After 25+ years of DR, brand and conversion copywriting, I want to share one of the most important skills I've learned, and that's to sit with the struggle. I'm specifically talking about that moment where you're staring at a blank page and every headline sounds like every other headline on the market. Newer copywriters look at this and think they're stuck because they don't have enough information or they haven't done enough research. Sometimes that's the case but more often than not it's that they haven't stayed with the problem long enough. And this is where psychology comes in -- our brains like serving up the easy stuff first. So you run through all the clichés, the familiar angles and the stuff you've read elsewhere. The problem with that is that it makes your copy totally predictable. The best stuff appears later, after you've churned through easy mode. Psychologists call these System 1 Thinking and System 2 Thinking respectively. System 1 is over here begging you to open another tab, browse TikTok or go make a snack. System 2 is the more logical, determined side that starts cross-referencing ideas across other industrires and hobbies and things you've seen. Unfortunately, because of how the brain works, we have to slog through System 1 before we get to System 2, and that's where a lot of newer folks will break off and quit -- RIGHT before that breakthrough happens. System 2 Thinking also burns a lot more energy, so it feels mentally and physically exhausting *BUT* when you get that great idea or concept, your brain rewards you with a little shot of dopamine, so the more you do it, the more you get rewarded. 😄 Many times when I'm writing, the first 20 headlines are hot garbage and suddenly Headline #21 is actually decent, and they just start improving from there. Try it out yourself and see how you go!   submitted by   /u/loves_spain [link]   [comments]