First week of learning copywriting. I started a study routine where as soon as I wake up I make my 'bulletproof coffee,' walk to my standing desk, mason jar or clear thrifted coffee mug in hand, open up a safari tab for the Udemy Copywriting Course I've chosen to take [it helps to have it open from the day before or to have the exact link bookmarked in 'Favorites'], imbibe my buttery beverage, and set my Toggl Tracker and 25 minute timer on Mac. I have chosen 'Toggl Tracker' as my designated time log app where I will be recording and tracking all of my learning time. It has both a desktop Mac feature and a mobile app.
Eased into copywriting by clicked on the course 5 minutes a day for two days a week before [when I was prioritizing another project and couldn't focus more than 5 minutes on learning]. Then the following week when I completed that project, I could extend it to 25-50 minutes.
The 25 minute timer beeps [the 'cosmic' ringtone on Mac], I either clean my room, memorize a Anna Sedokova song alongside the prepared lyrics [bookmarked and set on my phone Home Screen], wash the dishes, or clean my face with Paula's Choice 2% BHA Exfoliator. Or I go outside on porch, streaming with sunshine, & write down ten ideas [a practice I got from the blogger James Altucher and what I've been doing off and on since 2017]. Another alternative is I read a few pages of my current romance read on the steps. Then I go back to my standing desk to proceed with my study practice.
I don't wake up at the same time and that's something I will be working on. Because I will be marking my progress based not on hours completed, but on tasks completed I haven't thought about waking up at the same time. Plus, I hate the sound of alarms but if I set it to synth or something space-like then it will not be as grading.
My morning learning schedule consists of duration, not studying set hours. For example, I do two 50 minute sessions of learning [broken up into 25 minute segments where I take a five minute break] but I haven't been learning from 7 to 9 am or 8 to 10 am [as I haven't been waking up at the same time].
I set my timer for 25 minutes & log the time in my time tracker app Toggl Tracker. Also, I will be checking off if I do indeed do three 50 minute sessions [I actually haven't been recording that part] I think I will be choosing Apple Notes Checklist Note as my place to record.
As for learning, I have enjoyed it so far! Progressing through the modules, seeing my visual progress thanks to the Udemy platform features, taking plain text notes alongside the videos, all the time in the back of my mind wondering how I can implement the information to solve my personal problems. When an idea pops into my head, I quickly jot it down in Apple Notes [or under the 'Notes' tab in the course] so I don't lose focus on what the instructor is saying.
A little after starting the first course module [I should have done this in my prep time], I looked at the course curriculum, read the objectives, and noted down what I want to personally get out of this course and ways I can use the information in a practical way in both my business and as a profession. One of the tenants of accelerated-learning is having a very clear and specific purpose of why you are learning [allowing you to also skip over information that might not be relevant to your 'why,'], how the information might be applied later etc….
I learned that the first thing to do in writing authentic copy that sells is doing market research [as it is ethical & the best approach to sell what people ACTUALLY want and not what I think they should want] and I got some ideas of how to approach it. I had to pause for half an hour and write out why I was learning about market research when what I really wanted to learn was the skill of copywriting. How will I actually apply these ideas and concepts of market research to my situation? Do I really need to do market research for 'Small Sustainable Learning'? [both the short-term and the long-term version?] or can I skip right to copywriting [which I know I will learn how to do later in the course?]
I am glad I took that pause to decide on those questions before continuing my mountainous climb into more unknown terrain to be a certified, authentic & ethical copywriter. I pinpointed a more specific area of “Small Sustainable Learning” that I want to focus on [memorization strategies & skill-building strategies applied to language-learning!] and this question and answer came up thanks to trying to figure out if I should do market research.
I learned how to do polls [and skipped the ones that were not relevant to my situation], I learned that it is important to get opinions from the right people for your market research [not necessarily your friends and family], what questions to ask when doing market research, what methods to employ, I learned how to approach people or your audience to talk with them one-on-one to get more clarity on what they would actually pay for [to pay attention to their buying actions and not really what they say they would buy], & how to study your own style before you actually start writing copy.
As I jump into the style of copywriting, I can use the concept of practice-looping to practice this form of persuasive prose, speeding up the loops & spacing out my practice. Deciding to write 'learning documentary' blog posts is a form of fast feedback as I write down the main points so far or realize I don't quite remember what I wanted to in the course.