I hit the gym this morning with my bottle of pre-workout ready and an hour full-body workout ahead of me.
But my pre-workout quickly transformed into just:
“Workout”
Here’s why:
As I checked in at the front desk, I saw a sign out of the corner of my eye. And the corner of my eye saw the phrase, “no running water.”
Hmmmm, that can’t be right. Surely I can chug my pre-workout like normal and refill it with water when it's gone.
And so, I walked up to the water fountain to give it a push to see if any water came out.
“And don’t call me Shirley!” the water fountain screamed back at me after denying me a sip.
Oh shit. There really is not a drop of running water in this joint.
At that moment, my pre-workout turned into a workout. It lasted me the full hour I was there because I sipped on it whenever I most needed moisture. No different than the Fremen born on Arrakis, the desert Dune planet.
And this, if you would believe it, sent me imagination back to Dragon Ball. (Despite loving Dragon Ball Z as a kid, I never actually watched the OG Dragon Ball anime until Peanut and I started watching it last week.)
Anyway, we’re at the part where Goku meets Krillin and studies martial arts under the tutelage of the Turtle Hermit master, one Master Roshi. One of the most skilled and decorated martial artists to grace that world’s Earth.
But Master Roshi has a unique way of training. Instead of fighting and sparring and learning the best moves, which is what Goku and Krillin desperately want to do, he orders them to do chores. The chores, which span from delivering milk via skipping for 3 kilometers to working construction and agriculture, get increasingly harder each day. And Master Roshi promises them that they’ll finally learn what they want in martial arts once they finish their chores.
They don’t know that doing the chores is their training. Nor that spending 6 months doing the same repetitive movements over and over again have already helped them achieve the pinnacle of success in martial arts.
But that’s what happens. (And this’n reminds me of the whole “sell your customers what they need packaged as what they want” lesson I’ve shared before.)
And you know what?
So it was with my waterless gym sesh today.
And so it is with copy.
If’n you want to become a true master, it’s more about repetitive movements that you artificially make harder than they have to be than about learning the next best practice, tip or trick, or hack.
But the former method takes longer. It’s more boring. And it’s not nearly as sexy.
Yet, it will make the difference.
(This is one reason why even my clients who never run promos still make thousands of doll-hairs every time I hit “send” for an email I wrote.)
Anyhoooooooo -
Wanna see how John-Maud’Dib’s Turtle Hermit way can grow your revenue?
Hit reply, and let’s find a time to chat.
John-Maud’Dib
Comments