Beyond speed

“At 60 miles an hour, the loudest noise in the new Rolls-Royce comes from the electric clock”

In 1958, David Ogilvy wrote the above ad headline. To date, nobody has written a better automobile ad.

How much time did it take to write these 17 words?

Three weeks.

Yep, you heard it right — he researched the Rolls-Royce car for three weeks before picking up this theme.

And THEN, he wrote and discarded 10 headlines before hitting this final version.

Just kidding — he discarded 104 headlines. You saw the 105th version.

Sometimes, that is what it takes to write just 17 words. But then, we are still reading them 60 years later, aren’t we?

In life, whenever your progress feels slow or the goal seems too far, don’t panic — just remember how long even 17 words can take.

Sometimes, speed is not the most important thing.

– Rajan

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