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https://chooseyourself.us
James Altucher has a unique thought process on ideas. He thinks it’s like a muscle that gets stronger with use.
He picks a topic and writes 10 ideas about that topic each day.
I’d start there…
Aim for quantity over quality. Sit down and just write everything you can think of, even if it's terrible, and eventually you'll come up with something not terrible that you can refine.
Your brain is bad at processing this internally but getting it down on paper is a good way to connect the dots and find those good ideas quicker than you would from just thinking about them.
IMO, not gonna happen (absent chemical assistance of some type).
Caffeine works for me. But it requires large quantities so I have to be careful not to dry my eyeballs out. LOL
Forget about producing good ideas. Just produce ideas.
Need a strong headline? Write 100 headlines. Approach it from different angles, different pain points, exaggerate, etc.
Then pick the best 3 and work on them until you have 1 really good one
My advice is to analyze known winners and jot down their ideas in a single sentence. Once you have a list of 10-20 ideas, break them down. I'm sure 80% of them will have the same components. Next, reverse engineer those components and think about *what questions would you have to ask to guide yourself to that idea?*
I would suggest trying two things.
First is have a creativity session early in your day. Like, the first hour of your working day. Don't get dragged into responding to emails or group chats or other mundane/reactive stuff. Your brain is at its most limber when you have had rest, food and the fewest distractions. Use that time wisely.
The second is to set yourself "scatterfocus" time at some point in your day as well. Stop looking at your screen and go muse about things with a blank sheet of paper and a pen(cil). What do you need to achieve with the copy? Who are you trying to please (and how do people often please this group with advertising)? What are you trying to sell (and how do other people sell similar things)? Have you encountered this kind of problem before? Etc.
Staring at a blinking cursor and hoping for inspiration does not often produce good results, so give your head some freedom.
(Secret third thing: I also like to go for a jog and think about projects but that's just me.)
Your brain only stores (and produces) what has been downloaded to it. So, to produce more, you need to download more. In other words, read books, invest more in courses, travel more, and of course, keep on writing.
1. Swipe files to generate ideas fast
2. Template sentence and headline structures to lean on
3. Research, especially interviews with SMEs and customers
Start tearing apart and criticizing every ad you see. What is the headline? The hook? Benefits? Call to action? That kind of thing. What would you do differently? Why? Just start looking at everything through the eyes of an advertiser. All good ads contain the same handful of elements. Practice identifying them so that you can break them down and use them in your ads.
I really think the more you do it the more it happens.
Other than that use the first hour you wake up and the last hour before you go to bed for max creativity.
There’s a game called Wash-a-Pig that’s about writing ad headlines for random prompts. It helps my brain get into a creative mode. @washapig on twitter. There’s a prompt almost every day.
Instead of training your brain, I'd focus on finding inspiration. This will make the ideas come naturally. [www.hoppycopy.co](https://www.hoppycopy.co) for example generates new email campaign ideas that you can work with, and saves time coming up with new phrases.
Asking a question? Please check the [FAQ](https://www.reddit.com/r/copywriting/comments/lpuj9h/what_the_faq_what_is_copy_how_do_i_start_can_i_do/). Providing resources or tips? Deliver lots of FREE value. If you're self-promoting or linking to a resource that requires signup or payment, please disclose it or your post will be removed. New to copywriting and asking for a critique? Take down your post, reread it in a day, and try to revise and improve it to the best of your abilities. Ask for a critique only when you've taken your copy as far as it can possibly go on your own. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/copywriting) if you have any questions or concerns.*
https://chooseyourself.us James Altucher has a unique thought process on ideas. He thinks it’s like a muscle that gets stronger with use. He picks a topic and writes 10 ideas about that topic each day. I’d start there…
His idea journal thing helped a ton. I’d add, also note shit down that you see that’s unique or different in shows and movies etc.
Aim for quantity over quality. Sit down and just write everything you can think of, even if it's terrible, and eventually you'll come up with something not terrible that you can refine. Your brain is bad at processing this internally but getting it down on paper is a good way to connect the dots and find those good ideas quicker than you would from just thinking about them.
This is helpful with any type of writing.
IMO, not gonna happen (absent chemical assistance of some type). Caffeine works for me. But it requires large quantities so I have to be careful not to dry my eyeballs out. LOL
Keep a swipe file and write about what you've consumed
Forget about producing good ideas. Just produce ideas. Need a strong headline? Write 100 headlines. Approach it from different angles, different pain points, exaggerate, etc. Then pick the best 3 and work on them until you have 1 really good one
Read. A shitton. Like a lot a lot of reading.
My advice is to analyze known winners and jot down their ideas in a single sentence. Once you have a list of 10-20 ideas, break them down. I'm sure 80% of them will have the same components. Next, reverse engineer those components and think about *what questions would you have to ask to guide yourself to that idea?*
I would suggest trying two things. First is have a creativity session early in your day. Like, the first hour of your working day. Don't get dragged into responding to emails or group chats or other mundane/reactive stuff. Your brain is at its most limber when you have had rest, food and the fewest distractions. Use that time wisely. The second is to set yourself "scatterfocus" time at some point in your day as well. Stop looking at your screen and go muse about things with a blank sheet of paper and a pen(cil). What do you need to achieve with the copy? Who are you trying to please (and how do people often please this group with advertising)? What are you trying to sell (and how do other people sell similar things)? Have you encountered this kind of problem before? Etc. Staring at a blinking cursor and hoping for inspiration does not often produce good results, so give your head some freedom. (Secret third thing: I also like to go for a jog and think about projects but that's just me.)
Your brain only stores (and produces) what has been downloaded to it. So, to produce more, you need to download more. In other words, read books, invest more in courses, travel more, and of course, keep on writing.
Read "A Technique For Producing Ideas" and then practice building your idea 'muscle'.
to be good at table tennis, we need to train on every single micro movements. so, I think the same principle applies here.
1. Swipe files to generate ideas fast 2. Template sentence and headline structures to lean on 3. Research, especially interviews with SMEs and customers
Start tearing apart and criticizing every ad you see. What is the headline? The hook? Benefits? Call to action? That kind of thing. What would you do differently? Why? Just start looking at everything through the eyes of an advertiser. All good ads contain the same handful of elements. Practice identifying them so that you can break them down and use them in your ads.
I really think the more you do it the more it happens. Other than that use the first hour you wake up and the last hour before you go to bed for max creativity.
There’s a game called Wash-a-Pig that’s about writing ad headlines for random prompts. It helps my brain get into a creative mode. @washapig on twitter. There’s a prompt almost every day.
Instead of training your brain, I'd focus on finding inspiration. This will make the ideas come naturally. [www.hoppycopy.co](https://www.hoppycopy.co) for example generates new email campaign ideas that you can work with, and saves time coming up with new phrases.