The last week has been rough…
As I mentioned last Friday, all three of my kids were sick. Also, my wife, but not to the same degree.
It started last Wednesday. By Thursday afternoon, we had three kids with fevers over 100.
I actually grabbed a piece of paper on Thursday, and divided it into three columns. Every time we took their temperature or gave them medicine, we wrote it in their column, with the time. That paper is completely full now.
As of today, our oldest is back at school for his second day, and the youngest two are seeing the doctor. We think the flu turned into infections for them, which thankfully would be treatable.
I’m in relatively good shape, health-wise. I’d been on the tail end of a cold when this all hit, but thankfully those lingering symptoms haven’t been too rough. That said, it’s all-consuming and a bit exhausting to do the million-and-one things required to help three people through sickness. Nurses and doctors who do this for a living are freaking heroes.
What’s the point of the rundown on my family’s sickness? What does it have to do with business and marketing?
Sometimes life hits us HARD…
If you think successful people don’t get knocked down, think again.
Successful people probably put themselves in more situations where they unavoidably get knocked down than most other people.
The simple act of stepping on stage — literal or metaphorical — represents some probability of failure.
Putting yourself out there in any way is a chance at getting knocked down.
The difference between those who achieve maximum success and those who don’t isn’t found in the getting knocked down.
Maximum success is achieved when they get back up.
Maximum success is achieved in the recovery time.
And so this week I’m doubling down on this — on making sure I recover quickly.
Hopefully our family is in the final days of dealing with these “bad bugs” — viruses, bacteria, whatever — and we’ll be on the mend before the end of the week.
Family took and takes priority in these situations. But when work time comes, work must happen.
We must get back up, brush ourselves off, and recover our momentum.
Recovery can be difficult…
About five years ago I had an incredible opportunity. Working on a small team with one of the best copywriters you’ve never heard of. Working at one of the fastest-growing financial publishers in the business.
It sounds rosy, but not everything was perfect.
It was difficult. It was challenging. The work was hard, yes. But there were also some other more human elements that added to the stress.
Yet I was determined to succeed.
Around the same time, I was worried about the impact of ADHD on my work.
I’d been diagnosed years before, but never tried meds. I decided to try them.
At first, they were helpful. I had a couple weeks where I was really able to focus in and crank out copy like nobody’s business.
But I got too focused. On the wrong things. I got lost in minute details. And started spinning my wheels.
Plus, the ADHD drugs — yeah, let’s call ‘em drugs at this point in the story — made it harder for me to make good decisions.
I let the whole situation spiral out of control. As projects went on too long and I spent too much time lost in unimportant details, I ran into income issues. Projects have to get done to get project completion fees, and I wasn’t finishing.
It was a downward spiral.
Finally, it all blew up in my face. The work wasn’t working. I was doing damage to our finances. And to top it all off…
I was addicted to the ADHD drugs.
I was being miserable, and I felt miserable.
Then, it got worse. Triggered by the stress, I’m sure, I got labyrinthitis. This is inflammation in the inner ear, that causes unrelenting dizziness. For the first couple days, I laid on the couch closest to a bathroom, and even laying down I’d get so dizzy I’d have to crawl to the toilet to throw up.
And I got an infection. When I went to the doctor, it was so bad, they told me I’d need a shot — with the biggest needle in the office, straight into my butt cheek. Plus a heavy dose of antibiotics for a couple weeks.
I didn’t know what to do.
But in the chaos, there was clarity. I was doing a lot of wrong. And I needed to make it right.
I flushed the rest of my ADHD meds. I tore up my next prescription. And I decided I needed to fix my wrongs.
It wasn’t easy. It took me months. I still remember going to AWAI Bootcamp later that year and talking to Marcella Allison, and she said that many great copywriters have some darkest hour story like mine, where everything seems to blow up after going well for a few years.
Eventually, I recovered momentum, moved on, and got back on track.
It was painful. But it was instructive. I can recover from a lot. And in hindsight, I can see how to make better choices.
And since then, I’ve worked on how to recover quicker.
Learn this from athletes…
Here’s a metaphor for recovery time…
When someone is starting a physical sport — let’s say, hockey — they are knocked off balance and at least temporarily knocked out of the game very easily. In kids competition, it has little consequence, because everyone is always a little off-balance.
But as the athlete develops, their time off-balance and out of the game shortens. They become steadier on their skates. Even when they’re hit big, they can usually hop back up and get back in the game quickly. Those times where they’re truly out of the game for more than a moment become more rare.
By the time they get to higher-level competition — college or professional — their fitness and skill have improved to the point where even the best competition struggle to knock them off-balance and out for more than a moment.
Even as competition gets tougher and they are bumped around more, their skill at maintaining course and staying in the game is able to overcome.
They’re constantly course-correcting. Constantly doing little micro-recoveries. Constantly getting bashed around — but responding so quickly that it’s almost unnoticeable.
Mental and emotional recovery from setbacks is a muscle that can be built, just like this.
Like an athlete develops the ability to physically recover from a bruising, we can develop an ability as professionals to recover from whatever setbacks we face. Whether it’s sickness, a tough break at work, a bad mistake — whatever. We constantly put ourselves in challenging situations and develop that recovery muscle so that when we are knocked out of balance, we can get it back quickly.
Final thoughts…
In direct response marketing, this is especially important.
Even the best marketers often create campaigns that fail.
Not only that, during the creative process we often feel like we’re failing before we’re ever even finished.
And because we measure — and live and die by — results, our failures are laid bare for the world to see.
This can be painful — even and especially when you feel like you’ve done your best.
It can make you want to curl up in a ball, crawl into a hole, or hide out in a dark room.
And if you need to do that for the afternoon, fine. You’re a human being. It’s okay to have feelings. Including the bad ones. So turn toward the pain and feel it to the fullest. Let it wash over you.
But tomorrow, you have to get up and start your recovery.
Or do it today — if you can, after dealing with whatever you have to deal with.
The sooner, the better. Because the faster you recover, the faster you’ll be back on your path to maximum success.
Yours for bigger breakthroughs,
Roy Furr
