🌐 "Stop Planning 2026! (do this first)"

I'll be honest with you...

Every November, I used to do the same thing most entrepreneurs do — start planning 2026 before I'd even processed 2025.

New offers. New marketing channels. New systems. What should I add? What am I missing? What's everyone else doing that I'm not?

It felt productive. It felt strategic. It felt like what a serious operator should be doing.

But this year, I am doing something different...

I forced myself to stop and actually look at what worked in 2025 before planning what comes next.

And what I found surprised me...

The wins were already there. I just wasn't paying attention to them. Because I was too busy chasing what was next.

That's what this week's issue is about — treating gratitude like the strategic work it actually is. Not the fluffy stuff. The real work of recognizing what's working so you can do more of it.

As always, this week's Top Reads hit the same theme from different angles...

HBR shows why the best companies build growth systems instead of chasing tactics on a treadmill. Inc. reveals how entrepreneurs can prioritize personal finance while growing their business. And Inc. explains why operating above your optimal pace — sprinting marathons — leads to six-month burnout recoveries. All three echo the same truth: more isn't better, leverage is better.

So before you dive into planning 2026, do yourself a favor: take inventory of 2025 first. I'll show you how with a unique, eye-opening process in this week's Main Event right below...

Let's go!

Every week, we break down the big-picture strategy behind the shifts happening in business—so you can see around corners while others are still catching up.

We're taking a little detour this week to recognize the Thanksgiving holiday here in the United States…

But don't worry — this isn't going to be a fluffy gratitude post.

Because here's what I'm seeing as everyone posts what they're grateful for this week...

They're treating it like a pit stop. A quick pause before the real work begins. Lists of wins, clients, lessons learned. Check the box. Then immediately back to planning 2026.

And the default question most operators are asking themselves right now is: "What should I add? What am I missing? What's next?"

They're treating gratitude like a pit stop before the real work begins.

But what if gratitude is the real work?

What if the smartest thing you could do before planning 2026 isn't to chase what's new — but to inventory what's already working?

The Problem With "What's Next?"

We live in a culture obsessed with innovation.

Every email, every podcast, every mastermind conversation is about what's new. AI tools. New positioning frameworks. New ways to scale. And if you're not building something, launching something, or optimizing something... you're falling behind.

So we chase it.

Competitor launches an AI service? We need one too. Someone rebrands? Time to refresh. Friend tells you about a new automation stack? Add it to the list.

Here's the problem: most of us are innovating on top of businesses we haven't fully optimized yet.

We're adding new offers before we've maximized the ones that work. Building new systems before we've leveraged the ones we have. Chasing new clients before we've fully served the ones who keep coming back.

It's like trying to scale a recipe you've never perfected.

You might get bigger... but you won't get better.

What Gratitude Really Is

Here's what most people miss about gratitude in a business context:

It's not soft. It's not sentimental. And it's definitely not passive.

Gratitude is active pattern recognition.

When you pause to ask "What am I actually grateful for this year?" — what worked, who showed up, what systems held, what clients stayed — you're not just reflecting.

You're conducting a strategic audit.

You're forcing yourself to answer the single most important question in business: "What are my actual competitive advantages?"

Most operators never ask this. They're too busy looking at what everyone else has to notice what they already have that no one else does.

But the operators who compound wins year after year?

They run this inventory religiously. They look at what worked — not what they hoped would work, not what they spent the most time on — but what actually generated results.

And then they ask the follow-up question that changes everything:

"How do I do more of this?"

The Inventory Model

Here's the framework:

Gratitude → Recognition → Leverage → Compounding

You can't leverage what you don't recognize.

And you can't compound what you don't leverage.

So the fastest path to a better 2026 isn't to build something new. It's to recognize what worked in 2025 — and double down on it.

The Two Paths Into 2026

Here's where this gets practical.

There are two types of operators heading into 2026.

Group One is asking: "What should I add?"

They're looking at gaps. Weaknesses. What competitors have that they don't. They'll spend Q1 building new things, testing new tactics, and wondering why nothing sticks.

Group Two is asking: "What should I amplify?"

They're looking at wins. Patterns. What's already working that they could do more of. They'll spend Q1 compounding existing advantages while everyone else starts from zero.

Same market. Same tools. Same economy.

Completely different results.

Because innovation without inventory is just expensive guessing.

The Bottom Line

Look, innovation matters. I'm not saying don't build new things.

But most operators are innovating prematurely.

They're adding complexity to businesses that haven't maximized simplicity. Building second floors on shaky foundations. Chasing what everyone else has instead of leveraging what they already have.

So here's the truth about gratitude as strategy:

Before you plan what's next, inventory what worked.

Before you chase innovation, identify your advantages.

Before you add complexity, leverage what's simple.

Because the operators who win in 2026 won't be the ones with the most new tactics.

They'll be the ones who recognized what was working in 2025 — and built their entire year around doing more of it.

That's not sentimentality.

That's strategy.

Here's where strategy meets action. Each week, we give you the tactical steps to implement what you just learned—so you can capitalize on the insight immediately.

Your Strategic Gratitude Audit

So how do you actually run this inventory?

Let me show you how this works.

Think about your business in 2025. Not the vision. Not the goals. Just the reality.

What actually worked?

For most people, the answer is surprising.

That offer you threw together in an afternoon might have outperformed the one you spent six months building. The client you almost didn't take could be your best case study. The system you built out of desperation might be your most valuable asset.

These aren't accidents.

They're signals.

Signals about where your actual edge lives. About what clients really want from you. About which systems create the most leverage with the least effort.

But you'll only see them if you're looking.

Here's the framework to find them. Set aside 30-45 minutes. Grab a notebook or open a doc. And work through these three categories.

Part 1: What Actually Worked

Look back at 2025 and identify what generated real results — not what you hoped would work, not what you spent the most time on, but what actually performed.

Ask yourself:

Client Acquisition: Where did your best clients come from this year?

Example: You look back and notice three of your best clients came from the same source.

Most operators ignore this. They keep spreading budget across ten channels because that's what "diversification" looks like.

Smart operators double down. They take the budget from the nine channels that don't work and 3x the one that does.

Offers & Revenue: Which offer or service generated the most revenue with the least friction?

Example: The offer that felt "too simple" to charge premium for is the one clients actually bought and got results from.

Most operators overcomplicate it. They add features, expand scope, justify the price with complexity.

Smart operators simplify and raise the price. Because simple + effective beats complex + confusing every time.

Content & Marketing: What content got the most engagement or drove the most conversations?

Example: The content you threw together quickly got more engagement than the stuff you labored over.

Most operators dismiss it as luck.

Smart operators ask why. What made it work? What can I learn? How do I do it again?

Part 2: Identify The Pattern

Now look at everything you just wrote down and ask:

What do these wins have in common?

What does this tell you about where your actual edge lives?

Most operators skip this step. They see individual wins but miss the pattern connecting them.

That's the difference between treating wins as accidents and treating them as data.

Part 3: Build Your 2026 Strategy

Now take what you recognized and turn it into your plan:

Double Down: What's the ONE thing that worked in 2025 that you should do more of in 2026?

Simplify: What complexity can you remove now that you know what actually works?

Stop: What should you stop doing entirely because it's not in your win pattern?

Amplify: If you 3x'd the thing that's working, what would that look like practically?

The Output

By the end of this audit, you should have:

That's not a business plan.

That's a strategy built on your actual competitive advantages.

And it beats chasing what everyone else is building every single time.

This is how you stack growth in 2026 – not by adding more. Not by chasing what's new. Not by copying what everyone else is doing.

You stack growth by recognizing what's already working — and building your entire year around doing more of it.

That's The Growth Stack. 

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Every week, we deliver 3 high-leverage insights on Business Growth, Wealth Building, and Peak Performance — with direct links to the smartest ideas, tools, and strategies we’ve uncovered. Backed by what our team is studying, analyzing, and testing behind the scenes — so you don’t have to. These are the 3 core disciplines every modern entrepreneur must master to win. Curated. Actionable. No BS.

🔹 Business Growth
"Create a System to Grow Consistently" — Harvard Business Review
Reveals why most companies are stuck on a growth treadmill, chasing revenue in places where they're actually disadvantaged—and how to build a five-component growth system (featuring Toast, IKEA, and Adobe) that delivers results year after year without burning out your team.
🔗 Read it here »

🔹 Wealth Building
“How Entrepreneurs Can Prioritize Personal Finance While Growing the Business” — Inc.
A sensible piece on how to manage personal finances while building a business: avoiding common money mistakes, keeping personal vs business finances separate — a must‑read for founders who tend to blur the lines.
🔗 Read it here »

🔹 Peak Performance
"How to Avoid Burnout by Finding Your Optimal Pace as an Entrepreneur" — Inc.
Explains why sprinting marathons fails every time (Olympic data proves it) and provides a simple assessment tool to determine if you're operating above, below, or at your optimal pace—because a single burnout episode requires six months of recovery.
🔗 Read it here »

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