A copywriting secret nobody talks about…
In 1996, Central Alternative High School in Appleton, Wisconsin staffed a police officer to handle discipline and weapon violations. The dean described his teenagers as “rude, obnoxious and ill-mannered.”
A few months later, after one simple change, the students became calm and focused. Truancy stopped being an issue.
An account from 2001, shows that the over the next five years there was not ONE single incident of drugs, suicide, violence or dropouts.
Here’s the ONE thing the head of the school changed that caused this transformation… Diet.
They got rid of the vending machines. They provided the cafeteria with nutritious whole foods and cooks who could do more than reheat frozen entrees.
The students kept on saying, “I find it so easy to concentrate, now.”
Something to keep in mind if you ever find yourself struggling to write copy. Do you get bored? Have trouble motivating yourself to sit down and start typing? Are you easily distracted?
Look at what you eat… Do you enjoy proper meals, with plenty of fresh vegetables? Or do you work until you’re “starving” and pop some quick processed food in the microwave?
And the worst offender to a focused mind: Sugar. Do you have herbal tea and water by your computer or pop and coffee?
Human beings find it very hard to be in the “copywriter’s zone” while your pancreas pumps out insulin and your stomach tries to find something useful to do with that donut.
P.S. Let me know what you thought of today’s slightly different take on copywriting. Also let me know if you’d like to hear about holistic approaches to being a productive copywriter. Just leave your comments in the box below…
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8 Responses to “A copywriting secret nobody talks about…”
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October 1st, 2008 at 6:18 pm
I’d love to hear more about holistic approaches to copywriting. Anything that helps align health and income is a bonus in my book
October 1st, 2008 at 6:26 pm
It’s old news to me John.
But I’ve had a few decades of learning. It’s one reason I grow organic vegetables.
In my opinion sugar is absolutely the worst mood-altering drug in the world.
Caffeine is second.
Heroin –when used sparingly — at least has pain killing benefits.
South Americans chew cocaine leaves to keep working in the thin air of high altitude.
October 1st, 2008 at 11:26 pm
Hey John,
Yes, I would like to know more about the holistic approaches to copywrting.
Intuitively, the essential message of this post makes sense: everything affects everything.
You know, this post is quite timely: today, for the first time in months, I purchased Greens+ Daily Detox. It’s a great greens drink with detoxing ingredients in it.
I can understand how sugar is the worst offender to a focused mind.
In response to Dave’s comments about caffeine, I’d say that caffeine, as far as copywriting is concerned, is a double-edged sword.
First of all, the source of the caffeine, as well as what else it comes with, plays a factor. For example, soft drinks are bad. No argument there.
However, real, pure chocolate (not candy bars or “chocolate” bars) that are at least 70% cocoa are a great source of caffeine. I once heard that 10g a day of that chocolate is good.
Now, I’m not a qualified nutritionist, so take this as informational, but I would say that caffeine is beneficial when doing the research part of the copywriting process. It gets your mind going.
However, for the actual writing part, I’m not too sure. I think every writer would have to experiment and see.
Do you perform best from a relaxed, natural state, or do you perform better when your mind is racing, but focused on the task at hand?
This is something I have to better answer for myself.
Other factors, such as how close is the deadline, your surroundings, if you’re listening to music, and of course if you have caffeine sensitivities, all play deciding factors.
So far, I like having a nice green tea at the local Second Cup.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:41 am
I have believed that diet changes productivity for quite a while - probably because I have 3 kids.
Give my son pineapple juice and 30 minutes later he is wired like on drugs. Give my youngest daughter co-co-la (chocolate, to the rest of us) and she sloooows down and has digestion problems.
Personally, I am too big a coffee drinker which people say is bad, but I never see it change me.
I have stopped totally for a couple years. I have also dropped from 20 cups a day to one a b-fast. Neither case did my work change.
{social media info} I found this post from following you on twitter, and I stumbled it.
October 2nd, 2008 at 2:46 am
As a current college student who had friends from nearly every track/stereotype in high school, I find your story about the school diet extremely hard to believe, if not outright impossible.
October 2nd, 2008 at 7:49 am
I like the different approach. Diet is so very important and we may not realize how a bad diet can affect our brain activity.
Great - would love to have more!
October 2nd, 2008 at 11:56 am
It makes sense that a proper diet increases the ability of the brain to function. I am not sure about such a dramatic change as stated in the article, but vitamins like b12 fuel your brain. Your brain doesn’t run on fairy dust. A good diet is crucial for your mind to operate at a healthy capacity.
October 2nd, 2008 at 12:37 pm
Sugar is a killer, especially the high fructose corn syrup so commonly used in American processed foods today.
It’s funny to me how everyone will buy that sugar causes your teeth to rot, but question whether it’s bad for the rest of your body. The difference? The American Dental Association. A great book on how sugar and processed flour have changed our world, I recommend Weston Price’s Book “Physical Degeneration”.