Everyone's Sharing 2026 Predictions so Here's What I Wanna See More of Next Year in Storytelling + Business

It’s that time of year when my podcast feed and newsletter inbox are full of “Predictions for 2026.” It’s only Tuesday and I’ve already heard/read others’ predictions this week around small business, the outdoor industry, and the creator economy!

TBH… I don’t feel like a strong Predictor of Things. I’m notoriously late to trends and pop culture is my weakness. I LOL at Reels without understanding where the meme even came from.

BUT. A predictions list feels like a fun way to record some thoughts now that I can revisit in a year and see what surprised me or what I somehowww was entirely correct about. ;)

Here are 10 trends/shifts I’ve been noticing and appreciating lately, or what I’d love to see start or continue in the worlds of creative business and storytelling. (And how I’m implementing them myself!)

1. A return to long form content, but with some short form ✨ flair ✨

I am obsessed with content series. Like, when a creator shares a set of six Reels over six weeks that together illustrate a longer theme or story. Or when a newsletter has a Part 1-2-3 to look forward to each week. I find myself saving series that pop up in my feed so that I can go back and find the next “episodes.”

As creators and business owners play more with longer form content (like here on Substack or good ol’ fashioned blogs), I think they’ll rely less on short-form content organically, and instead break up their long-form ideas into little bites of a whole.

The storyteller in me has had so much joy experimenting with this myself. (Heads up that I do not strategically market my work on IG, so this is for FUN more than for work.):

I have an ongoing “Business Ideas for Feral Women” (like pizza bra). A day-by-day series of trekking the Alta Via 1. (I did this in 2022 in Nepal, too!) A set of 12 mindset shifts for women to share their boldest ideas. A 4-part “Signature Season” intro. And two that I just started recently: Things I Actually Googled This Month (just for kicks ‘n’ giggles) anddd Outdoor Period Tips (which can direct people to my menstrual resources).

2026 Me: I’ll keep playing around with just-for-fun series, but ALSO get a bit more strategic about using them to show people how to access my deeper work or this Substack!

2. Gamifying both internal systems and outward offers to an audience 🎮

Adding elements of a game to business inherently makes work more fun — both for the biz owner and the customer. Emily Holland and I have had so much fun with our Feral and Focused bingo board, and although we’re sharing it publicly, it’s an internal-focused game in our businesses.

On the outward side, my ears perk up anytime I hear an out-of-the-box way to market or sell in a business that makes it more gamified. I’ve written here about Angie’s Arcade Tokens. Earlier this year, Simone Seol had a “Truth or Dare” program for biz owners. Anastasia Allison of Kula Cloth created a scavenger hunt through a series of emails where people who found all the clues got a prize. Heck, I’ve seen people sell secret offers where folks can sign up without fully knowing what they’re getting, but they trust the creator enough to know that it’s valuable!

2026 Me: More bingo boards! But I could see us opening that up to more of a group challenge than just 1-2 of us.

I’m also building gamification into the Q1 Feral Women’s Movement Lab, playing with accountability challenges, co-working sprints, and celebrating small wins together as a group. If you’re thinking of signing up to bring your offer to life in Q1, shoot me a message so we can see if it’s a good fit!

3. We will feel less urgency in our work lives (thank goodness) 😮‍💨

I predict, or at least desperately hope, that urgency is headed toward the OUT list. I’m seeing more autoresponders setting the expectation of slow replies, more judicious scheduling systems, people rescheduling meetings same-day without shame. It all feels so good to not feel like I’m rushing into back-to-back meetings or that someone’s waiting on me for a “life-or-death” response to a Slack message.

I want more space in my life, and I think everyone else does, too.

2026 Me: I want to audit my systems for false urgency. More email boundaries (checking it less and perhaps later in the day). Planning deadlines further out that necessary. Even more async comms (of which I’m already a proselytizer).

4. More peeks behind the scenes, sharing the unglamorous sides of life 👀

Here for it. I’ve lately noticed more folks share the inner workings of their biz/life that have traditionally been private: screenshots of schedules, looks into their inbox, income reports, even generously sharing full-on email sequences that worked for their sales. All meant to help others through the long haul! I’ve also seen a lot of content around un-romanticizing, sharing the tough parts of life and lowlight reels of 2025 instead of just the highlights.

I think this theme of building/thinking/experimenting “in public” is here to stay and will be even more vulnerable in 2026.

2026 Me: I’m such an optimist that I find myself sharing a lot of highlights, and even when I’m sharing my low moments, they tend to have a silver lining connected to them. That still feels honest to me, but I think I could do a better job at sharing what’s been really bugging me or that I feel more insecure about, and then sharing my processes for working through that. Perhaps on the podcast??

5. Being more vocal about repelling certain people or certain types of work 🛑

We often hear the axiom “If you’re trying to speak to everyone, you’re speaking to no one.” Or something like that. Google it.

I love when people are very forthcoming about who they don’t work with. IMO, “clear is kind,” and sharing your beliefs and boundaries and who is and is not a good fit for collaborating with you is an ethical and bold way to make sure that the work you’re doing has its best impact.

Historically, I’ve been a Yes Gal. I don’t want to be one anymore. I want to make it so clear what I do and don’t partner on that people are repelled by my website. Because my theory is that the more I can repel the wrong fit people, the more I’ll attract the right fit people. MAGNETS!

2026 Me: I’ll slowly but surely work through my digital homes, starting with my website, to make it crystal clear exactly how I work and who I work with so that I can confidently turn down poor fit opportunities.

6. Less societal fear of cancellation(!) ❌

Hot take, maybe?? People are way more afraid of getting cancelled than they need to be. Of course, I’m not immune to the feeling of risk. I’m on some sort of public stage 1-8 times a month! And I think, every time, how I could unintentionally say something that hurts people. And some people may want to “cancel” me for it. But I think in the grand scheme, that conflict would be short lived, and more likely to manifest as discomfort rather than true cancellation. I can make amends, clarify, and keep fostering the relationships that matter most.

Honesty, I think the worst thing that can happen is you cancelling yourself. You silencing your voice and beliefs. You copying others in fear of creating something yourself. You staying “safe” instead of taking a needed risk that could help the world. My hope is that more people are realizing that.

In 2026, let’s take bigger swings, saying things that are spicier, more controversial, more counterculture. Going back to #5 about repelling people — if people you don’t align with try to cancel you, so be it. What’s the worst that could happen? You’re probably helping your community more by repelling those people. As people share more peeks behind the scenes (#4) and gather in specific communities (#8 coming next week), they’ll realize the bolder they are, the less afraid they need to be of true cancellation.

2026 Me: I’m gonna be even bolder and keep sharing about tricky topics and unpopular opinions, without fear it’ll hurt me long term. I’m gonna help hopefully dozens (hundreds?) of women do the same.

7. More creative partnerships than ever before 🤝

The days of doing everything solo are fading. I’m seeing more creators and businesses realize they can go further together, through innovative partnerships that benefit everyone involved. I don’t mean typical “guest on each other’s podcast” swaps. I’m talking co-created programs, shared media campaigns, partnerships where both parties’ values align so well that working together amplifies the work exponentially.

Coolest example ever? The First 50k Sisterhood! 🏃‍♀️ I’ve spoken with countless women who want to get more into trailrunning and ultrarunning, but who face [insert any common barrier to women in sports here]. As I planned Wild Woman Trail Runs’ 2026 expansion with my co-directors, I kept wondering how The Cairn Project (the nonprofit I work with) could sync up. What if we could create a scholarship program through TCP, where women would train together to run their first 50k at WW in June? What if they shared their journeys through storytelling, and fundraise along the way to help other girls and women enter the sport?

Apps are open 12/27-1/10 for the First 50k Sisterhood. We’ll be selecting 15 women to make up this wonderful scholarship cohort. This partnership is magical because we’re directly getting more women into ultras. Both the women’s race AND the nonprofit expand their audiences and share promotion. Brands who sponsor us get first-person storytelling and feedback. The rest of you get to watch it all unfold.

2026 Me: More. Of. This. I cannot wait.

8. Gatherings based on specificity 👋

With the return to in-person events now far-post-pandemic, IRL is here to stay — but, IMO, with more specificity and distinction. People are more precious about their time than ever, and they don’t have as much expendable income for events, so the ones they RSVP Yes for need to specifically speak to their big desires and needs.

This will be a helpful challenge for me. I’ve always been multi-passionate and more of a generalist in skills. It’s always been hard for me to narrow any project into an outcome for a specific community or goal. But I know specificity can be hugely transformational when serving someone who needs that exact thing.

Instead of just “community writing workshop,” we’ll see successful “memoir writing weekend for healthcare workers.” Instead of just another running club, we’ll see running clubs for new moms returning to trails after birth. Instead of a friend starting a life coaching business, they’ll create a coaching program for mid-life women leaving corporate for a major career transition. This is the specificity I’m curious about building for others, myself.

2026 Me: Over the years, I’ve run the gamut in my collabs with outdoor brands and businesses. I can co-create content, I can lead a workshop, I can help manage a community. But when it comes down to it where I really get excited and where I shine the most are campaigns and activations. And although that’s still quite broad, it’s a step towards specificity that I need. (I’m also getting opps to host more specific-themed, specific-audience storytelling nights in my home community, which is awesome!)

9. Embracing constant reinvention 🦋

I, perhaps annoyingly, always remind my clients that change is the only constant. ;) But I live for that constant change, because it’s a chance to level-up.

I love seeing people constantly updating their Instagram bio, rewriting headlines on their website, putting out a program for a month and then realizing that that’s not what they want to do. Creative composting an entire project that lived for a couple years and was really successful, but just isn’t resonant with them anymore.

The reason I’m so into cycles (menstrual, creative, life, seasons) is because they prove that stagnancy, while comfortable, won’t get you to your happiest life. And I think more people are getting excited by the discomfort of growth. It’s scary, especially because for generations past, we were taught to focus on one specific career and stay in that lane until we can retire. But that’s just not the way that the world works anymore. People are going to have to be okay with changing their minds, changing their work, changing their interests, all more rapidly than ever before. And that’s okay and beautiful and can be used to our advantage.

2026 Me: Oh boy, do I feel another reinvention coming, and I think it will be centered around the way I deliver my work. I feel in my bones that I’ll have to get rid of some projects/offers that I can do, and I have done, even happily, but that just aren’t fitting great anymore. I’ll have to pitch the work I really want. I’ll have to keep experimenting with the right messaging and offers until I find what really fits. Even this Substack will have some kind of shift! (Though * claps for myself * that I’ve written to you every single Tuesday in 2025…)

10. We’re gonna get weird 🤪

The best life hack, I truly believe, is to be a bit weird. To take risks and be okay with feeling awkward about them. Often, the more out of the box, the more weird, the better. (And sometimes, those vibes are the strategy for success.)

The most impactful ideas I’ve ever created have been the weird ones. I’ve learned to be okay with the risk of an idea failing, or of me getting cancelled (see #6 from last week), or of having to totally pivot once again. I want to gamify things (see #2!), to peek behind the messy scenes (see #4!), to repel the people who aren’t a fit for the idea (see #5!). Because when I lean into the weirdness of an idea, I attract the people who resonate with it most.

In 2026, I predict we’ll see the weirder parts of people’s inner minds. We’ll see more creative types of businesses and offers and services that we’ve never seen before, and they’re just going to make the world brighter. And I want YOU to get weird too, to finally take action on that weird idea in your head, whether through the Feral Women’s Lab or in another way.

2026 Me: I’m going to work with clients to really own their weird. I’m going to experiment with new events and collaborations that turn heads and repel certain people. I want to ruffle some feathers and use my Outside Voice more than ever.