I’m in the middle of my final exam period and I was just reminded about how important deadlines are, not just for studying and copywriting but… pretty much… for everything.

What gets a deadline, gets done.

Matter of fact…

Gary Halbert(who is notorious for writing sales letters that would demolish competition) started writing most of his sales letters and newsletters at the very last minute which usually led to colleagues and especially clients becoming really irritated and probably losing some of their hair too…

Actually.

I remember reading one of Gary’s newsletters not too long ago where the first couple of sentences said that this issue should have been mailed yesterday… All while Gary was just starting to write it.

Why did Gary do this?

I’m not sure.

But if I could guess… It’s probably because the pressure of the looming deadline unlocked some of his abilities that he could hardly get to otherwise.

Maybe that’s just me imagining things into it…

But it does feel like that sometimes.

Whatever.

The fact that Gary was famous for writing late doesn’t mean that he was lazy tho. For example: Usually, he spent months just thinking about ideas, angles, and promotions, conducting research, and letting his mind work on the problem before even getting around to writing anything.

Then he unapologetically murdered the deadline.

And most of the time, he probably still left his clients in awe with his results.

Should you do the same?

Probably not.

I know, I couldn’t. I like to get things done early. The earlier the better.

Do what works for you.

But nonetheless.

Setting an uncomfortably tight deadline — so much so that you cannot let yourself off the hook — for whatever you are trying to whip into existence can most of the times just help you.

And…

If you want something that will give you a solid checkup on the basic copywriting chops you should have in your arsenal, check my short little book out over here:

https://kristofnemeth.vercel.app/

Kristof Nemeth.