I told you to take small steps. I told you to stay hungry. Now Imma tell you to stack.
Stack?
Yes, stack. Somewhere along the line I’ve talked about skill stacks; a set of perhaps unrelated skills that combined together can lead to success. What do you get when you combine:
- ordinary business skills
- strong work ethic
- risk tolerance
- reasonably good sense of humor?
Scott Adams, the creator of Dilbert and very wealthy man (estimated net worth over $75 million).
Why Scott Adams? Because he’s the guy who coined the term “Talent Stack” to describe this. I myself prefer “skill stack” to “talent stack” because while talents are innate, skills are learned and earned.
What does skill stacking have to do with success?
You have two basic paths to success. First, you could choose something and become an expert in that thing. Second, you could take a bunch of ordinary skills, reasonably well developed, and combine them into something unique and useful.
It is extraordinarily hard to be world class at something. It’s not so hard to be pretty good at a few things. I want to take my little hobby here up a notch or two. I sum up my intent pretty simply;
Overcoming pain, regaining mobility and learning to stand up right.
There’s three skills there. I’m also a competent researcher, a halfway decent writer, and reasonably self-disciplined. Those three skills mean, stacked together, I can get decent content published daily. But that is no longer enough to develop the reach I’m looking for, so I hatched a plan during this lockdown, I’ll become a better writer by studying copy writing.
I think that adding the ability to write, not just decently, but compellingly will help me achieve my goal, that is, to have success.
The story so far.
I’ve been taking small steps, giving myself small, steady, consistent wins. Write something, publish it, feel good about it.
I’ve been keeping the beast hungry; I’m not giving myself so many wins that I’m satisfied. Every day I want that little dopamine hit that I’m pushing forward, succeeding in my goal.
Now it’s time to start stacking.
I’ve been reading Ray Edwards for a while now, and it’s time to get serious. I’ve got one of his courses lined up and ready to go, but I’m not diving straight in. I’m keeping the beast hungry.
Last night I watched his latest podcast and it fed the beast a little. I got the feeling of success because I learned something to help my skill stack. It crystalized some thoughts, planted a couple of seeds and most of all, kept me hungry.
So here we are on day four of daily writing. I was tempted to skip today, but I kept the beast hungry enough that the temptation to skip was overpowered by the need to write, and I’ve begun to add to my stack.
