When you ask people about the things that might get in their way, they’ll probably rattle off the usual suspects: not having enough time, juggling a million other commitments, struggling to find clients. Sure, those can definitely throw a wrench in the works. But you know what? With some solid planning and stubbornness, they’re actually pretty easy to overcome.
Nah, it’s those OTHER distractions you have to watch out for. The sneaky little things that sometimes even feel like you’re making progress. But deep down? They just suck away your time, energy, and focus from the tasks that really move your career forward, you know?
Those subtle little time-wasters can be brutally hard to spot since they’re disguised as real work. But we need to call them out and shut them down before they sabotage your copywriting dreams.
So listen up, because I’m about to shine a light on these productivity vampires. We’re taking those monsters down, one distraction at a time!
Getting Sidetracked by Unimportant Things
One of the biggest career-wrecking distractions is spending wayyyy too much time obsessing over things that barely matter for your business growth. When you’re just starting out? It’s brutally hard to separate the meaningful stuff from the pointless time-sucks. That’s where having an experienced mentor or coach can be a total lifesaver, steering you away from the stupid rabbit holes.
Like, you might go spiralling down this black hole trying to figure out how to “legally” incorporate your biz. LLC? S-Corp? Sole proprietor? Listen up: for 99.9% of new copywriters (at least in the U.S.), just freelancing as a sole proprietor requires zero annoying paperwork to start. Dead simple.
Here’s another example of wasted energy: Spending hours upon hours agonizing over designing the “perfect” logo and choosing between a designer’s options. News flash, my friend: You don’t actually need some fancy-pants logo when you’re just getting this copywriting party started. It is not gonna magically help you land clients or do killer work. Move the hell on already!
I’ve fallen into that trap myself, like obsessively hunting for the most ideal desk lamp or organiser for my home office, convincing myself it’ll be a magical productivity booster. In reality? That shit makes basically zero difference. Unless a tool or gadget is gonna drastically propel your career forward in a big way, chances are it’s just an unimportant timesuck in the grand scheme.
The truth? You gotta stay hyper-focused on income-generating activities and skills that’ll help you become a wildly better copywriter and score more clients. If it’s not directly contributing hugely to those core goals, seriously ask yourself if it’s just a colossal waste of your limited time and energy.
Obsessing Over Important Things Instead of Just Handling It
On the flip side, there’s definitely some stuff that legitimately matters a ton for your copywriting career. But plenty of people still end up wasting an absurd amount of time and brain power fixating on those important things rather than just efficiently checking the box.
For example, having a professional website is an absolute must if you want clients to take you seriously as a copywriter. They need to be able to find your talented self online and scope out samples of your killer work. But here’s the deal: there’s a massive difference between spending reasonable 5-10 hours using a straightforward website builder like Squarespace or Wix to whip up a clean, functional site…and utterly torturing yourself for weeks obsessing over every last tiny detail until you’ve created this deluded “perfect” website.
Newsflash: That level of perfection simply doesn’t exist, my friend. Yet so many copywriters get trapped in this cycle of trying to make their website absolutely, unattainably flawless before unleashing it on the world. Others decide to dive into the WordPress rabbit hole, then waste over 40 mind-numbing hours learning the system, troubleshooting bugs, and all that jazz—for a pretty basic site, mind you.
The key is adopting that “progress over perfection” mindset. Yes, put your best foot forward and have a professional online presence. But chasing after that impossible “perfect” website is an epic waste of time that just delays the crucial actions for actually building your career.
Often, those perfectionistic tendencies are just your brain’s sneaky way of avoiding discomfort by giving you some unimportant bullshit to obsess over instead of taking that next scary step forward. Don’t fall for it! Get your “good enough” website up efficiently, then keep charging ahead towards income-generating activities.
Getting Paralyzed Over Every Little Decision
Another massive time-suck and sneaky form of resistance? Spending an utterly ridiculous amount of time agonizing over every tiny decision instead of trusting your instincts and making a choice already. Obviously, some decisions require legit research and thought—but there’s a huge difference between prudent decision-making and becoming totally paralyzed by indecision.
For instance, choosing between two potential domain names like “carolasindelar.co.uk” or “carolacopywriter.co.uk” is a valid decision point. But it should be a choice you knock out within an hour or two at most by doing a simple pros and cons evaluation. Spending four days torturing yourself over which domain to go with is a mind-numbing waste of energy.
The reality is that most of these small decisions will not make-or-break your copywriting career in any significant way. In the bigger picture, having one domain over the other is unlikely to impact your ability to attract clients down the road. Making reasoned, efficient choices and moving forward is way more important than striving for that mythical “perfect” decision every single time.
Even for bigger choices like how much to charge a new client or which companies to pitch your services to, you still can’t afford to spend days endlessly weighing every little pro and con. Do some research: tap into your network, read expert advice, gather the key info you need to make a logical choice. But then make the decision and start taking action already!
Spinning your wheels in an endless cycle of deliberation is usually just your brain’s sneaky way of keeping you stuck in that cosy comfort zone, delaying having to take that next scary step forward. Recognise that form of resistance, make the best choice you can with the available info, and start putting it into action. Decisiveness and forward momentum are crucial for success.
Stressing Over Things You Can’t Actually Control
One of the most subtle forms of wasted energy? Obsessively worrying about things that are completely outside of your control. Those draining “what if…” thoughts can make you feel you’re being proactive about potential problems, but in reality, they just sap your mental reserves with no productive impact.
For example, let’s say you’ve just submitted a draft of copy to an important client after carefully outlining and writing that sucker based on their creative brief. It’s easy to then start spiralling by obsessively worrying about whether the client will like it, what changes they might request, whether you somehow missed the mark, and so on.
Here’s the truth though: At this point, you’ve already done everything within your control. You can’t actually control how the client will react or what will go through their head when they review your copy. Spending hours stewing over those unknowns is just an utter waste of mental energy.
The same applies to worrying about what other people will think of your new career choice, whether prospective clients will respond positively to your pitches, or if someone will accept your proposed rates. You simply cannot control what’s happening in someone else’s head, my friend.
The only thing you can control is doing your absolute best preparation and work on your end – conducting research, having a solid strategy, putting in the writing hours, polishing your drafts, etc. Once you’ve put in that effort, worrying endlessly about factors outside your influence is both unproductive and emotionally draining.
Instead, pat yourself on the back for a job well done, then calmly wait to see the results while turning your focus to the next task at hand. Borrowing mental anguish about things you can’t change helps literally no one and often creates worse outcomes through negativity spirals. Practice letting go of the uncontrollable shit.
Stressing Over Potential Future Problems That isn’t Even Real Yet
Closely related to worrying about stuff outside your control is that tendency to spend precious time and energy out over potential future problems that haven’t actually materialised yet—and may never even become real issues. That projected anxiety just sucks away your focus from dealing with the realities you’re facing right now.
For example, all freelancers and business owners know they have to pay estimated quarterly taxes on their income. This can seem like a daunting task when you’re newly self-employed. But here’s what most tax pros recommend: Simply set up a dedicated savings account and routinely stash away 25-30% of each payment you receive to have that cash ready when taxes are due. As long as you’re doing that systematic prep, there’s zero need to spiral out worrying about being able to pay your taxes down the road.
Or let’s say you’re still working a full-time job while building up your copywriting side-hustle. You might sometimes catch yourself sweating bullets like “But what if I land a huge client with a massive project…how will I handle that on top of my regular job?” Look, that would definitely be a challenging situation to navigate. But spending cycles worrying about it now is utterly unproductive. It’s not an actual problem you’re facing currently, so don’t drain your mental reserves on it prematurely.
Worrying in general is rarely a good use of your limited time and energy as an entrepreneur, my friend. By all means, if you need to vent or air your concerns for a few minutes, go ahead and get that stuff off your chest. But then consciously move on and re-focus on what you can control through productive action steps instead. Is this an issue you can actually do something about right now? If so, make a plan and take some action. If not, let that sucker redirect your efforts positively.
The bottom line is that your new copywriting career and business growth deserve your fullest energy and strategic efforts, not premature or imaginary worries stealing away your focus. Stay centred on addressing only what’s directly in front of you right now.
Let Yourself Worry… For a Bit
Now, it’s important to note that telling yourself to just “stop worrying” is about as realistic as saying “don’t ever feel any emotions again.” Worrying is a natural human tendency, especially when you’re branching out into new territories like launching your own freelance copywriting career.
The key is striking that balance. Allow yourself to worry and let out those anxious feelings if you need to—but only for a short period. Maybe you need to vent to a friend or just have a 10-minute journaling session to get the nervous thoughts out of your head and onto paper. That’s totally okay and can be therapeutic too.
However, after you’ve acknowledged and expressed the worries, you then need to take a step back and analyse the situation rationally. Ask yourself whether this is something you can actually control or influence right now through your own efforts and decision-making. If so, formulate a plan of action to address it productively.
But if the worry falls into the category of things outside your control or potential future events that haven’t happened yet, consciously release it and shift your focus back to income-generating activities and tasks that will move your business forward presently. Continuing to ruminate on hypotheticals or uncontrollable factors is just wasted energy.
Worrying itself is not the real problem—it’s allowing those feelings to consume too much of your focus and mindset. Feel them, get them out briefly if needed, but then re-centre and dedicate your precious time and energy to what you can control. That’s the path to making productive progress.
The Real Threat to Success
Ultimately, what derails most aspiring copywriters from achieving their dreams of a thriving freelance career isn’t the economy, their lack of resources or funds, the competition, or any other external factor. It’s their own ability to stay focused and persistently take consistent action despite distractions and doubts.
The truth is, businesses across almost every industry are still actively hiring freelance copywriters and contractors, even in tougher economic times. The demand exists for those who can market themselves well. And in today’s era of the internet and free learning resources, nearly anyone can learn the copywriting skills needed to get started with just dedication.
So if the opportunity and pathways to success are out there, why do so many people fail to achieve their goals? It all comes down to allowing themselves to become perpetually distracted, procrastinating, and wasting their limited time and energy on unproductive tasks or worries that don’t actually move them forward. They fail to stay laser-focused on the lead-generating and income-producing activities that will grow their businesses.
Does this mean you can never take a break, have a life, or cut yourself some slack? ‘Course not. We all need periodic rest and rejuvenation. But the most successful copywriters can strike that balance, remain vigilant about how they’re spending their working hours, and ruthlessly prioritise the highest-impact actions above busywork or procrastination dressed up as “preparation.”
Your copywriting dreams and career aspirations deserve your fullest, most purposeful efforts. Don’t let sneaky distractions and draining mindsets rob you of achieving the freelance lifestyle you’re working so hard towards.
Want More Productivity Tips?
If you’ve recognised some of these distractions and productivity pitfalls in your own freelancing journey, have no fear! We have plenty of other articles packed with expert tips on staying motivated, focused, and consistently taking action:
So check those out after reading this post for even more inspiration on powering through distractions and roadblocks!
Your Turn
What are some of your top strategies for avoiding distractions and procrastination as a freelance copywriter? Any hard-won productivity tips or mindset shifts that have helped you stay focused and productive? Share your insights in the comments below!
