All You Need is a Good Idea!: How to Create Marketing Messages that Actually Get Results

Chapter 5. WORK VERY HARD. ONCE.

Here's my confession: I am, without doubt, as lazy as the laziest of you. I will procrastinate, go for a stroll, count my corkscrews ... anything at all rather than face the demanding task of coming up with a good idea. I am not ashamed to admit it. I have learned that the result of knowing I am lazy is that I force myself to work as hard as possible in the beginning, not stopping till I have come up with a good idea. I know how much easier that will make everything else later on.

If you are lazy, lack confidence in your ability to produce good ideas, or are just too busy or preoccupied to spend a lot of time trying to come up with an idea— even though you recognize its importance—here's what I am asking you to do. Work very hard just one time to develop your ideas. Because—and here's the best part, the motivation, the promise — once you have a good idea, the rest is reasonably easy. Honest.

Working hard "once" does not necessarily mean at one sitting or one attempt. It does mean working really hard. Really, really hard. It means looking, reading, writing, researching, and more, all the while dealing with that frustrating problem known as creating.

However, the knowledge that the rest will be that proverbial piece of cake is a tasty carrot to keep you going, to jumble together a few food cliche´s. There are a lot of chapters ahead on what to do with your good idea. You will find ways to improve your idea, get more mileage out of it, make it sing. But ...