How a strange extraterrestrial math equation can help you think up big ideas

Ever heard of the “Drake Equation”?

It’s a revolutionary equation that changed science and astronomy forever by predicting how likely we are to find intelligent life in the cosmos. And the story of its creation is not only interesting, but can be used to come up with big ideas, product ideas, headlines, subjec lines, and more.

How so?

Well in an interview with the creator (his last name is Drake) he said something like this about the equations origin:

 “I always think I should come up with some romantic story of sitting under an apple tree or sitting on the edge of Haleakala crater on Hawaii at sunrise or something.”

In other words, an idea so important and transformational deserves a good origin story.

At least that's how it seems.

But in reality?

In reality, these big, bold, grand ideas that change the course of history forever often don’t come from sitting on the top of a mountain cross-legged or fasting for 40 days or while wading through stacks of books in the basement of the Library of Congress or something.

Most of the time they just come when you need a solution to a problem.

Which is how the Drake Equation was formed.

You see, Drake wasn’t trying to come up with some big breakthrough equation that would be used for generations.

He was simply trying to come up with a way for a group of scientists to have a rational discussion about the possibility of aliens. And so he sat down and thought “what is everything we need to know in order to accurately predict the likelihood of running into intelligent life.”

It was really quite pragmatic and simple.

And yet, we got something so grand out of it.

So what does this have to do with you and your copy?

Well if you’re sitting under apple trees or on the edge of volcanoes trying to think up your next big promo, you might be doing it wrong.

Because where the rubber really meets the road is when you give your brain a problem to solve and let it get to work.

Which usually only comes after hours of research, drafting, ideating, and so on.

That’s not to say you shouldn’t give your brain time to rest.

You should.

And if that means grazing under apple trees or watching the sunset, go for it.

But if you’re counting on some big idea to come to you without putting in the work?

Keep dreaming.

And to get my help, so you can spend more time dreaming and less time doing the nitty-gritty work that coming up with big ideas takes, go here:

⇒ https://www.copybymccune.com

Tyler McCune