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I watched a comedy video last week where a group of guys spent days (weeks?) slowly shrinking their mailbox—a tiny bit each day—just to see how long until the mailman noticed.
That's the kind of content I can't stop thinking about right now.
Not because it's viral (though it was). But because it represents something AI can't replicate: patience, effort, and a weirdly specific creative vision that took forever to execute.
I've been thinking a lot about where opportunity lies for creators in 2026. The world feels different. Uncertain. And the old playbooks aren't working the same way they used to. So I sat down and made a list of 12 ideas—opportunities I see right now for people like us.
Some counterintuitive ideas
Long-form writing is having a moment. Everyone says attention spans are shrinking. But X just gave away $1 million for long-form articles. Substack is thriving. Book sales aren't actually declining the way people think. I think we're exhausted by shallow content, and the pendulum is swinging back.
Demonstrations beat explanations. AI can explain how to do anything step-by-step. But I still watch every second when someone I admire shows me exactly how they work. Over-the-shoulder, behind-the-scenes content is harder to replicate and more valuable than ever.
Effortful art stands out. When everyone's trying to compress effort to the smallest possible dose, choosing to spend an inordinate amount of time on something is a statement. It's impossible to fake and impossible to automate.
Some human ideas
Community matters more than ever. I'm genuinely worried about what AI is going to do to jobs. And the only thing that's kept me moving forward is having people around me—online and offline—that I can lean on. If your audience doesn't have that community, you might be the one to create it.
Do the unscalable. What if you actually called your new customers instead of sending a welcome email? What if you sent 5 personal voice notes a day instead of automated check-ins? In a world of optimization, the human touch becomes magic.
Be a good hang. I spend more time with some podcasters than I do with my best friends. That sounds crazy, but it may be true for you too. So it's worth considering whether you're making that experience as enjoyable as it can be.
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This was a small snippet of the ideas I share in this week's podcast, with links down below. I hope you enjoy it!
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The world is changing faster than ever, and sometimes it feels like the old playbooks just aren't working anymore. In this solo episode, I share 12 opportunities I see for creators in 2026—ideas that range from the practical to the philosophical, from the obvious to the genuinely weird. These aren't predictions. They're possibilities. And you don't need to pursue all of them. But keeping a running list of where opportunity exists can help you find the direction that feels most right for you.
Some of these ideas might surprise you. Long-form writing making a comeback? In 2026? But I think there's real evidence for it. Others might feel more intuitive—like the continued importance of community, or the value of live learning as self-paced courses lose their luster. And then there are the weirder ones: effortful art, doing the unscalable, being a "good hang." The through-line? In a world racing toward automation and optimization, the most human things are becoming the most valuable.
