Splitting Tasks Between Your Right and Left Brain

Every copywriting or marketing project requires copious amounts of creative, right-brain skull sweat, plus plenty of detail-oriented, left-brain elbow grease.

So when I’m fresh and full of mental energy, I focus on the creative tasks associated with the project. And when I’m running a bit low on creative juices, I use my time to handle the left-brain, detail-oriented stuff.

In other words, I approach my copywriting projects modularly and out of order, much like the way they make movies in Hollywood.

If I’m feeling frisky, I’ll work on my theme, my headline, and my opening copy – or maybe on the first two-thirds of my body copy. If I’m feeling sluggish, I may simply outline the project. Or focus on the research, number-crunching, or the charts and tables I’ll need.

Sometimes, if I’m kind of in between, I may rough out the last third of my copy first – the factual product description, premium description, offer, guarantee, and response device. Or, if I’m further along and have a complete draft, I may spend my time on editing what I’ve written.

This is what works best for me – the approach I’ve developed through trial and error during my four decades in this biz. It fits me like a glove.

It may work for you, too. It might make you tons more productive and improve your sales copy (or whatever else you do) by an order of magnitude.

Or, who knows? My way could prove to be the absolute worst way for you to approach your work.

There’s only ONE way to find out. Test. Analyze the results. Improvise with new ways to work that may fit you better. Repeat.

[Ed. Note: Master copywriter Clayton Makepeace publishes the highly acclaimed e-zine The Total Package to help business owners and copywriters accelerate their sales and profits. Claim your 4 free moneymaking e-books – bursting with tips, tricks, and tactics that’ll skyrocket your response – at MakepeaceTotalPackage.com.]