Writing

The case against writing to your past self

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A popular piece of content-creation/email writing advice is to “Write to your past self”.

What people mean when they say it is to think about where you were 2 months ago, 2 years ago, or even 10 years ago. Then think about all the problems you faced, obstacles you had to overcome, and wrong beliefs you held. And address those. This way you write as if you were writing a note that was about to be put in a time capsule and sent to your past self.

It sounds great in theory. It really does.

I used to follow the same advice myself.

But I stopped.

The first reason for this is simple:

I can’t remember what my past self used to struggle with. And even if I could, I don’t understand the feelings that accompanied them. My whole perspective is different now than it was even 5 months ago.

It’d be foolish of me if I tried talking to that specific person.

And that’s exactly why the creator economy is so great. You learn from the people 1–2 steps ahead of you, not someone 5 whole years ahead of you—another popular piece of advice.

So if you learn from someone right in front of you, why would I write to someone way behind me? It doesn’t make sense.

Another reason is that I simply can’t be bothered anymore.

The advice my past self from 5 years previous would need doesn’t interest me anymore. I’m at a different level right now. I’m interested in other topics.

If I were to talk about topics that didn’t inspire me, then my content would be bland and uninspiring, which directly hurts you, the reader. The energy wouldn’t be the same anymore.

So I simply don’t speak to my past self.

I write about what I currently find interesting. What I’m discovering in real-time.

This makes my content interesting and engaging. And I can take you with me on an adventure. A real-time adventure you can see unfold right in front of you.

Neither you nor I know the ending. Nobody knows where we’ll end up. That’s what makes it all so exciting.

So let this be a reminder not to blindly follow every single piece of advice you get. Think for yourself, carefully judge everything you hear, see, and experience.

Then decide what’s best for you and your goals.

And if you decide building an audience that loves to listen to you, longs to follow you on your adventure, and wants to buy your products is what’s best for you and your goals. Then you might want to check out Email Valhalla: https://alexvandromme.com/valhalla


A hidden secret to make your customers do the stuff you want

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I’m a big movie guy.

Well, I’m a big a lot of stuff guy. But for the sake of today’s email, it’s movies.

(Stick with me for a moment, it’ll all make sense in a second why I’m talking about movies)

One of my (and almost everyone else’s) favorite movie franchises is Pirates of the Caribbean. There’s a lot of good (and bad) to be said about it. Many of which has already been said by other people I won’t bother you with today.

But I want to talk about something else.

Something not many people often talk about.

And that’s the quotability of the dialogue.

See, we all know famous lines of movies that get quoted a lot. Think of lines such as “I am your father”, “I’ll be back”, or You shall not pass”.

All great lines and great scenes.

But Pirates has it’s own unique trick to create this quotable dialogue.

You might remember quotes such as “Why is the rum gone?”, “This is the day you will always remember as the day you almost caught Captain Jack Sparrow”, and many more.

And there’s a huge difference here.

While some scenes were definitely great, most of them weren’t. They’re just average scenes with average dialogue.

So why are they so quotable?

Because the characters themselves often quote others or repeat their own dialogue. And they use the same lines in multiple settings, under multiple different conditions, often with different outcomes and with different emotions to them.

Simply said.

Pirates uses a lot of repetition to make you remember certain lines of dialogue, almost making a game out of it.

This makes the dialogue immediately quotable because, well, the movie shows you how quotable it is.

So getting back to what this has to do with you.

If you want people to pick up a certain habit, if you want them to do something, if you want them to remember something, then show them how to do it, when/where they can do it, and most importantly, repeat yourself often.

I dive deeper into this topic in Product Creation Made Easy where I show you how you can create your products in such a way that ensures people will take action and actually do the stuff you tell them to do, remember the stuff you teach them, and even repeat what you said to others—at which point they’re basically doing your marketing for you.

If you want to learn more about that, then check out Product Creation Made Easy here: https://alexvandromme.com/pcme