Hi friends,
It’s a new year!
The transition into 2021 felt like a reset for me. (Hope you got some good rest, too.)
Over the holidays, I completely abandoned all of my usual habits and routines (good or bad).
As part of my annual review (this is the template I used), I decided which habits I want to start, stop, and continue in the new year.
One of the new habits I established is writing morning pages.
I get up at 7 am, open my laptop at 7:20 and write 750 words in Roam (took me 30-40 min in the last few days).
The goal is to empty my mind completely. So far, I’ve written about:
- how I slept
- what I’m grateful for
- what I’m excited about
- what has me worried and stressed that day
- what I need to get done and want to focus on
- what I can’t stop thinking about (as soon as I’ve written it down, it’s out of my head)
There’s no hard rule on how to write morning pages. The only important thing is that they’re supposed to be private so your brain can easily let go and won’t edit itself.
When I’m writing in the morning, I feel like a dog getting excited to go for a walk. By the time I’ve reached the word count, I’m at the entrance of the park and can barely contain my enthusiasm to start running and playing. I want to start the day and tackle my first task.
If you want to know more about morning pages, I can recommend Matt Tillotson’s article (Morning 750: The benefits of a morning freewrite). It inspired me to get started.
Now, here’s what I want to share with you this week.
📖 10 transformational mindset shifts that changed my life in 2020
2020 was one of the most transformational years of my life. And ended with mindblowing results, like tripling my revenue compared to 2019. In my annual review, I identified the 10 biggest mindset shifts that made it all possible.
💡 How to know what your audience cares about
Research is key to launching a product people actually want to buy. And it will ensure you don’t run out of ideas when it’s time to write about it.
Initiating direct conversations with potential customers is a great way to learn more about your audience’s aspirations, pain points, and objections. A step you should never skip.
But it’s a good idea to approach your research from more than one angle.
Today, I want to show you an additional method that gives you direct access to the brains of your audience members.
Yes, it has to do with social media. The place where people love to share their opinions freely.
Find accounts with a high follower count in your niche and watch them closely. Their posts and tweets tend to generate a lot of comments.
Take this tweet by Tiago Forte, for example:
It resulted in over 65 replies, full of insights into what’s holding people back from filming videos. A glimpse into people’s fears, pains, and challenges. That’s gold for every copywriter.
These comments helped me validate the messaging we used in the emails and sales page of Minimum Viable Video.
Go try it out for yourself! I’m curious about what you find.
💬 Quote of the Week
“The key to living is always learning how to live.”
Socrates
Wishing you a head start into 2021,
Julia
