Weekends and Creative Problem Solving

Research, create, ignore, perfect. When I am learning and practicing new skills, I have to push myself to remember the “ignore” phase of creativity. Letting a problem rest so your unconscious mind can tackle it has long been known as the mark of a diciplined creative.

Telling your own internal task-master “let me sleep on it” will yield better creative time after time.

I have a tendency like most ambitious creatives to just stay head down on a problem until I can’t see the forest for the trees.

Three-day weekends can cure problem myopia better than most tricks for big new skills. It’s long enough to bring you back refreshed and eager to perfect something. It’s also long enough to let your subconscious mind make connections that your conscious mind wouldn’t.

Interactive Writing Puts the Punchline First

Writing for the web is no joke, because online copywriting always puts the punchline first. Think about the order with which you tell a joke: first you tell a little anecdote, then BOOM! Punchline. Writing for the web, however, requires you to put the punchline in a headline, in the first sentence, and in the first paragraph.

Here’s why: Putting that point of view and main message right at the top of a web page allows your reader to quickly decide if the information you’re providing is the information they want. If it is, they read on. If it’s not, you haven’t wasted their time. Read the rest of this entry »