No one reads ads.
Yet, somehow, advertisers invest (and earn) millions per year through long written ads.
Well, admen know this little dirty secret that most of us don’t:
People may be polite, timid, cowards, or opportunists and pretend to listen to what we have to say. But when alone, literally everyone is strict about what they read.
Hopkins, Ogilvy, Halbert, and other marketing legends knew well that anything can be interesting, if expressed interestingly.
Simple. Not easy.
This, by the way, is not a piece to learn to write better, but to understand the interesting element better.
Because somehow, some read ancient poetry, others enjoy memes with cats, and others watch YouTube videos at 4:00 a.m. about insomnia.
Why?
Because of the interesting element.
Effort
Effort has a very complex meaning.
When you don’t have patience, it takes a lot of effort to wait.
When you’re tired, it takes a lot of effort to do.
In general, effort is winning against friction and pressure, regardless of their types.
Discipline is what changes the requirements of more or less effort.
Personal Value
Value is what we get from exchanging something, be that our time, attention, hard-earned cash, hormones, you name it.
Uniqueness
This element is getting trickier by the second, thanks to the internet.
Of course, this adds good complexity* to humankind (sometimes), which is not a bad thing.
So many options to choose from in ANYTHING, from fitness and literature to cooking, studying, or playing.
Amazing times we live in.
Quoting from Gracián (and this piece is 300+ years old, mind you):
i. Everything is at its Acme;
Especially the art of making one's way in the world.
There is more required nowadays to make a single wise man than formerly to make Seven Sages, and more is needed nowadays to deal with a single person than was required with a whole people in former times.
—Baltasar Gracián, The Art of Worldly Wisdom, 1647
Enough Said. Time To Play.
Want to play more?
This free prompt is to think of things from a new angle. While I can’t help with the effort and personal value elements, I can help in your POV.
Time to think different.
Let me know what you think of it!
PS
*About good complexity:
As Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined in Flow, it means more depth for yourself and more breadth toward others.”
PPS
“Nothing can be interesting if you are not interested.”
— Helen Clark MacInnes
Sometimes we don’t need new things or places. But a new lens.
Until next time, friend.
Lifeward,
PPPS
Maybe you are interested (pun intended) in living with your flow activated?