TV commercials can be beneficial for a wide range of businesses and organizations, depending on their goals and target audience. Before we talk about how to create an effective television commercial, here are some examples of who might benefit from a TV commercial:
Product-based companies: Companies that sell physical products can benefit by showcasing their products to a wide audience and increase brand awareness.
Service-based companies: Companies that offer services, such as healthcare providers, financial institutions, and travel companies, can use TV commercials to highlight their services and build trust with potential customers.
Non-profit organizations: Non-profit organizations can raise awareness about their cause, encourage donations, and recruit volunteers.
Political campaigns: Political candidates can use them to reach a large audience and communicate their message to voters.
Retailers: Retailers can promote sales, discounts, and new products to potential customers.
Overall, any organization that wants to reach a wide audience and increase brand recognition can benefit from a well-crafted TV commercial.
Key steps to consider
Step 1
IDENTIFY YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE
Before you start creating your commercial, you need to know whom you are targeting. This will help you craft a message that resonates with your intended audience.
Step 2
Develop a strong message
Your message should be clear, concise, and memorable. It should highlight the unique selling proposition of your product or service and communicate it in a way that is compelling to your target audience.
Step 3
Use visuals to grab attention
Television is a visual medium, so it’s important to use strong visuals to grab the viewer’s attention. Use bright colors, dramatic lighting, interesting camera angles, and creative storytelling techniques to make your commercial stand out.
Step 4
keep it short and sweet
A typical commercial is usually 30 seconds long, so make sure you make every second counts.
Step 5
use music and sound effects
Music and sound effects can help set the tone for your commercial and make it more engaging. Choose music that complements your commercial’s message and helps create an emotional connection with your target audience.
Step 6
Test and refine your commercial
Once you have created your commercial, test it with a focus group. Use feedback to refine your message and make sure it resonates with your target audience.
By following these steps, you can create an effective television commercial that resonates with your target audience and drives results for your business.
As we continue self-isolating, we also continue thinking about how the COVID-19 pandemic will have a lasting impact on our world, our surroundings and ourselves. Will handshakes become passé, or worse, downright irresponsible? Will face masks make the full leap from protection to fashion? Will we realize that all those in-person meetings could have, in fact, been emails? More than likely; more than likely; and yes. Yes they could’ve.
It’s an uncertain time—more uncertain than we’ve ever known. There’s not much keeping us grounded right now; days are bleeding together (… so you’re saying today’s not Wednesday?) and some may find it increasingly difficult to stay positive when there’s no clear end in sight. And maybe that’s just the way it is now. And maybe we’re changing and rearranging our priorities without even really realizing it. And maybe that’s a good thing.
Let’s explore what the near future may look like. Here’s how COVID-19 will change our habits:
PRIORITIES
Prior to the shift to self-isolation, most people’s lives revolved around going: going to work, going to a meeting, going out to dinner, going to pick up the kids from practice, going to a fitness class, going to sleep. (Some of us still do that last one.) For as long as I can remember, going was equivalent to doing. If there’s anything this pandemic has taught us—other than the importance of HAND WASHING, PEOPLE—it’s that doing is not necessarily reliant on going.
HOME
From 2017 to 2018, there was a 67 percent increase in the number of tiny homes built in the United States. And among tiny home owners, 68 percent of them no longer pay a mortgage. What this data suggests is that each year, more and more people are sacrificing the interior space of a suburban house or geographic convenience of a city house to become landowners and, more importantly, financially free. The blueprint for “home” is no longer one-size-fits-most.
A growing interest in tiny homes isn’t the only residential trend we’re seeing lately. User-generated review giant, Yelp, recently released charts that indicate major shifts in people’s interests during the coronavirus outbreak. Some of these changes are obvious: fewer sit-down dining experiences, more take-out and delivery. People are also opting out of elective procedures and using medical services for emergency needs only. There’s also a significant decrease in leisurely outings and a spike in domestic activities, particularly home fitness, pet care and TV. Social distancing was obviously the initial catalyst for these changes, but as people’s routines increasingly shift toward more time at home, it’s not out of the scope of possibility that this will continue once we’re safe to resume our regularly scheduled lives.
WORK
What the tiny home data further suggests is a collective shift in priorities—from money and materialism to deeper personal fulfillment. Leading up to the pandemic, many companies began allowing employees to work from home at least one day per week, or work the hours that best fit their schedule rather than the standard “9 to 5.” Social distancing has shown us that the majority of jobs in the U.S. can be done remotely—even medicine, in many cases.
COVID-19 will sweep away many of the artificial barriers to moving more of our lives online. Not everything can become virtual, of course. But in many areas of our lives, uptake on genuinely useful online tools has been slowed by powerful legacy players, often working in collaboration with overcautious bureaucrats. Medicare allowing billing for telemedicine was a long-overdue change, for instance, as was revisiting HIPAA to permit more medical providers to use the same tools the rest of us use every day to communicate, such as Skype, Facetime and email. The regulatory bureaucracy might well have dragged its feet on this for many more years if not for this crisis.
A University of Southern California survey found that of people with jobs currently, 59 percent said they would have difficulty working from home. So while not every job can be done remotely, many people are now realizing that the barriers between having to put on a full face of makeup and heels, commute to and from the office (probably getting stuck in traffic at some point), attend meetings and participate in any office politics … and efficiently working from home … have only ever been 1) permission from the boss; and 2) the ability to download and use a few apps. “Once companies sort out their remote work dance steps,” saysReason magazine editor-in-chief, Katherine Mangu-Ward, “it will be harder—and more expensive—to deny employees those options. In other words, it turns out, an awful lot of meetings (and doctors’ appointments and classes) really could have been an email. And now they will be.”
SCHOOL
What Ward says about school, however, may not ring true for everyone. “The resistance—led by teachers’ unions and the politicians beholden to them—to allowing partial homeschooling or online learning for K-12 kids has been swept away by necessity. It will be near-impossible to put that genie back in the bottle in the fall, with many families finding that they prefer full or partial homeschooling or online homework.”
It’s certainly understandable that many parents are realizing that they would like to play a more active role in their child’s education, but full homeschooling just isn’t an option for most people. Most people I know, at least. I don’t know what kind of billionaires you’re hanging out with.
Even if it were a financial possibility for all families to homeschool, I’ve gathered—anecdotally and via social media—that most parents don’t want to be around their kids for that many hours. It’s a lot of hours. And teaching is hard. More importantly, teaching effectively is hard. There are ways to better incorporate technology into the education process, sure, but if I were a betting lady—which I am, but only while playing Texas Hold ‘Em—I wouldn’t bet on classrooms disappearing anytime soon.
HEALTH & SAFETY
When USC published its first round of study results last month, it showed that COVID-19 had already created significant changes in people’s behavior:
85 percent of people reported washing their hands or using sanitizer more often than before
61 percent reported following social distancing guidelines
Yale School of Medicine health psychologist, Valeria Martinez-Kaigi, who is not affiliated with the study, predicts that after the initial coronavirus threat has passed, new habits like hand washing, self-isolating and hoarding food will scale back considerably. The USC study also found that 22 percent of people reported stockpiling essentials like food and water.
Side question to all of you who are just now discovering the necessity of hand washing: BUT WHY?
FOOD
I know in my household, we’ve been making a concerted effort to be mindful of what we’re buying and from whom. We’re making a point to purchase our vegetables and limited animal products from local farmers, and use all the groceries in the fridge. I’ve always been pro-leftovers (both the food item and the television show), and I don’t understand people who aren’t. (However, I do understand that microwaved fries are intensely subpar.) We’ve consciously chosen to use hand towels for both drying and acting like a napkin purposes. We’re basically killing it.
According to a survey by AMC Global, a market research firm, consumers report:
45 percent say they’re currently eating less fast food than they typically do
38 percent say they will support local businessesmore frequently in the future
32 percent plan to make more home-cooked meals once we’re clear of coronavirus
In a presentation titled “Trends in the COVID-19 Recovery That Will Shape Main Street,” Main Street America’s Vice Presentation of Revitalization Programs, Matt Wagner, Ph.D., outlined points that echo the survey results:
People have learned to cook and/or are cooking at home more often, which will impact businesses that provide “food away from home;” consumers are getting used to delivery (even for groceries), so restaurants and bars will need to address this
There is a movement toward self-sufficiency and sustainability; minimalism and home gardening are on the upswing
PROTECTION
Prior to the 1918 influenza pandemic, covering one’s cough was nearly unheard of. Now, in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, new hygienic practices are bound to take hold. Kate White, a behavioral scientist at the University of British Columbia, predicts, “Our vigilance around things like disinfecting surfaces—that’s probably going to continue.”
According to internist and health expert, Dr. Okeke-Igbokwe, touching surfaces and pushing buttons in public may soon be an action of the past. Even prior to COVID-19, most people were aware of everyday germ hotspots: ATMs, credit card swipers, elevator buttons, gas pumps and the like. She predicts that more people will start adopting the habit of pressing buttons with their elbows or clothing-covered fingers.
But where there’s a problem, capitalism has a solution! In this case, it’s something called a “CleanKey,” and as a lifelong compulsive hand-washer and fan of FUNKY-@$$ JAMZ, its targeted Instagram ads really speak to me.
I swear this isn’t an ad, I just want one.
Ann Bostrom, who studies risk perception and communication at the University of Washington, Seattle, says it will take more than just messaging to change behaviors on a large scale. Our compliance as humans often relies on being given the tools we need to easily follow new rules. “If there’s a mask available from the dispenser at the front of the building,” Bostrom explains, “you’re probably more likely to put it on.” The same goes for using hand sanitizing stations.
CULTURe
On the other side of this pandemic is a newfound respect for healthcare workers. “Perhaps we will recognize their sacrifice as true patriotism,” says Mark Lawrence Schrad, author and associate professor of political science. We will thank them for their service, as we do now with military veterans. They’ll receive guaranteed benefits and corporate discounts. “Perhaps too,” Schrad continues, “we will finally start to understand patriotism more as cultivating the health and life of your community, rather than blowing up someone else’s community.”
Maybe the de-militarization of American patriotism and love of community will be one of the benefits to come out of this whole awful mess.
TIME
It has been said since the beginning of recorded time: Humans are creatures of habit. And habits of mind and lifestyle don’t change easily. The idea that it takes 21 days to form a new habit is a myth—it’s not as cut-and-dry. “On average, it takes more than two months before a new behavior becomes automatic—66 days to be exact. And how long it takes a new habit to form can vary widely depending on the behavior, the person, and the circumstances.” In a study by the European Journal of Social Psychology, it took anywhere from 18 to 254 days for people to form a new habit.
The priority of going has created a frenzied, compartmentalized lifestyle where we become agitated or even angry if we’re in a waiting room for more than 10 minutes. And we must be connected and “on the grid” at all times. How many people have you heard say that they can’t live without their phones? Really?! Can’t live?! What a sad, fragile existence. In an article in The Atlantic, writer and physicist, Alan Lightman, comments on this phenomenon: “We have sold our inner selves to the devil of speed, efficiency, money, hyper-connectivity, ‘progress.’”
MINDFULNESS
Although the unknown can be stressful, especially for those accustomed to living their lives in scheduled chunks, this pandemic has given most of us the gift of time. A chance to slow down. A chance to rest. Lightman explains, “The mind needs periods of calm. Such a need has been recognized for thousands of years. It was described as early as 1500 B.C., in the meditation traditions of Hinduism. Later in Buddhism.”
When a monk has gone into an empty place and has calmed his mind, [he] experiences a delight that transcends that of [other] men.
— Ancient passage from the Buddhist Dhammapada
As frightening as the COVID-19 pandemic is, it may be forcing many of us to slow down and spend more time looking inward. With more quiet, more privacy and more stillness, we’ve been given an opportunity to reflect on who we are as individuals, and as a society.
CONCLUSION
We’re in uncharted waters trying to navigate a ship in the dark. We’re experiencing an unprecedented event in history. We’re in the veritable Upside Down. How we react and respond right now will have a significant impact on our lives. The habits we’re developing during this time—good or bad—could very likely follow us into the future.
Nature wants balance. It requires a stable equilibrium: homeostasis. It always has a way of correcting itself—and maybe, just maybe, that’s what it’s doing now. This is not at all a reference to those we’ve lost to the virus; it’s simply a comment on the current trend toward self-sufficiency, sustainability and seeking a greater truth.
We all have the desire to be free, and some of the innovations we’ve seen develop during the coronavirus have shown us that true freedom may just be possible. Whether it’s the use of Bluetooth smart thermometers that can transmit a person’s temperature and geolocation to an offsite database, or members of the Toronto Symphony Orchestra using smartphones to perform together—apart—from 29 unique locations, technology can help us break obsolete or imagined chains and connect in more meaningful ways.
Stay safe and we’ll see you soon. We will not, however, be shaking hands.
Move over Millennials, brands are beginning to see the buying power of Gen Z—which is currently upward of $143 billion in the United States. Gen Z makes up 26 percent of the U.S. population and is comprised of those born between 1997 and 2012, the oldest of whom are just beginning to enter post-college adulthood. Like Millennials, Gen Z tends to be more optimistic than not. However, unlike the “follow your dreams” Millennials, Gen Z is looking for a more practical approach to the future—including how they will spend their money.
Let’s take a look at a couple of the DOs and DON’Ts of marketing to Gen Z.
DO: UNDERSTAND WHAT YOUR AUDIENCE WANTS
Unlike in the days of yore, a “one-size-fits-all” message will. not. work. for Zs. First, you’ll want to do your homework to understand what they want from brands, in general. More importantly, if you want to make any real impact, you need to get honest about your brand and its offerings. What does/would this generation like about your brand? What do/will they dislike? The most challenging aspect of this is creating nuanced messaging that illustrates that you understand them as individuals. This is only possible if you take an egoless look at your brand and do your research!
DON’T: LIE
This seems obvious, but it’s truly baffling how many marketing and ad campaigns are based on stretched truths or claims that brands can’t back up (Fyre Festival, anyone?). When it comes to marketing to Gen Z, trust is key. In fact, one of the reasons Snapchat is popular with Zs is because they distrust other social media platforms’ privacy policies. According to Ad Age Studio 30 and UNiDAYS, 59 percent of Zs have paid attention to an ad because it was from a brand they trust. In other words, ads can work with Gen Z, but marketers need to focus on brand building in order to establish meaningful, long-term relationships with them. This is done through thoughtful creative content marketing and genuine brand storytelling.
DO: CREATE VALUABLE EXPERIENCES
Gen Zs tend to be more cautious with their money than previous generations. Many of them remember what the Great Recession of 2008 did to their families and, because of this, want to avoid getting into their own financial trouble. And although they’re cautious, they’re not frugal—Gen Zs are willing to spend money for perceived value. They want quality products and unique experiences. They want to have a good time, but not at the expense of going into debt. They’re mindful shoppers who have access to product and pricing information in their hands. However, most still prefer purchasing from brick & mortar establishments and taking part in exclusive or limited events. FOMO is real. And people will do a lotfor the ‘Gram.
DON’T: SPEND EXCESSIVE MONEY FOR NO REASON
things that DO NOT motivate Gen Z shoppers:
Celebrity endorsements
Brand-specific retail apps (they may browse, but they typically won’t convert unless there’s an added incentive; they prefer aggregator shopping apps)
Press or media coverage
things that DO motivate Gen Z shoppers:
Micro-influencers—those with anywhere between 2K and 50K followers on a particular social media platform (they’re seen as more trustworthy than big-name celebrities)
Brands that are informed about political issues (notice I said “informed,” not “outspoken about”)
Their friends—77 percent of Gen Z shoppers turn to their friends for purchasing advice
With more than 5.6 million businesses in the U.S., each fighting for share in the marketplace, every brand must spend money to make money. And some are dead-set on throwing money at strategies and practices that have proven themselves outdated or outright ineffective. This is not to say that traditional media doesn’t work; on the contrary, Gen Z is a sort of “throwback” generation that is partial to things like physical display advertising and TV ads.
Although Gen Z is split on whether or not brands should share their “political” voice publicly, they’re more loyal to brands that “do good.” Zs are often willing to pay a bit more for sustainably sourced products or brands that give back to the community—82 percent say they would be more likely to buy a product if it were environmentally friendly.
When it comes to Gen Z marketing, it’s important to start now. This can open the door to relationships that can last well into their prime spending years. The key word here is “relationships.” Brands must stop talking “at” consumers and start (or continue) talking “to” them. They must encourage dialogue and facilitate participation. The only way to accomplish this is with a mix of traditional media, organic inbound marketing (content, social, etc.) and strategically placed digital. Gen Z’s loyalty is contagious—see the stat above about how friends motivate shopping decisions—so it’s imperative to make them feel like they’re part of your story so they can help you tell it for years to come.
Halloween is one of those holidays people either go all out for or couldn’t care less about. Luckily for brands, economic trends support the former notion. According to financial website, The Balance, Halloween retail spending was estimated at $9 billion in 2018. Halloween celebrants spent a record $86.79 per person last year.
Armed with stats like those, it’s clear that Halloween is a treat for retailers. (I’m sorry.) And even if your brand doesn’t necessarily sell products or services that can be traditionally linked to the holiday, you can still take advantage of this time of increased search and increased spending via creative content development. According to the National Retail Federation, 35 percent of consumers surveyed cite online search as the top source of Halloween inspiration. And as many of us know, inspiration can ultimately come from anywhere — even local marketing.
Let’s look at a few ways to “Halloween-ify” your brand and take advantage of holiday marketing trends.
SPOOK YOUR DIGITAL LOOK
LOGO & SOCIAL AVATAR
Simple tweaks to your logo and/or social media avatar can attract more of the eyeballs you’re trying to eat after. You could use a monochromatic version of your brand mark and go all black or all orange. You could include a slight embellishment to your standard mark by adding a tiny bat or crescent moon. If you have a designer or developer on hand, you could even use an animated GIF to show a “transformation” of your standard brand mark to something more sinister.
Google is the master of logo transformations with its “Google Doodles.”
WEBSITE
Design tweaks to your website should complement the changes you’ve made to your logo/avatar. Consistency is key with things like this — mismatched colors, images or tones can be overwhelming to users, so keep it simple. If you add a black background to your social media image and profile headers, you could change the background of your site in the same way. Even a simple reversal of colors (i.e., white type on black background) can be enough to attract more engagement.
If you have the resources, you could add a Halloween-inspired landing page to your site and tie in a spooky lead generation element. Author Barry Bolway did this well with his free poem download squeeze page.
PRODUCTS
If you’re a retail vendor — especially one with a brick & mortar store — it may be outwardly easier for you to curate a Halloween “experience” with your products. For physical locations, storefronts and endcaps can provide perfect canvases for themed displays. Be sure to keep your target audience and overall brand personality in mind — you wouldn’t necessarily create a bloody crime scene for a “coastal casual” clothing store. Check out some inspirational displays below (and find more with the #HalloweenDisplay hashtag).
For those with service or web-based offerings, you can create special product “bundles” with a Halloween twist or offer a Halloween discount on a product. Business verticals that could implement this idea include:
Hotels & vacation rentals
Online service providers (e.g., new media marketing agencies, website hosting platforms, etc.)
Home improvement or repair (e.g., HVAC, plumbing, landscapers, etc.)
This concept, particularly in a digital environment, is designed to get and keep users clicking through on your website or social media profiles. It boosts engagement in a clever and fun way. New York jewelry designer Kendra Scott did this well by adding pumpkin “Easter eggs” throughout her website. The pumpkins contained discount codes that visitors could use in select categories.
You could also provide clues to lead users to specific social media posts where they could perform an action of your choosing (e.g., comment with a specific hashtag, post a photo and tag your brand, etc.). Creativity is key, but don’t forget to incorporate a Halloween-ie twist.
TRICK OR TREAT
This concept works particularly well in both direct mail and email campaigns (or simultaneously!). Gamify your audience’s experience by providing them with a “choose your own adventure” of sorts. For email campaigns, create an email that is consistent with the design of your newly “spooky” logo/avatar and web graphics and prompt users to choose between two options: a “trick” or a “treat.” A “trick” should be something that is still beneficial to the consumer, but perhaps not as beneficial as the “treat.” For example, one option could be 10 percent off of a product/service, and the other could be 20 percent off. You still want to provide customers with a benefit that would encourage them to convert in some way. Email has a 66% conversion rate for online consumers when it comes to purchases made as a result of receiving a marketing message.
For direct mail campaigns, you could use a scratch-off element that requires users to choose between two options. You could take this a step further by integrating the direct mail into the digital or email campaign for a 360º experience.
CONTESTS
Contests are a fun way to engage your target audience. They can certainly work in real-life scenarios by hosting a costume contest for employees and/or community members, pumpkin-carving contests, pumpkin pie baking contests and the like. However, even if you choose to hold your contest in a physical space, there needs to be a digital element included to encourage more engagement: a “wrap-up” blog post, social posts with photos or a video of the contest. Other digital contest ideas include:
A “photo-a-day” contest with Halloween prompts
A call-to-action for consumers to post a photo/video of them using your product in a creative way — make sure to have them tag you and use your Halloween-themed hashtag
A call-to-action for users to complete a series of steps: follow you, tag a specific number of users, include a hashtag — choose winners who have followed all steps for a “Halloween” prize
Reach out to influencers in your local market or business vertical to team up for a Halloween promotion (PRO TIP: Make sure the influencers’ target audience matches yours!)
SCARY-GOOD CONTENT
CURATED EXPERIENCES
This concept is a great way for local businesses to get noticed. If you do the leg-work to curate all the awesome Halloween events happening in your community (or even just the events that correspond to your brand’s personality), you’ll not only receive recognition for providing an important “service,” you’ll receive a boost in your website and social traffic. Further, if you link and tag the people and venues included in your curated post, there’s a good chance that they’ll show their gratitude by reposting or sharing your content.
BEHIND-THE-SCENES
Who doesn’t want to peek behind the curtain? Show your audience that there are real people behind the faceless logo they’ve become accustomed to. Holding an office costume contest? Show it off on social media! Take it a step further with a video tutorial detailing the creation of one of the more interesting or complex costumes.
In 2017, Disney posted a time-lapse video showing the transformation of the park into a Halloween kingdom. And, sure, none of us have the reach or power that Disney does; however, this post outperformed every other post of theirs for the entire year, generating more than 240,000 total interactions.
https://youtu.be/cXM5P0SUQSU
USER-GENERATED (UGC)
If all else fails, let your audience do the work for you! User-generated content is an excellent way to engage your audience while providing your brand with content that you could repurpose in a number of ways (i.e., featuring user photos on product pages). Implement one of the contest ideas listed above or create something new that encourages consumers to develop content on your behalf. For example, if you have a brick & mortar, create in-store Halloween signage featuring social icons and a hashtag — once the hashtag’s content starts populating, you can curate your favorite images and posts to share on your brand’s social profiles or blog. Hey, everyone wants their 15 minutes, right? And these 15 minutes could easily translate to the creation of a brand advocate.
Halloween is all about fun and fantasy. It’s a time where we can unleash our inner Spider-Man or “sexy” [insert literally any noun here] or zombie or vampire (or, in my case, Johnny Rose from Schitt’s Creek). It’s also a time when brands can explore the edgier side of their brand messaging. Try one (or a few) of these Halloween creative content development ideas and let us know if you scare up any new business! (Again, I’m very sorry.)
Today is World Mental Health Day. According to the World Health Organization, the objective of the day is, “raising awareness of mental health issues around the world and mobilizing efforts in support of mental health.”
Up until recent years, there has been a stigma surrounding mental health. And although we’re still not where we need to be as a society with regard to our views on it, we’ve certainly come a long way. The National Alliance on Mental Health states that 1 in 5 U.S. adults experience mental illness each year.
What this means is mental illness is closer than you think. If you, yourself, aren’t battling a mental illness, you surely know someone (or multiple people) who is. They’re your coworkers; they’re your friends; they’re your baristas and your CEOs. And in our case, they’re our own Content Director, Court Bishop.
According to our Head Media Mechanic, Karen Helsinger, Court is “the master behind our best creative work.” Court also suffers from clinical depression and generalized anxiety disorder. This has been found with Creatives time and time again. From writers to standup comics to fine artists, mental illness seems to go hand-in-hand with creativity.
In an effort to make mental illness and the treatment of it more of a mainstream topic, we’d like to share Court’s new blog on the subject. Discover HAPPY SO HARD. It’s a blog about fighting to overcome mental illness in the pursuit of happiness. It’s an honest look at how mental illness impacts everyday life. Here’s an excerpt from the intro:
My goal with this project is to get out of my head and get into your car uncomfortable. To stop being afraid. My Ego would like for me to mention that I’m not generally a “scared” person—I enjoy pushing the limits of my body and mind—but I do struggle with the aforementioned depression and anxiety (along with 18.1% of the U.S. population). I’m also the proud owner of obsessive-compulsive personality disorder. OCPD is characterized, among other things, by extreme perfectionism. People with OCPD are “hardworking, but their obsession with perfection can make them inefficient.” So that’s neat!
This translates to real life in the form of inaction. If I don’t think I’ll be great at something immediately, or if a situation is set up in such a way that makes me feel like I lack the majority of the control, I’d rather not do it than attempt and “fail.” It’s super dumb. It’s self-sabotage. And I’m f*cking over it.
We wouldn’t tell someone with a broken leg to “shake it off.” We wouldn’t expect someone with nearsightedness to see better if they just “wanted it bad enough.” Mental illness is illness. Plain and simple. So on this World Mental Health Day, check in on your friends and family—you never know what someone is going through beneath the smile, success or creativity.
