{"id":11937,"date":"2015-10-20T23:05:00","date_gmt":"2015-10-21T04:05:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dobermandan.com\/blog\/?p=11937"},"modified":"2015-10-20T23:13:00","modified_gmt":"2015-10-21T04:13:00","slug":"is-that-the-best-you-can-do","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dobermandan.com\/blog\/is-that-the-best-you-can-do\/","title":{"rendered":"Is that the BEST you can do?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Once upon a time, there was a speechwriter named Winston Lord.<\/p>\n<p>Cool name, huh? Sounds like he should have been royalty instead of a writer.<\/p>\n<p>Like me.<\/p>\n<p>But I guess we\u2019re both just gluttons for punishment.<\/p>\n<p>Anyhoo, before he became the ambassador to China, Winston Lord was Henry Kissinger\u2019s speechwriter.<\/p>\n<p>You remember Kissinger, right? \u00a0He was the 56th Secretary of State.<\/p>\n<p>I don\u2019t remember much about him. I was just a kid when he was at the peak of his power. All I remember is that all the comedians of the day made fun of how he talked.<\/p>\n<p>It was only a few years ago that I heard an interesting story about Kissinger. One that my research seems to show is true.<\/p>\n<p>Or mostly true.<\/p>\n<p>But since I\u2019m on a self imposed deadline today, I\u2019m not going to allow a minor detail such as the truth get in the way of telling a good story.<\/p>\n<p>So here goes:<\/p>\n<p>Winston Lord was preparing a speech for Kissinger.<\/p>\n<p>(For some reason every time I say \u201cWinston Lord\u201d, I feel an overwhelming need to put my nose in the air and say it like a British Aristocrat.)<\/p>\n<p>After days of working on it, Lord delivered a draft to Kissinger.<\/p>\n<p>Like a typical writer, Lord waited anxiously for his client\u2019s feedback.<\/p>\n<p>Finally, Kissinger called him in the next day and simply said&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIs that the best you can do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Lord said, \u201cI thought so, but I\u2019ll try again.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He returned a second draft to Kissinger, only to be called back again and asked the same question, \u201cIs that the best you can do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>This game of back and forth continued several times until Lord, who was exasperated and exhausted, finally said, \u201cYes! \u00a0I know it\u2019s the best I can do. \u00a0I can\u2019t possibly improve one more word.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Kissinger then replied&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn that case, I will read it now.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>While I found a few variations of this story (even one told by Lord himself in an interview), the moral of the story remained constant:<\/p>\n<p>Are you giving your best the first time?<\/p>\n<p>I swear I just heard a collective moan from all my copywriter bruthas and sistas.<\/p>\n<p>Because if you\u2019re like me, your first draft is NOT your best.<\/p>\n<p>And that\u2019s totally OK.<\/p>\n<p>You see, one of the keys to becoming a successful writer is giving yourself permission to suck.<\/p>\n<p>And having the balls to create a really shitty first draft.<\/p>\n<p>Cuz if you want your first draft to be perfect you\u2019ll NEVER get it started.<\/p>\n<p>You just need to squelch that internal editor in your crusty cranium and blurt out (on paper, of course) your first draft as fast as possible.<\/p>\n<p>(Like I\u2019m doing right now.)<\/p>\n<p>The \u201cIs this the best you can do?\u201d stuff comes later.<\/p>\n<p>I just turned in a piece of copy to a client.<\/p>\n<p>He didn\u2019t reply \u201cIs that the best you can do?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>He said, \u201cThis is REALLY well written. I have nothing to add. No changes needed. It\u2019s ready for legal review now. Well done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>It WAS well written, if I do say so myself.<\/p>\n<p>And it \u201conly\u201d took 3 LONG months of obsessing over it night and day&#8230; and practically sweating BLOOD every time I sat down to write.<\/p>\n<p>A few people close to me actually thought I was having a nervous breakdown while in the middle of that piece. (Myself included.)<\/p>\n<p>So yeah&#8230; it WAS the best I can do. (At this point in my journey at least.)<\/p>\n<p>But you should\u2019ve seen the first draft.<\/p>\n<p>On second thought&#8230; I\u2019m glad you won\u2019t.<\/p>\n<p>All the best,<\/p>\n<p>Doberman Dan<\/p>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/www.dobermandan.com\/the-best-ways-to-reactivate-past-customers\/dobedansig\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-11365\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignleft wp-image-11365\" src=\"http:\/\/www.dobermandan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/dobedansig-300x147.jpg\" alt=\"dobedansig\" width=\"132\" height=\"65\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.dobermandan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/dobedansig-300x147.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.dobermandan.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/dobedansig.jpg 321w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 132px) 100vw, 132px\" \/><\/a>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>P.S. Do ya love me?<\/p>\n<p>Can\u2019t get enough of me?<\/p>\n<p>(You\u2019re so sweet!)<\/p>\n<p>Then here\u2019s a little more from me today&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s an interview Matthew Passy of the PodUp podcast did with me.<\/p>\n<p>He\u2019s a good interviewer. Got me talking about stuff I don\u2019t normally talk about.<\/p>\n<p>We talked about positioning, podcasting, persistence and several other \u201cP\u201d words.<\/p>\n<p>Enjoy!<\/p>\n<p>Pax vobiscum.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Once upon a time, there was a speechwriter named Winston Lord. Cool name, huh? Sounds like he should have been royalty instead of a writer. Like me. But I guess we\u2019re both just gluttons for punishment. Anyhoo, before he became the ambassador to China, Winston Lord was Henry Kissinger\u2019s speechwriter. You remember Kissinger, right? \u00a0He [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2367],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-11937","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-mindset"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.9 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Is that the BEST you can do? - Doberman Dan<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.dobermandan.com\/blog\/is-that-the-best-you-can-do\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is that the BEST you can do? - Doberman Dan\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Once upon a time, there was a speechwriter named Winston Lord. 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