Setting Yourself Up for 2026 Success

As we wind down 2025, and we keep on creating content in December, we look ahead at 2026. There’s going to be A LOT happening in 2026.

No matter what your role is — Corporate Person? Independent? Small Agency Creative? Sales Leader? — it’s time to take stock of what you need for 2026. Let’s Go!

1. Take a Look at Your ‘Stack’

New to the concept of a “Stack?” The technology industry came up with the concept of a “Tech Stack” to describe all of the tools at their disposal. (Imagine a rack of servers, stacked on top of each other, maybe with one running the company’s web server and another running its anti-fraud system, and so on…) Others have used the concept: a marketing stack or a talent stack can be used to describe the full suite of tools at your disposal.

Your own stack might be different depending on your industry, but you’re going to need a bunch of tools and systems and subscriptions to make that happen.

Here’s an example: I have more than a couple X mutuals — that’s what you call someone on what used to be known as Twitter when you follow them and they follow you; if you want to be my mutual, be sure to follow me — that make money from their posts.

It’s easy to say “just post more!” in order to profit, but there’s more to it than that: not only do you need to be posting A LOT and you need A LOT of viewers for your posts, you also need to have “Premium +” in your stack. (Which is an investment of an extra…30 more bucks a month. See item 4 below, though.)

MORE: I got a note today from Trello asking me to login to Trello to keep using my Trello account. So I did. And I realized that I haven’t USED Trello in maybe five years. So I probably don’t need it.

Again, no matter your work or industry, no matter if you’re solo or part of a big organization, you need to understand what tools are at your disposal and whether you need more of them. (Or fewer.)

2. The Calendar Is Your Friend

2026 is going to be YOUR year!

It’s also going to be a year like any other: January means the gym is packed for the first few days, then starts to slow down. March comes in like a lamb and out like a lion. And so on.

The point? When’s the last time you looked at the whole year, from start to finish, and actually planned the whole thing out?

Now I know what some of you are thinking: what about The Planning Fallacy? Yes, we do tend to underestimate how long something will take, and underestimate how much it will cost, and overestimate our own skills and abilities.

But I’ll counter with this: do you know what September COULD look like? Have you figured out where you might be a year from now?

That’s right, take out a calendar and start looking at the next 12 months. Do it today: even if it’s just a general idea, like “Finish writing the 3000 words of my book” in March, or “Have 30 emails sent to prospective clients” by September.

You’ll be amazed at what you’ll start to discover about the year ahead, and you’ll thank yourself next year at this time.

3. The Best Time to Reach Out to Your Network? Yesterday…

One general ideas in the book The Go-Giver, by Bob Burg and John David Mann, is the concept of not keeping score. (You’ll have to read the book, though…)

You should have a Rolodex of contacts — today, that’s kinda known as LinkedIn — and you may want to take a look at that list and figure out how you can help them.

And think creatively: Who are the people that you know that should know each other? Who are the people that you haven’t talked to in ages?

You want to make it a point to reach out to say hello — LinkedIn, email, text message — and just let them know they’re on your mind. Ask them if they’re free to catch up, or let them know you are here to help them if they need help.

4. Watch Your Spending. Seriously.

You’ve heard about those tools where you can see if you’re subscribing to stuff that you don’t need to subscribe to? Those are actually pretty nifty; but, really, you might get more satisfaction out of doing it a little manually.

Yes, the spreadsheet-obsessed (like me) just needs to revisit a couple of monthly statements.

Do you need to spend so much on [INSERT THING HERE]? Do you need that monthly subscription to [INSERT THING HERE]?

You know the drill, but…well nobody really knows what 2026 will bring, so best to give the finances more than a quick glance.

5. Don’t Stop Learning

You are living in a wonderful time: you have access to so much information.

Sign up for a Duolingo account. Check out Coursera. Play around with AI — even if it’s absurd — and learn how the tools work and how to use them.

Go down a YouTube rabbit hole and listen to experts — or people who promote themselves well who MAY be experts — and find a couple favorites.

A couple faves: I could watch Chris Williamson interview a brick wall and he’d probably get the wall talking. And if Eric Weinstein is on any podcast, I’ll watch; he’s one of the most fascinating guests anywhere. (Here is Chris interviewing Eric a year ago; 4 million views and counting.)

Are You Ready for 2026?

There’s still time to get ready…Go get ’em!