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AI gave me something I didn't expect: breathing room. My workday is vastly different than it was 5 years ago. Not the output, mind you. I'm still an online publisher. I still vet everything that goes out the door which usually involves editing. What's changed is my working pace. The change is for the better... thanks to AI. First, I now take dozens of mini-breaks throughout the day while AI works. I call these breathers. Second, overall I get more done in less time which provides for more time off (or more production). Some days I opt for more time off. Other days I go into production overdrive. Today's breathing space is a result of putting in months of long days building out custom systems for my publishing biz. Custom Systems + AI Execution + Human Judgment = Scalable Quality Publishing for me these days is more than just clicking "Publish" and letting SEO do its thing. Clicking publish is merely the start. After that it's distribution which requires its own content to promote the original content lol. And that's where finely-tuned systems come in. Ironically, some of the articles I publish today take longer to produce than pre-AI. This is because I see AI as a way to do things better rather than doing things faster. So, I invest the bulk of my time creating articles (especially topics, headlines and hooks) and then rely on AI and systems to distribute across the usual suspect platforms for traffic. The multi-tasking trap When AI is doing its thing it sure is tempting to open more tabs… spin up more tasks… run more processes. I've had days with more AI windows and terminals open than I could keep track of. All working at full capacity. It got to the point where I had to actually keep notes as to what was going on. While multi-tasking can get more done, it's not an optimal working pace for me everyday. It's stressful. It can get to the point that it's impossible to keep track of all that's going on. It's a trap because it's when I make mistakes and more often than not, end up with less than optimal results. It's also why I focus on only two sites. When I'm scattered among too many projects, nothing is done a well as I'd like. It's more akin to survival mode rather than excel mode. Don't get me wrong... when I need to get something built yesterday, I roll up my sleeves and enter multi-task mode. It does get more done but it's hard to sustain day-in and day-out. There's a time and a place for mad multi-tasking. The fact is, I need slower days where I have time to step back and think about what I'm doing, where I'm going and spend meaningful time analyzing current results (I track a ton of stuff these days that help me make better decisions). But the number one benefit of taking the slower road and resisting multi-tasking is the extra time I have to come up with better article topics and headlines. Headlines, hooks, captions and meme text are everything now. Taking the time to craft them perfectly is what it takes. AI frees me up to do this better. What about you? Are you using AI to work faster, work better or both? Thanks for reading. Jon Fatstacksblog.com ​ ​ ​ Unsubscribe ( https://d7a38bd1.unsubscribe.convertkit-mail4.com/68uo8d7699a8h5e7678hohp4kgdomu9hro6o ) | Update your profile ( https://preferences.convertkit-mail4.com/68uo8d7699a8h5e7678hohp4kgdomu9hro6o ) | #317-2151 Front Street, North Vancouver, BC V7H 0B7

I still get a kick out of watching AI code things for my business while I sit with feet up, sipping coffee. Not gonna lie. It's a pretty good way to work. The results have been unreal. I've replaced multiple plugins with custom-coded solutions built entirely with AI. No coder hired. No SaaS fee paid. For example, I ditched Rank Math. Nothing against them but I was using maybe 10% of what it does. AI replaced that 10% in an afternoon. My site loads faster and my wallet noticed. Then I built a custom internal linking machine. Replaced another plugin entirely. That's two. There are many, many others. Yet many publishers are barely using this thing I've been to a few industry events this past year. The number of publishers NOT taking advantage of AI coding is wild to me. My guess? Hangovers from the early pro-AI vs. anti-AI camp wars. Some folks dug in against AI out of allegiance to days of yore and never climbed back out. Fine for blog writing. I get why some bloggers would prefer to still write every word. But for building free custom tools, plugins and pretty much anything that can add traffic and revenue? Can't figure out the resistance. Here's what this actually looks like day-to-day I now track every single link clicked on my sites. Internal links. Affiliate links. Outbound links. All of it in a custom chart. If an affiliate link is getting hammered on Article A and converting, I beef up that promo. If Article B has better time-on-site than Article C, my internal linking system learns to favor it. Small stuff. Dozens of small things. I'm a swing-for-the-fences guy by nature but the truth is there aren't many single moves that dramatically shift the needle. What moves it is stacking dozens of tiny improvements until they add up to something big. AI lets me dream up and execute those tiny improvements faster than ever. The more I build, the more I track. The more I track, the more opportunities I find. The more opportunities I find, the more tools and software I code to take advantage. It's a never-ending improvement process. Speaking of improvement... as you layer in more AI tools into your business, you can tack on an "improvement" layer so that whatever it does, it learns and improves. My custom internal linking system is a good example. Not only does it create internal links on autopilot, but it learns which words and target URLs perform best and optimizes those results. All thanks to the nuclear coding machine, aka AI, available 24/7 at my fingertips. Thanks for reading. Jon Fatstacksblog.com ​ Unsubscribe ( https://d7a38bd1.unsubscribe.convertkit-mail4.com/lmupn9d0wwumhn7462gf6h8vovm85sghow0w ) | Update your profile ( https://preferences.convertkit-mail4.com/lmupn9d0wwumhn7462gf6h8vovm85sghow0w ) | #317-2151 Front Street, North Vancouver, BC V7H 0B7

I'm not a power pinner, but I still pin from my sites because it's something I can delegate and it works well enough. I've been tossing up pins into the Pinterest machine for over a decade. It's a side thing. I check analytics maybe once or every other month. Anyway, a month ago I ran out of good shows to watch on Netflix so had some time to kill. I decided to take a peak at my Pinterest analytics. Lo and behold, there was a nice traffic pop for two of my accounts. Mmmmmhhhh, interesting. Since I"m not maniacal about Pinterest, nothing much had happened for a long time. Then I remembered that Tony Hill had made some suggestions ( https://d7a38bd1.click.convertkit-mail4.com/qdugr3p6eeu7h4z6m77tlh8ddxdkkc4hv626/p8heh9h4rvq0g5cq/aHR0cHM6Ly9qZ2QtLXRvbnloaWxsLnRocml2ZWNhcnQuY29tL2FkdmFuY2VkLXBpbnRlcmVzdC1zdHJhdGVneS1wbGF5Ym9vay82OTgzOThmZjAyNDU0Lw== ) to me to improve things (this was post July 2025 Pinterest algo fiasco). They weren't difficult to implement so I passed it all to my Pinterest VA who started doing it. I didn't have much to lose.. Pinterest traffic was merely chugging along, neither going up nor down at the time. Tony lives and breathes Pinterest so I pay attention if it's not too complicated. He owns the leading Pinterest analytics software after all. Here's what happened. ( https://d7a38bd1.click.convertkit-mail4.com/qdugr3p6eeu7h4z6m77tlh8ddxdkkc4hv626/p8heh9h4rvq0g5cq/aHR0cHM6Ly9qZ2QtLXRvbnloaWxsLnRocml2ZWNhcnQuY29tL2FkdmFuY2VkLXBpbnRlcmVzdC1zdHJhdGVneS1wbGF5Ym9vay82OTgzOThmZjAyNDU0Lw== )​ ( https://d7a38bd1.click.convertkit-mail4.com/qdugr3p6eeu7h4z6m77tlh8ddxdkkc4hv626/p8heh9h4rvq0g5cq/aHR0cHM6Ly9qZ2QtLXRvbnloaWxsLnRocml2ZWNhcnQuY29tL2FkdmFuY2VkLXBpbnRlcmVzdC1zdHJhdGVneS1wbGF5Ym9vay82OTgzOThmZjAyNDU0Lw== )​ I know those numbers aren't gonna park a G800 jet in my driveway. That's not the point. It's the trend that matters. That second account is much newer with not a ton of pinning action. I think even Tony was impressed and he's used to plenty of Pinterest success. What Tony didn't tell me at the time was that he was putting all his latest Pinterest tips, tricks and strategies together into an advanced training. Then last week he sends me a link to the sales page asking my opinion. I thought it brilliant, not because it was so nicely designed but because of all the really high traffic growth screenshots on the page. Makes my traffic pop look quaint. Clearly what he's teaching works. => Go check the page for yourself here ( https://d7a38bd1.click.convertkit-mail4.com/qdugr3p6eeu7h4z6m77tlh8ddxdkkc4hv626/p8heh9h4rvq0g5cq/aHR0cHM6Ly9qZ2QtLXRvbnloaWxsLnRocml2ZWNhcnQuY29tL2FkdmFuY2VkLXBpbnRlcmVzdC1zdHJhdGVneS1wbGF5Ym9vay82OTgzOThmZjAyNDU0Lw== ). Don't let the phrase "Advanced Pinterest Strategy" scare you off. It's advanced in the sense it works, not in complexity to execute. I simply forwarded the tips to an employee who followed it nicely and it worked. FYI, the Netflix comment was a joke. It's been a busy few years for me. A real mix of ups and downs. The recent Pinterest pop thanks to Tony was one of the ups. Oh yeah, Tony's latest closes Friday, as in this Friday. => Grab it here ( https://d7a38bd1.click.convertkit-mail4.com/qdugr3p6eeu7h4z6m77tlh8ddxdkkc4hv626/p8heh9h4rvq0g5cq/aHR0cHM6Ly9qZ2QtLXRvbnloaWxsLnRocml2ZWNhcnQuY29tL2FkdmFuY2VkLXBpbnRlcmVzdC1zdHJhdGVneS1wbGF5Ym9vay82OTgzOThmZjAyNDU0Lw== )​ As always, thanks for reading. Jon ​ DISCLAIMER: I'm an affiliate for Tony's latest offer. Seems weird to disclose that to affiliate marketers and the like but that's the law, so here it is. ​ ​ ​ ​ Unsubscribe ( https://d7a38bd1.unsubscribe.convertkit-mail4.com/qdugr3p6eeu7h4z6m77tlh8ddxdkkc4hv626 ) | Update your profile ( https://preferences.convertkit-mail4.com/qdugr3p6eeu7h4z6m77tlh8ddxdkkc4hv626 ) | #317-2151 Front Street, North Vancouver, BC V7H 0B7