Stacking — the key to writing success

And building a writing career that grows with you… [The Writer’ s Life]( March 2, 2023 "The best way to make a lasting change is to develop one quality habit at a time." – S.J. Scott Hi {NAME}, People often ask me how to become more productive … have more output … and get more done. After 25 years, I've learned it all comes down to two things: - Knowing what's worth doing (and what's not), so you are focused on the highest value things. And … - Building daily habits that support your desired outcomes. #2 seems so simple on the surface, but I swear, your habits can have shocking impact on your results. The book Atomic Habits by James Clear was life-changing for me. In it, he introduced me to the idea of "habit stacking," which is based on a concept in another book, Tiny Habits by BJ Fogg. Today, Mindy McHorse, Executive Editor of Barefoot Writer is here to give you a crash course in habit stacking — and how you can start using this tactic to build more momentum in any area of your life you'd like to improve. I love the power behind the word "stacking." It also reminds me of how you expand your skill set (and your value!) as a writer over time … Let's say you start with writing white papers. You could stack the skill of writing blog posts on top of that foundational skill. Then you'd be able to craft blog messages that drive traffic to the white paper you wrote. Same goes with stacking skills in social media, news items, trade articles, and more. ($$$) The same skill-stacking idea could be applied to repurposing the white paper content you wrote into slide decks, video scripts, blog posts, and more. Each time you stack a new skill, you have that much more to offer your clients — which increases your value, and your income. #SkillStack #WinWin If you like the idea of consistently increasing your value and your fees through stacking, I highly recommend you check out our [Infinity program]( while membership is still open today. Infinity provides you with unlimited access to all the skill and business-building resources we offer now — and create in the future — for LIFE. All the resources you need to build a career that grows and changes with you. For a tiny fraction of what you might pay on a one-off basis. It includes everything we've already published over the last 26 years … AND everything we publish in the future! So with every new skill you're ready to stack on, you have immediate access to the training you need to pick it up. [Check out this incredible "value deal" here before enrollment closes.]( I look forward to hearing what habits you plan on stacking — and what skills you stack too! And now, over to Mindy … 🙂 [Rebecca Matter’ s signature] Rebecca TODAY: You Get It All for Just $249 $49!!! The biggest hurdle to becoming a professional, paid writer is simply getting started. This is the answer: [Writer's Starter Kit Spread] It's a vast arsenal of our very best writing and business-building resources … to help you set up your writing business FAST … Like over-the-course-of-a-weekend fast! It includes all the tools, templates, resource lists, guides, and fee schedules you'll need to launch and run a successful writing business. [Grab The Writer's Starter Kit now!]( A "Shortcut" to Build Success Habits Into Your Writer's Life By Mindy McHorse [Woman taking morning walk with dog] Have you ever jumped the main path in favor of a well-worn shortcut? Like when you're walking in the woods and the designated trail takes the long way around a boulder … But closer to you is a shorter, dirt path that cuts directly through the undergrowth and gets you past the boulder faster … Which path would you take? Personally, I'm a huge fan of shortcuts. Whether it's landing on Gumdrop Pass in Candyland or throwing together a one-pot meal, anything that gets the job done faster and easier is a victory. (Particularly in a world where to-do lists are forever lengthening!) So today, I want to share an unusual way to build robust shortcuts into your writing business. It all starts in your head, with your neural pathways … Neural pathways are like tiny roads in your brain. They're made up of neurons (information messengers) that are connected by dendrites (like tiny roads that connect messaging systems). These pathways develop based on your habits and behaviors. The more you perform any action, the more dendrites you'll develop that connect those neurons, effectively carving out a deeper and hardier pathway. Now think back to that shortcut in the woods … The best shortcuts are the ones that have been traveled so often, they're well-worn, smoothed out, and easy to travel. Deep neural pathways in your brain are like any well-worn shortcut. The roads get smoother and more defined as those neurons communicate more frequently. And the more that road is traveled, the faster those messages can transmit. So when you learn something new and then practice it over and over, you're creating and then reinforcing a new neural pathway. Riding a bike is a great example of this. Or knitting. Or speaking a new language. With enough repetition, these learned behaviors can become automatic. And that is the sweet spot when it comes to getting paid to write for a living. Anytime you can automate a behavior that leads to faster and more effective learning and writing, you're setting yourself up to increase both your output and your skill. That's usually followed by an increase in income. The next question is about how you can do it effectively … painlessly … and fast! In the February issue of [Barefoot Writer magazine](, we featured an article on the power of habit stacking. This involves "stacking" any new behavior you want to adopt on top of a current behavior you already have. Habit stacking is surprisingly effective because it makes a new behavior loads easier to implement than if you were simply trying to add it independently into your life. But why? It goes back to those neural pathways, those well-worn trails through your brain. If you already have something you do daily, like having a cup of coffee every morning, then that path is already there. It's strong and established. But let's say you want to drink more water throughout the day … You could just try to remember your goal and tank up on random glasses of water when the thought occurs to you. Or, you could stack that new, desired habit of drinking water onto your preexisting habit of drinking coffee. For example, every day when you take that last sip of coffee, you get up to fill the same mug with water and drink it down. You'll make this a habit faster and with less mental effort because it's getting stacked on top of your existing coffee-drinking habit. Meaning, you don't need to carve a whole new road in your brain … you're really just extending the one that's already there. It's less effort with a bigger, faster reward because you're relying on the brain power you already have. Cool, right? At the beginning of this year, I decided I wanted to walk two miles every day. But making it a priority was tricky in the first few weeks. Everything changed when I stacked two new habits within my morning routine. To start, I always put on workout clothes when I get up in the morning. Brush teeth, wash face, pull on leggings. The win here is that it saves mental effort. Instead of trying to decide when I'll fit the workout in, it's a given that it has to be first thing because I'm already wearing the clothes. Then, because I take my kids to school or sports practice every morning, I built a habit of leaving for my walk as soon as I return home. I don't even need to go inside my house; I just take off on the walk as soon as I'm out of the car. Thanks to this habit of putting miles under my belt before I even sit down at my desk, I start my writing day clear-headed, have more energy throughout the day, and no longer battle the nagging thought that I should take a break and exercise. It also works because lazy me loves the idea of capitalizing on those existing neural pathways instead of going to the effort of making new ones. This habit also gets reinforced with the win of reviewing any progress made. (I've walked over 110 miles since the first day of January — and that feels great!) I've had similar wins in my writing business using the same approach to new writing and productivity techniques. But instead of habit stacking, I'm skill stacking. Skill stacking works the same way. Just as habit stacking creates strong new habits because it builds off of existing neural networks, skill stacking is a way to easily learn new skills by building from existing ones. For example, long ago I built the habit of writing 1,000 words as soon as I sat down at my desk, followed by checking email. (The two habits here were writing every day before letting other items cloud my focus.) After that habit was firmly in place, I worked to write my 1,000 words in a 30-minute time block, followed by allowing only 15 minutes for email. (This built speed in my writing and productivity in email.) With those time blocks established, I was able to build in the habit of spending the next hour going back to edit and strengthen anything I'd written the day before. (This led to better writing with boosted SEO and stronger calls-to-action.) Granted, I don't follow this process every day … and it changes as my project load shifts. But building on my already-strong habit-driven neural networks, I've used this technique to sharpen my skills and productivity as a writer, but with comparatively little thought or effort. Try it and see — stack a new habit onto any existing habit you have, and see where you can start stacking new skills as well. It's the simplest route I know to making regular big wins. And one of the easiest ways to be sure you're able to stack on any new skill your clients may need is to gain lifetime access to AWAI's entire library of home study and business-building resources … For a tiny fraction of what you might pay on a one-off basis. That includes everything already published over the last 26 years … AND everything published in the future — for LIFE! Check out how you can get access to this ever-expanding library [here](. What's Hot at AWAI … 👉 [Unlimited access to AWAI's entire catalog of training programs — FOR LIFE!]( 🙌 Say YES! to any writing opportunity that comes your way. [And then go here for help to figure out how to do it.]( 🧐 [How do you define success?]( 💰 Stacking new skills? [What to charge for 80 different copy and content projects.]( 😍 [Political consultant boosts business, family time, and fulfillment with copywriting.]( "Learning never ceases" Isn't that the truth?! Sheila K. is correct … in an ever-changing industry like copywriting, there's always something new to learn. Here's what Sheila had to say about the advantages of the Infinity program … "I want to let you know how much I enjoy having the Infinity membership. I am very happy to have all of the self-guided programs right at my fingertips. When I have finished one, I can easily jump into another program that piques my interest or need to move forward in my writing/copyediting venture. I would definitely recommend this membership to anyone who is part of AWAI because, after-all, learning never ceases." And Derek S. has enjoyed the opportunity to explore one program after another too. "The AWAI Infinity Program is one of the best online purchases I ever made to date. I keep going back to re-read courses I already read, or to explore new courses to help me write and create content. I would recommend the Infinity program to someone who is new to copywriting, or someone who has a few years in and needs additional guidance and additional education in various copywriting specialties." Infinity helped Sheila and Derek stack more skills in their writer's toolkit. [See how it can work for you, too.]( Have your own story to share? Email us at mysuccess@awai.com, or [post it over in the Facebook group](, so we can celebrate your win too! 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