Possibly my most controversial email so far…

I debated whether I wanted to send this email out or not…

But I ultimately decided to do it – at least it’ll filter out the thin from the thick-skinned.

So in one of my recent emails – that’s the: “How Trump can make your emails more magentic…” – I mentioned how I generally have little-to-no interest in politics.

And this?

Well… it seems to have tickled one reader in a funny way:

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How can you not care about politics? Aren’t you afraid you’re gonna miss out on important news and events?

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For two reasons mainly:

First – because I believe investing your time, energy and mental bandwidth into something like politics…

…is one of the lowest ROI activities you can do. Period.

I simply don’t see the return on investment of being so invested to elect a leader…

…when an actual GOOD one only comes around maybe once a century.

(And that’s a maybe.)

For instance:

I’ve gotten the impression – from reading a lot – that Churchill is one of the greatest government leaders of all time.

Okay fine, let’s roll with that for example’s sake.

Now ask yourself:

How many times does a Churchill come around each century?

The number is either zero – or if you’re lucky – once.

Yet the elections are every four years, and in your lifetime, you’ll participate in about 15 election cycles.

(That’s some 55-60 years of your life.)

IS IT WORTH IT – investing your energy into politics – for 50-60 years of your life…

… just for a SLIVER of a chance to actually elect somebody that’s actually gonna be any good?

(I am way too lazy to do the math but I wager it’s in the <1% range for sure.)

Because you’re much likelier to be met with a disappointing leader – election cycle after election cycle after election cycle…

So spending your time reading, listening, debating, and discussing politics for a good chunk of your life…

…looks like one of the lowest ROI activities I can genuinely think of.

That’s the first reason.

The second reason is that I…

Don’t give great attention to the things outside of my control.

“But elections are in your control! You literally VOTE!”

Yes, but my one vote doesn’t change a damn thing.

And before you come at me with the “YES IT DOES! Imagine if everyone thought like you.”

Well…

Everyone doesn’t think like me.

I.e. most people will go out and vote every election cycle regardless – so my vote doesn’t change a damn thing.

(I just did some quick Google-Fu: in the history of US presidential elections, it has NEVER happened that one vote ended up being the decider. Do with that information what you will.)

Therefore, politics is something outside of my realm of control.

So I only focus on the controllables – on things I can influence either fully or mostly:

• How attention-grabbing my subject lines are…
• How fast I am able to get my email writing down to… so I can do even MORE volume…
• How well I understand the market I’m selling to etc…

Jeff Bezos spent a good chunk of his 2010 letter to shareholders talking about ‘focusing on the inputs instead of outputs’.

(I highly recommend checking it out.)

Because if you take care of the inputs (for instance, how relevant, interesting and entertaining your emails are)…

… the outputs will take care of themselves (you’ll get more opens, clicks, and sales.)

But I digress.

Politics falls into the output category – so that’s reason number two why I don’t pay much attention to politics.

And to answer my reader’s last question:

“Aren’t you afraid you’re gonna miss out on important news and events?”

No.

Because whenever some TRULY important information actually comes out…

I always have people around me – who follow that kind of stuff – and let me know.

(It always reaches me in some form of a: “Hey, did you see the XYZ yesterday?”)

So that’s my answer to you.

I know this email had very little to do with marketing or emails…

But I do always say how you have the perk of asking me questions – which I’ll always try to answer if I believe I am qualified enough to provide an answer – as a subscriber to my newsletter.

So hope that helps and I hope that this email thinned out a couple of people with way too thin of a skin to be in business to begin with…

Because it’s a “public secret” how only three things are forbidden from being talked about if you’re in business:

1. Sex
2. Politics
3. Religion

And I opened the damn Pandora’s Box with this email…

So if you’re the type of person who doesn’t like breaking norms & conventions?

Well…

You may not have too good of a time around here – it might be a good idea to unsubscribe at the bottom of this email.

No? Still here?

Okay good, because if you don’t mind shaking up the supplement industry quite a bit?

May I suggest my “Email Storyselling” methodology?