Ever heard any of the success gurus say “make your bed first thing in the morning”?
It’s from a speech an admiral gave once to the University of Texas.
And I agree.
I always make my bed first thing in the morning.
But I have a beef with it. Let me explain.
For context, I’ve had a chat with a friend who’s constantly thinking about getting his life and priorities straight.
He’s bought countless books and probably reads once every 3 months.
With this pace he’ll probably take 2 lifetimes to read all the books he’s got.
Anyway, one of the books he was thinking about is “Make your bed” by the same admiral who gave that popular speech.
I see the allure.
“A successful guy says that’s the trick! Let’s start making my bed and everything will fall into place (determined wojak meme).”
One thing my friend and a lot of people don’t get though is that there’s a factor at play when it comes to success (life, business, learning, any area really), that not many people talk about.
That secret factor is priority.
And following the proper sequence.
An example I’d have given my friend:
“Ok, you will learn that making your bed puts you into a positive and productive mindset for the day…
…but you first have to get up off the fucking bed!”.
Following?
It doesn’t make sense to focus on making your bed if you wake up at 12 pm and half of your day is gone.
In this case priority my friend should focus on is getting up at a consistent time, every day (job permitting) instead of sleeping in when he’s off.
Then, and only then, focus on making his bed and getting things in order.
Point of all of this is…
When it comes to your business there are always tasks that should be done first, before others.
A lot of SaaS and ecommerce businesses are guilty of redesigning their entire site, taking months to make sure their SEO metrics are safe, and then they want to re-write their copy.
Wrong order, wrong priorities.
Copy first (along with research), design second.
There are nuances to this, stuff I’ve learned working at a startup myself. Being able to balance copy with the layout it will fit in, and so on.
But the big stones need to be put in before you pour the sand if you want to get the most of it.
If you want to learn more about how I plan and work on big redesign and copy projects, let’s talk.