🎉 It’s Friday! 🎉
Welcome to Red Threads
A community of thoughtful builders just like you, gaining an edge each week.
💌 Know someone who should be growing with us? Forward this their way.
Was this forwarded to you? → Sign Up Free.
“Direction is more important than speed.”
— Paulo Coelho
The Red Thread This Week
Your 2026 Plan
On Wednesday, my team had a great call with a new partner. A really large brand you've heard of, and the project is all about introducing something totally new to their customers.
(The day job is running Content & Programming for a streaming music service. And "day job" is a funny phrase — is your job tied to the position of the sun in the sky? Me neither.)
Anyway, the purpose of the call was to keep making progress on our GTM content strategy for 2026. Something we've been working on for months.
But as we creep closer to the last day of December, there's pressure to put a bow on plans for Q1.
So “strategy” has been very top of mind this week.
And I write a lot about strategy in this newsletter because that's the primary purpose of it — to help leaders, builders, and creators think more deeply about who their work is for, and what their work is for.
And then how to use those insights to do better work, make an impact, and grow.
That's strategy.
And while I can't tell you specifically what your strategy should be for 2026, I can tell you that you need one.
I'm also going to assume, since you're here, you don't need a total reboot on what strategy is, or why it matters.
But in case it helps, here's a quick refresher (borrowing a phrase from Seth Godin,) strategy is a philosophy of becoming.
It's not a fixed plan or a rigid checklist.
It's a dynamic, evolving compass.
It helps you make better choices today in service of the future you want to create.
It's the soil, the seed, and the gardener — all working together.
It isn't about reacting to the moment.
It's about creating your own momentum.
So, the Red Thread this week — I’ve decided to share the exact framework we're using internally as we build our 2026 plan.
My hope is it gives you something to run your own planning process, whether you're leading a team, building a company, or quietly laying the groundwork for a new creative project.
But there’s a twist.
Beyond sharing the framework and the mindset shifts below, I've built something to accelerate your effort: Your 2026 AI Prompt Library for Breakthrough Planning
This is a curated library of prompts your can copy/paste into your AI tool of choice —activating it as your strategic thought partner.
This library includes 12 detailed, battle-tested prompts I've curated from my newsletter work throughout the year — all mapped to the critical questions you should be asking yourself and your team.
These are not flimsy, one-off prompts that spit out generic content like: "Write a marketing plan for my business."
Instead, they're designed to challenge assumptions, expand possibilities, sharpen decisions, and clarify the path ahead.
It's free. There are no strings attached.
And there's no agenda beyond aiming to help you set the table for a 2026 that is more intentional — and more exciting — than anything you've planned before.
If you find it useful, please consider sharing it with someone who’d benefit from having a copy.
~ Jaime
🔑 The Unlock
The Strategic Planning Framework We're Using (And You Can Too)
Below are the five frames we're running every major initiative through as we shape our 2026 content plan.
Think of this as your scaffolding, and the 2026 AI Prompt Library as your power tools.
1️⃣ Zoom Out Before You Zoom In
Strategy dies when you start too close to the work.
Begin by asking:
• What's changing around us?
• What won't change?
• What matters now that didn't matter last year?
• What's the win we're actually playing for?
This frame is grounded in context, not action.
2️⃣ Clarify the Customer Reality
Your business changes when your customers change, and they are always evolving.
Ask:
• Who are we serving now?
• Who are we becoming for them?
• How are their expectations evolving?
• What friction or frustration is pulling them toward something new?
In the music world, this is everything. In every world, this is everything!
3️⃣ Choose What Gives You Leverage, Not the To-Do’s
A plan with 40 priorities is not a strategy. It's a wish list.
Ask:
• What would make everything else easier or remove half our headaches?
• Where do we already have momentum?
• What compounds?
• What breaks if we don't get it right?
Elegant strategy is subtraction, not addition.
4️⃣ Build Your 2026 Conditions for Success
Big goals die in the chaos of daily work unless you create the conditions that make success almost unavoidable.
Ask:
• What rituals, meetings, systems, or cadences keep us aligned?
• What information do we review weekly? Monthly?
• What decisions do we automate?
• What does "success" look like in motion, not just on paper?
Conditions are the operating system of your strategy.
5️⃣ Define Your Narrative Before You Define Your Plan
This is the piece most people skip.
Your story (internal and external) becomes the lens everyone uses to interpret the year.
Ask:
• What is the emotional center of our 2026 strategy?
• What do we believe that others don't?
• How does this strategy change our future — and our customers' future?
• What story do we want people to tell about what we delivered?
If you don't write the story, someone else will.
💡 Mindset Shift
The Most Important Planning Shift for 2026: Let AI Think First
Here's the mistake tons of people will make in 2026:
They will ask AI to produce before they ask it to understand.
But leaders who use AI strategically do this instead:
They start with questions like…
"What assumptions am I making that might be wrong?"
"What external forces could reshape this plan?"
"What would have to be true for this strategy to succeed?"
"What would derail it?"
This is how you use AI as a thought partner, not a task robot.
And this is why I built the Prompt Library: So you can give AI the right questions… before you ask it for answers.
📌 Mindset shift: Use AI to challenge your thinking instead of just completing your sentences.
🎲 Prompt Playground
Your 2026 Strategy Super-Prompt
Prompt:
I'm planning my [insert business, projects, art, side-hustle, niche, etc.] strategy for 2026.
Before producing anything, ask me one question at a time to fully understand the context, constraints, goals, assumptions, and risks.
Once you have enough clarity, summarize your understanding and identify the strategic tensions and opportunities I'm not seeing yet.
Then create 3 strategic pathways for 2026 — each with a distinct philosophy, narrative, and set of leverage points.
✅ Bonus: Explain your reasoning so I can learn from how you think.
This one prompt has helped individuals and teams unlock weeks of clarity in hours.
📔 Field Notes
My internet this week
Spotify had musi videos now (for Premium subs) – Tubefilter
TikTok announces live podcast series – Variety
Disney and Open AI reach landmark licensing deal – Disney PR
Australia begins enforcing world-first teen social media ban – Reuters
Winners and losers of Black Friday 2025 – Marketing Dive
Netflix is using YouTube to defend it’s WBD acquisition – Tubefilter
Mental models for building products people love with Slack founder, Stewart Butterfield – Lenny’s Podcast [video]
🛠️ Creator Tools
Voicetype AI – Powerful AI voice-to-text turning your natural speech into clean, structured writing.
YT Chats – Summarize and chat with any YouTube video; great for learning on the go.
Vertech Academy – Learn anything with AI as your personal tutor. Designed for students and educators.
Memorr AI – Remember everything across your AI chats. No more repeating prompts or losing context. Great for larger projects.
⚡ Before You Go
Here are 3 ways I can help:
🗓️ Get 1:1 Support from Me: Need a thought partner to help shape what's next for your project or team? Let’s talk.
🎙️ Podcast Support: Get pro-level eyes on your podcast without hiring a full-time producer.
🚀 Speaking Engagements & Workshops: Looking for a speaker for your next live (or virtual) event? Or someone to lead your next strategic workshop? Drop me a note.
And I could really use your help:
🧶 Take a quick 3-minute survey and help me improve the newsletter for you going forward.
💬 Leave a short testimonial if this newsletter has ever helped you think differently, or take action.
Both make a real difference, thank you 🙏
Prefer Audio?
Thanks for spending time with Red Threads this week, I’m glad you’re here :)
~ Jaime