David Ogilvy, the advertising legend who brought genuine excitement and classic salesmanship to Madison Avenue, wrote about the value of naps for a writer. He didn’t mean not being tired, but using the power of your unconscious—his trick was to upload information about a project…and then catch forty winks, telling his mind to have something for him when he left. woke up
It made sense to me. Your brain is not a muscle, it is a complex beast unlike any other organ on the planet. You can store, process, and create massive amounts of source material… entire worlds of possibilities, vast universes of thoughts and ideas.
Trust me, for copywriters and marketers… naps are gold. I’ve done it a thousand times, maybe more, in twenty years as a writer. Fill my head with information… and then take a nap for as long as my system requires. Twenty minutes or two hours, it doesn’t matter.
And when I wake up, I make sure I’ve left a pen and paper nearby…because the headlines and copy will pour out.
While you are awake, and especially when you are struggling with ideas, you are your own worst enemy.
Asleep, however, our deeper selves take over.
It is the true hidden genius within all of us: our unconscious mind.
You can do information filling while you are tired. That’s more or less hard work: reading the reports, recording the statistics, interviewing people on the phone.
But you should never try to write for real while suppressing a yawn. For an experienced copywriter and marketer, being tired is a sign that it’s time to take a long rest, including a nap. Let things simmer, settle, and process in your head.
Tired, you’ll wrestle with your copy for three hours…and it won’t be as good as the fifteen minutes of writing you get after an hour’s nap.
Question this advice if necessary. Most of the struggling writers I know are skeptical and afraid to try. The puritanical work ethic has taken deep root in our souls, and naps are considered a waste of time at best…and a wicked dodge at worst. I’ve had writers laugh at the suggestion. However, never the best.
Your brain is not a muscle. It’s more like a fantastic little town of libraries, stores, and study centers. And all the elves that slave there are smarter than you… and yet they are completely devoted to you.
Most of the writing that you struggle to create while tired will have to be thrown away. It will be garbage.
Most of the writing I’ve captured after a “work nap” has been left, with some editing, in my final piece.
Think about it.
Now, I’m going to snuggle up with the terrier and let the elves come up with another project for me.