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Great post, John. I’d love to see an entire post on this little tidbit:
“Do you set goals? If you set goals to satisfy your ego, your life will be miserly and grim.
The really good goals in life are always larger than “you”.”
Thanks for “Ranting.” It always helps MY de-ignorizing process.
Cheers,
Trish
Is “group-huts” a typo or some American slang new to my anglo ears?
Reply Ah OK
It’s here…
“Unlike every other language out there, it inhales foreign worlds without problem, give group-huts to slang, and offers an amazing cornucopia of choices when you want to get your point across”
Reply Ah. Thanks, Tom. I changed it — it’s “group hugs”. English likes slang, and doesn’t mind sharing space with it. I appreciate the eagle eyes… I’m one of the worst proof-readers alive, especially for my own stuff…
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Nice reference to The Animals hit from 1965 especially since one of the Band went onto manage one of the greatest Guitarists ever to strap on a Strat.Yes that one JH. I think JH and JohnC would have got on like a house on fire…come to think of it JH was a bit of a Pyromaniac in his early days . John still is except when he is being frosty… Wonderful post John I think I need a nap now to drive it into my aging brain…thank you
Reply Yep, big Chas Chandler brought Jimi from the unappreciative US, and helped him thrive in London. I was just talking about the Animals with some writer friends, as we argued over the “top 3 rock albums of all times”, and for me, Best of the Animals (’66) was a game-changer for many musicians. They took the loosest blues tunes (looking at you, John Lee Hooker) and tightened ’em up, while never losing the grit or feeling. Just a great, great band… ruined by drugs and money.
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Hi John
“so I never “vowed” to do better next time, but actually changed so I DID better”
This has got to be the best action taking sentence I’ve ever read !!
Theres some real wisdom on this page and the holes in my skills are being recognised and filled with knowledge … slowly – even though I’ve been advised to outsource – I’d rather learn myself 🙂
Thanks for another great post (even if it is an oldie) 🙂
Cheers Carl
Reply Yes, the main problem with “vows” is that you feel better, but if you don’t take proactive steps to actually DO better, nothing will change. It’s the crux of the self-help market, the belief that you can “think” your way past an obstacle. You can’t. You need to get the skills, info and tactics to actual DO it. It’s never just as simple as making a vow. Vows are cheap. Action is pure gold.
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This is the sentence for me. “oh, hell, my ego’s involved in this”
it sums it up perfectly.
Reply Ego’s have done more damage than any other part of the human system. And it requires constant supervision — even after murdering your ego and getting real, the little bastard will sneak back into your brain to cause trouble. But the first step, of realizing it’s a problem, is the big one.
Thanks for the note.
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Hi John,
Intuition is very helpful, but you do have to learn to distinguish your true inner guidance from your mental conditionings and societal brainwashing. Whose voice is in your head? Is it the still small voice of your intuition or is it the parental voice, the voice of peers, the teacher, etc. Learning to distinguish which is which is not that easy, but extremely valuable. I’ve had some crazy, amazing, favorable synchronicities happen, on a regular basis, after I learned the process of following through with my inner guidance. If this topic interests you, please check out my blog and website. Have a great day!
Reply I, too, have benefited from amazing synchronicity and connections that sound like fiction but are true. (Like “Think And Grow Rich” actually falling out off a shelf into my lap at the exact right time in my life — I was sleeping on a friend’s couch, homeless and miserable.) I believe, and advise, that the universe rewards proactive behavior. My warning on intuition is that you need to ROAD TEST it before relying on it. How often is it right, how often wrong? Most people ignore the wrong stuff, and glorify the right stuff. Just measure, is all I’m saying. Raw intuition can be mostly wishful thinking.
Thinking that there’s any “magic” to this synchronicity stuff rubs me wrong. It’s all about movement and being hyper-aware that opportunity is a fleeting whisper in the breeze, and if you miss it it’s gone forever. So you get attuned to how the world works, and you swim into the tides. You’re often, for example, just one bold introduction away from meeting famous people who can help your career. I found Jay Abraham by accident (a passing comment from a colleague), had to get past disliking him initially to become a fixture in his office (over the course of many unpaid months), and met Gary Halbert at one of Jay’s parties. Gary and I then circled each other for six months, finally hooking up professionally and beginning what became a 20 year friendship. It wasn’t magic — it was jumping on opportunity (not knowing how it would play out, or if there even was any reward for doing so), living in a world of constant change and unknown possibilities (which freak most people out), and just always being ready to move quickly on new opportunities (again, without knowing the payoff, if any). I never waited for anyone to call me — I called THEM, and I gave them excellent reasons to appreciate the call. I worked for FREE for Jay for a year, in exchange for free run of his office (so I got to sit in on consultations, and learn from a master how it’s done). It never occurred to me to become a guru as I piled up experience and insight in my long career… and the decision to finally write my book “Kick-Ass Copywriting of a Marketing Rebel” happened in a split second, because it was simply time to do it. I wrote it in 14 days, and it’s remained a treasured classic used and coveted by the best in the biz.
Again, not magic. Not intuition. Just hard-core movement and staying attuned to the subtle whispers of opportunity.
Thanks for the note, Christine.
Reply I agree with you John that the Universe rewards proactive behavior, but the Universe rewards proactive behavior EVEN MORE when it is inspired by your inner guidance, the kind that comes from one’s deepest soul (rather than just your “ego” self).
When you learn to distinguish your inner guidance from the garbage or regular thoughts in your head and then develop enough confidence in your inner guidance such that you follow through with it PROMPTLY and CONSISTENTLY, that’s when you tap into a kind of magic and flow that isn’t there when you just depend on hard work / pounding the pavement.
The following is a real life example, copied from a blog post of mine:
“About two and a half years ago, I was hiking in the Los Gatos foothills when all of a sudden I received a hunch to call an acquaintance. I had promised to help with a project, and I wanted to let him know I could be counted on.
I realized I didn’t have his number in my cell phone contact list, but as I was hiking up the hill, I remembered I had called him recently. So I looked through my call history for a (650) area code number and dialed the first (650) number I came across.
An unfamiliar man’s voice answered, “This is KZSU and you’re the winner. “Can you hold?”
“Yes, I can hold,” I said, blown away, realizing I had just “by accident” called the radio station where my friend hosted a weekly radio show, wondering if the current host was going to ask me questions I couldn’t answer, or how I was going to explain that I wasn’t listening to this guy’s show at the moment.
Well, it turns out I won a pair of tickets to the Monterey Jazz Festival (and he did not ask me any questions I couldn’t answer). Even though I had been very confident in my ability to discern and follow through with my guidance by then, this amazing result amplified my confidence even more. (It’s nice to receive such positive feedback from the Universe.)
Notice that I did not hesitate to follow through with my guidance. Even though I knew I didn’t have my friend’s number, I looked for another way to call him. Notice also that there was a very small “window of opportunity” for getting this particular result. If you wait too long to follow through with your intuition, your window of opportunity will pass you by.” –end of blog post excerpt
I have an even more amazing example I had blogged on, something happened to a friend. Tell me please that there isn’t SOME magic happening here…
The link to the blog post is below:
http://www.christinehoeflich.com/?p=147
Thanks for your reply! By the way, I read your blog posts consistently and LOVE the way you write.
Christine
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Luck is when preparation meets opportunity. Don’t know who said that but I agree . . . it all comes down to my taking some kind of action. Nothing happens if nothing happens. Thank you John.
Reply Right on, David. There are many similar sayings, going back to the beginning of history…
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Dear Semi-retired master of words and all things to do with operation money suck!
I hope like hell you intend to keep your blog going…
…it’s like ritual for me to knock the invisable bullshit that sometimes (not too often) seeps into my head and starts to swirl around like a trojan virus inside a PC.
Ego is bullshit: I love that, so true…
Jingle writer famous on madison ave…getting paid stupid amounts of money for mis-leading biz owners…
That remined me of an experience of my own this week on Facebook- so called ‘marketing & copywriting’ nerd decided to tangle with me because.
I have posted few things I’m testing…to generate leads…
He took the time to see what…
I had to offer decided after going to college ( we call it university here) thought his so called ‘education’ allowed him to critque me and what & how I was generating leads.
With most amount of repsect for this guy (clueless bastard)
I told him long list of guys who…
I have been learning from (you included) and asked him to send through promo’s…the response…cost per lead, how much promo’s he worked on made.
His response was classic and could see it mile away…
He did not feel the need to Google serach anyone…
I had taken the time to learn from (you included) proceeded to say direct response world was full of sharltons.
Ha-ha-ha-ha…
Like an old WW2 battle cruzer…
I gave him best lapel rattling without being abusive toward him.
I than detailed some of big boys in our world and what their experience has been from actually doing it.
Further to that.
How white space, cool graphics, limited copy will never in a fit beat copy dense pitch done like we would….
…that if we where to go head to head spilt run test I’m pretty sure using my direct response education, I would slaughter his response rate dollar for dollar on cost per lead…
…and kindly reminded him that image advertising and branding will lead his clients so far off the path to endless flow of cash pouring into bank accounts as a direct respons from the promotion…he creates
…one day he will start to beleive his own b.s
I also told him…
I have been schooled by guys who have actually applied their knowledge and gotten mega results whilst he has been taught on what suppose based on theroy to happen how being creative & entertaining won’t make single friggin sale.
I told him unless he can produce samples of his work with all the stats and how much $$$$ it made than please keep your deluded ideas in the world where it’s not important to pull a response…
…because to me brand and image to me as every day joe on the street does not make me want to go and buy specific product or service…
In fact when I go to the grocery store I end up with mix of branded and un branded grocerys all because I like the taste or desire the prouct I have in my basket.
Regardless of what fancy logo or brand name is on the packaging
I’m sorry for such long reply…
I really get going when boffins/ wanna be fake experts start vomiting up so much crap they need toilet roll attached to their jaw bone!
Like the story you tell in one of your DVD sets how romans use to sell thier used chariots by using direct response! (can’t recall if it was copywriting sweatshop or one of your other killer DVD sets…
Thanks again mate!
RJ, Australia
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[…] John Carlton’s recent blog post tells how he made changes and transformed his life from one of a slacker (where he “got away with laziness, unreliability, and a self-destructive refusal to change”) to one where he “cleaned up his messes, fixed what was broken in his personality, took responsibility, and became more conscious and more precise in how he looked at the world.” Today he is recognized as one of the best, most “real” copywriters in his field. John writes, […]
Reply […] John Carlton’s recent blog post tells how he made changes and transformed his life from one of a slacker (where he “got away with laziness, unreliability, and a self-destructive refusal to change”) to one where he “cleaned up his messes, fixed what was broken in his personality, took responsibility, and became more conscious and more precise in how he looked at the world.” Today he is recognized as one of the best, most “real” copywriters in his field. John writes, […]
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I write new posts often — at least once a month. But I’m also tired of people asking me the same questions over and over, which I’ve already addressed in the blog (sometimes multiple times)… so I’m really doing all the lazy asses a favor by recycling the killer articles that never deserved to be forgotten in the first place.
Got a new one coming up soon, and a new guest post by a favorite colleague, too. Just stay tuned…
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Hi John,
I’m new to your blog and at the risk of inflating your ego I’ve gotta say I love your style of writing!
For a long time I was meandering along in my business until I gave myself one of those nasty reality checks you mention.
You say you’re hard on yourself…Well I made myself cry! But I am a girl!
After that reality check I decided the only way to change was to do things differently, what I was currently doing was getting me nowhere.
Every Sunday night I now spend a couple of hours reviewing how productive my previous week was, where time and energy were wasted and how I can make the next week better.
Without these frequent reality checks I’d still be wasting time going round in circles never really getting anywhere.
Mel
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It’s all a matter of taking personal responsibility isn’t it. Instead of trying to fake it till you make it, being humble enough to accept the fact that there is always someone out there who is much smarter, and more experienced than you. You also need to know that it’s smart to seek out those people and learn from them, so that you might also be able to learn something that’s really useful. I have been learning internet marketing now for the past two years, and it’s taken me until really just recently to be able to discern the ones who I should be learning from, from the ones who don’t really have a clue, and are wasting peoples time and money spreading stuff that’s nothing more than rubbish.It’s a shame that when you don’t know something you don’t know, so you can’t possibly know, who are the ones, that will help you to grow, from the others.
Spend enough time working at finding the people who can teach you, eventually when the time is right, they will turn up and you will know.
Good advice there, Sharon. You can’t expect the reality to present itself to you when you climb into a new gig or environment… but if you’re aware and commit to learning and growing, it’ll come eventually. Much faster than you ever believed possible, in fact, once you focus… so be prepared.
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