As the year winds down, you’re likely racing through all the loose ends that need to be tied up before disappearing into family reunions. You barely have time to think about January, let alone sit down to map out 2026.

There’s a part of you that wants to reflect, but an equal pressure to plan.
A craving for clarity, but also the weight of everything still unfinished.

And yet, as the days grow shorter - and colder - this is the perfect moment to press pause. To cosy up somewhere warm and use even a little of your precious time for reflection.

Because if there’s one truth I’ve learned - both personally and through the founders I work with - it’s this:

We can talk for hours about our business, but we still struggle to clearly articulate what makes our brand truly unique.

And that lack of clarity is not just a messaging issue.
It’s a positioning issue.

The Founder’s Trap: Chronic Overexplaining

Most founders are allergic to the word “strategy.” They want immediate results. And spending time - and money - working on positioning can feel like a luxury rather than a necessity.

But if any of the following feel familiar, your overexplaining isn’t caused by a lack of confidence. It’s caused by a lack of strategic clarity:

• It takes too many words to explain your offer
• People say “Oh, that sounds interesting!” but don’t convert
• You keep refining your website copy but nothing feels “quite right”
• You feel like you “do too many things” to summarise simply
• You often think: “I need more time to explain it properly” 

When you’re unclear, you compensate by adding detail instead of direction - and lose people along the way.

But when you take the time to clarify:

• What your brand stands for
• What makes it truly unique
• What problem you solve better than anyone else
• What your brand contributes to a better future

… you gain the ability to articulate your value clearly and concisely - to clients, partners, collaborators, and investors.

And in a crowded market, the brands that win are the ones that can articulate their difference simply, confidently, and consistently.

Why Is December the Best Time for Brand Clarity?

December is one of the only moments in the year where the business world naturally slows down.

This gives you something you rarely get during the rest of the year:

The mental space to step back from your business and actually think.

Not the executional questions you ask yourself every day, like what you should post on social media, but the more strategic, foundational questions:

What makes my brand truly different?

What impact am I aiming to make?

How is the world better with my brand in it?

These are the questions a strong positioning is built on.
And they can’t be answered when you’re rushing.

How to Write for Clarity

This month, instead of planning your next offer or your next quarter, I’m inviting you to do something deeper and far more strategic:

Write your way into brand clarity by exploring:

• the gaps in your industry
• the beliefs that drive your work
• the impact you want your brand to have
• the status quo you want to redefine
• the future you are building through your business

This is how you reconnect with the soul of your brand - the deeper essence that makes your business more than an offer or a positioning statement and can propel it to new levels of impact.  

To support you in this reflective season, I’ve included a set of writing prompts — an end-of-year gift from me to you, my beloved reader — designed to help you uncover the deeper truth and value of your brand.

✨ 10 Writing Prompts for Brand Clarity

These writing prompts are designed to help you surface the raw – often deeper emotional reasons - that become your brand’s unique point of view: the convictions, tensions and possibilities that set your business apart.

How to use these writing prompts:

• Choose one (or two) per day.
• Set a timer for 7 minutes per prompt.
• Please write by hand if possible, as this activates nerve endings that are linked to your heart.
• Write the prompt at the top of the page and then write whatever comes to mind, without editing, judging or refining.
• If you don’t know what to write, simply write “I don’t know what to write”, then write the prompt again and continue until your thoughts start flowing.
• When the 7 minutes are up, if you haven’t finished, then continue writing.
• If more ideas emerge later, grab your pen and capture them.
• Do not worry if your thoughts or ideas overlap between the different prompts.
• Don’t go back and edit anything - yet!

Your 10 Writing Prompts:

1. What frustrates you most about how other brands in your industry communicate, market, or operate?
2. What angers you about your industry’s contribution to the current state of the world?
3. What is the status quo that your brand seeks to challenge?
4. What do you believe that is fundamentally different from others in your field?
5. What new possibilities does your brand aspire to?
6. What problems do your clients have that you solve better or differently than others in your industry?
7. What issues that affect people and/or planet do you want to resolve?
8. What does the ‘new world’ your brand is helping to create look like?
9. What will you feel proud to tell your grandchildren your brand contributed to?
10. What legacy will your brand be remembered for?

This process surfaces the insights that will form your:

• Brand purpose
• Differentiation
• Unique value proposition
• Positioning statement
• Narrative and messaging direction

But that part comes later.

✨ What Happens Next?

December is about reflection and discovery.
January will be about clarity and definition.

Next month, I’ll share a simple framework that will help you transform these raw ideas into:

• A sharp, confident purpose statement
• A clear articulation of what sets your brand apart
• The foundation of a differentiated messaging strategy

But for now, the goal isn’t to refine - it’s to uncover.

✨ Start the New Year With a Clearly Differentiated Brand

If you’d like support turning these reflections into a sharp, strategic positioning for 2026, I’m opening a limited number of 1:1 Brand Clarity Sessions throughout January.

During the session together, we will:

• Identify what makes your brand truly unique
• Articulate a positioning that sets you apart
• Clarify your value in the market
• Sharpen your brand narrative so it resonates

If you want to step into the new year with clarity, confidence, and a message that finally feels like you - you can book your session here.

I’d love to support you to build a brand that reflects the true impact you’re here to make.

Happy reflections! ✨