Archives for July 2008

Copywriters obviously aren’t the only people who struggle with the demon of procrastination.  But, as I said in a previous post about dealing with “resistance” it’s something that anyone involved in a creative endeavour seems to struggle with.

Procrastination comes in various forms.  One is the idea that you don’t know enough just yet to get started.

I was reminded of this recently while reading Dan Kennedy’s “Official Get Rich Guide To Information Marketing”.  Here’s what Robert Skrob, one of Dan’s co-authors, says…

“Even though I was an idiot, with a grasp of only a narrow bit of knowledge, my study had given me far more knowledge than anyone else around me, and they knew it.  I’ve discovered that only a small number of people ever make this revelation.  They are stuck in the stage where they realize they know nothing.  Most people are constantly intimidated by everyone around them because they are searching for the person with all the knowledge.”

The point is you don’t have to be perfect.  You simply need to know information or have a skill that other people want (and will pay for, of course).

Of course you will never know everything.  So don’t get caught up in that trap.  Yes, you need competence.  But in most cases you have what you need.  And if it turns out you do need some further knowledge or skills, taking action will confirm that and, more importantly, will give you the feedback as to exactly what that required knowledge or skills are.

Taking action brings multiple benefits.

As Mike Litman says…

“You don’t have to get it right but you do have to get it going”.

One other aspect of procrastination I’ll mention is simply being overwhelmed at the apparent scale of the task.  In that case, use “chunking” and breaking the task down into smaller pieces that you can tackle.  One step at a time, you’ll be amazed at what you can get done.