones movie where Indy has to take a leap of faith.
His father has been shot, and the only way to save him is to retrieve the Holy Grail, which cures and heals all.
Only one problem.
The Holy Grail is on the other side of an enormous rocky chasm.
There’s no bridge.
No way across.
“No man can jump this,” says Indy.
And then he realizes what he has to do.
So he takes a deep breath. Closes his eyes. And steps out into the void.
.
.
.
.
.
.
And yet he doesn’t fall.
Instead, he has stepped onto an invisible bridge, which, now that he’s stepped onto it, actually becomes visible, and leads him to the Grail. Father saved, evil guy defeated, the end.
I thought of this scene because I am trying to illustrate (to myself) and important copywriting lesson I heard today.
It came from David “world’s greatest copywriting coach” Garfinkel.
David was talking about the 6 main reasons that keep good copywriters from becoming great.
The first of these, however, is not limited to copywriting. In a nutshell, David is saying this first reason that holds copywriters back is a lack of confidence.
This might not sound like a great revelation, and in fact, it isn’t.
It’s what David said next that matters.
“How do you develop confidence?”
Successes can help.
So can failures, if you learn from them.
But according to David, neither of these is really the key to developing true confidence.
Instead, he says that confidence comes from knowing that you can deal with the inevitable setbacks that you will come across in any complex project. In other words, trusting that you will be able to problem-solve when the need arises.
I think the invisible bridge is a good metaphor for this.
The first time, it simply requires a leap of faith (that’s when you throw yourself into a situation without certainty that you will succeed).
From then on however, the bridge becomes visible, and you know that you can succeed — you have confidence — because success ultimately comes from handling real-life situations in real time.
And like I said, this isn’t limited to copywriting only.
It applies to any situation in which you need confidence.
For example, I’ve heard similar advice from pick-up coaches.
The RSD guys have a popular mantra, “You are enough.” To me, this is ultimately about trusting that you’ll be able to handle yourself in the moment.
And daygame master Yad teaches something similar, except he phrases it as, “You have to learn to ride the void.” In other words, get comfortable with the tension of running out of things to say, because that’s when the best things happen.
So why ride the void?
The same reason why Indiana takes the leap of faith.
Because the Holy Grail is on the other side.