It’s January. Do You Know Where Your Focus Ought to Be?

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Welcome to 2026?

First, let’s get the stuff that feels self promotional (though it’s 100% free) out of the way…next Thursday, I am running a free webinar/workshop/Tim throws up a bunch of stuff at you:

Stop Shining Yourself On With BS New Year’s "Resolutions"

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OK - Now That’s Out of the Way…

I did start a little 2025 recap over on LinkedIn…here is the 1st post. (There will be 3 more in the series…). But I wanted to recap something ELSE that happened over the holidays…

I have 5 kids - they range from 16-23 - and we were able to all be together for the 1st time in a VERY long time - it was fab. They also had friends around for extended periods of time - vicariously, I got a snapshot of Gen Z & Gen Alpha in action.

We live in an Eastern Blue bubble, but because my kids are amazing, we had a really diverse group of opinions around - no Christian Ethno-Nationalists, but multi-racial, multi-cultural, multi-abled, multi-incomed, multi-privileged, multi-gendered, multi-sexualitied, multi-faithed & multi-political… It may not have been a perfectly representative slice of America, but it was broad for sure.

Here are some of the things that I learned about what’s on the mind of the young folk:

Huge Disappointment in Everything Political: To a person, none of the collected masses thought that the government is working for them - or even considers them in any decision. All sides of the political spectrum are considered to be varying degrees corrupt, out of touch, self-serving, power-hungry & wrong about what it means to be a citizen today.

Huge Fear About Economic Future: Almost universally, this group is sure that their economic future is dismal. Housing costs are outrageous, & so many come into the adult world burdened by student debt, credit card debt & a sense of “it will never get better”. The early career job market is VERY challenging at the moment, and not only are the jobs hard to find, they aren’t jobs that matter at all.

College Did Not Prepare Them: In addition to being hard to find, the jobs that are available aren’t connected in any real way to the methods of thinking that they’ve been exposed to in college. One said “I spent a bunch of time learning about public investment & social policy just to be asked to do useless stuff in Google sheets.” Another said “I followed my passion & did studio art. But no one in the real world gives a shit. Who can be passionate about being told you can’t work another shift at the cafe this week because your boss’ passion is not paying for health insurance?" Startups have lost their luster because equity has no value & anyone who isn’t going to give you a fair salary and a path to advancement is screwing you over.

Money, Banks & Finance are a Total Scam: Banks, credit card companies & financial institutions are all evil. None of them help you in any way. The whole thing is rigged against everyone. Alt bank-like apps, like Venmo, Cash App, Apple Cash, etc., satisfy transactional needs & savings accounts are useless. Stocks are a waste of time. It’s all fake, it’s the same as gambling, and who wants to invest in companies that do shitty stuff all the time? Crypto is BS, too, but you might get lucky and become rich, therefore its probably a better way to think about money.

My Parents Are So Rich Compared To Me (And They Ain’t Rich): There’s a huge level of discomfort moving from a world where “things are nice” to “all of my furniture is from thrift stores or free from the curb”. This isn't entitlement at work. On the contrary, it’s anger about taking the hard path from working to get into college, to working hard at college, to working really hard to find a job (if you can) and being rewarded with a hand me down couch, 4 roommates & completely unclear path to stability feels really shitty. They were sold a false dream & are angry about it.

Economic Nihilism: There is no expectation that they will ever be able to afford the life that they grew up in. Home ownership is a pipe dream. Security (financial, social, emotional, etc.) is illusory. Gambling feels sane because it doesn’t fucking matter if you lose everything because you have a chance to find cash (and some fleeting joy) if you win. Political issues don’t matter all that much because everyone is going to fuck you over somehow. The future matters less because there is no clear path to being able to participate meaningfully.

There’s Always Another Option: From dating apps to jobs to YouTube videos, there is INFINITE choice about everything. That is awesome in so many ways…but when change is only a click away, everything feels like settling. But their whole life has been full of “you don’t have to settle”, “you can do anything”, and “your life deserves to be extraordinary”, so that when you get “the ick” from a dating partner or a job gets frustrating or the story plot is moving too slowly, clicking to change is a responsibility in honoring their own value, not a lack of commitment.

AI Is Stupid Slop, It Is Brainrot, I Hate It, But I Don’t Hate It Enough To Get All Up In Arms About It: It’s taking jobs, it sucks up a crazy amount of resources & it might help us do amazing things someday, but it got me through college & it helps me do shit right now. And anybody that gets fooled by AI is an idiot. Don’t be an idiot and we will all be fine.

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OK Tim, Glad You Had an Insightful(?) Time Eavesdropping on Your Kids -  WTF Are You Telling Me This?

If you own an agency, work in marketing, hire people, or want to be an effective guide/mentor it’s crucial to understand who you are marketing to, working with & caring about. Here are some key takeaways that I think can make a difference in your 2026.

1. The Future Is Too Far Away: It has always bewildered me why the “{crazy results} in a {crazy amount of time}” kind of selling works. Sure, I get the immediate gratification angle…but there was always a this is too good to be true element that gave me the heebie-jeebies. But the Gen Z/Alpha gang has been so conditioned by the broken promises of advertisers to not trust shiny shit, but they are so desperate for change & opportunity that they are drawn to the immediacy. But because they’ve also been given the “your life deserves to be extraordinary” framework, it can’t just be handed to anyone. This is a crucial tension and as a marketer & company leader you MUST understand it deeply… 
   
   Promised change is the the siren that drives attention but social proof, case studies & screenshots that aren’t verifiable, or a Lion King-like "...everything the light touches will someday be yours…” vision speech is likely to be disregarded as pfaff. As a marketer, or a leader of marketers, remember that benefits of what you are selling (product/service/employment) need to be REAL (not made up BS), achievable in the near future, and achievable by THEM, not handed to them.
   

2. We Are All In This Together: Equality is important, EQUITY is more important, but speed of change is perhaps the most important. There is a deep understanding of social safety nets & privilege. But there is no tolerance for “change takes time” or “incremental motion”. If we can all work through a pandemic, change almost everything about their formative years in a matter of weeks, send unqualified people to hack away at the government with no actual plan, & ignore ideas of fairness with abandon,  we can certainly throw off broken BS with the same speed. Change is best matched with speed, and disruption best met with compassion in service of the change. If you want to cling to the status quo, GTFO.
   

3. Hypocrites Aren’t To Be Tolerated: I heard one of the kids say “Zionism & free speech are opposites. MAGA is old men and stupid boys who want to white wash everything. Everything here sucks & I want to leave but it sucks everywhere, so there is nowhere better. Don’t you dare tell me we are the best, because billionaire-dude, there isn’t a “we”. There is a you that talks about freedom & opportunity and there is a “me” who got fucked over so you can have a 5th vacation house. Fuck you, Jeff Bezos.” When your brand and company talks about values, they better be real…If you have billionaire funding and don’t cover health insurance, talk about authenticity but don’t allow your team to discuss salaries, or say that you are customer-first & don’t empower your staff to do the right thing, you are screwed.
   

4. Don’t Blow Smoke: These folks are feeling like everyone has been blowing smoke up their ass for their entire life. Don’t say that they are valued and not give them responsibility. Don’t demand sacrifice (“...just do it over the weekend…”) and then ask them to justify their jobs or expectations constantly.
   

5. Don’t Be Dismissive: Sure, you are older, and you might have a broader frame of reference, but for every day that you have thought about your 401k balance, mortgage interest rates, or if you should redo your kitchen, you have moved 2 days away from understanding the culture and influences that drive the emotions, dollars & sense of meaning for the generations that drive near & mid-term economic growth and long-term cultural values. They are so much more emotionally and culturally sophisticated than GenX (me) or millennials were at their age & life stage. 

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They May Not Have All The Answers (Yet)

But they are armed with all the right questions. Like all generations, they are armed with the disappointment that the promises of their parents and grandparents have been broken. But in our drive to monetize every experience they’ve ever had & to shape their experience to be consumption-capitalists has given them new weaponry. The incredible exposure to marketing designed to thrill & technology designed to obscure manipulation has given them a fusion-powered bullshit detector & the child-centric parenting of their youth has given them the rightful expectation that their voice and experience matters.

Watch, Learn & Drive Change That Bends Towards Them

This is something that I’ve only truly begun to grasp as I age…regardless of ideas, creativity & intentions, truly, we are only as successful, or kind, or as “good” as those who come behind us determine us to be. I scoff at the decisions that my parent’s & grandparent’s generations made. My children wonder why their world is so fucked up right now, and listening to what they need and believe in is 100% a step in the right direction.

I hope 2026 is brilliant for you & that you are brilliant for it.

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I’m Not Really Tone-Deaf, Gang

(It is true that I can’t carry a tune, but I can read the room)

BTW, I am fully aware of the potential irony that a guy who’s ENTIRE career has revolved around marketing and sales and helping people make money should do the following:

1. Include a promotion for making your business better when I spend the entire newsletter talking about how the next generation feels fucked over by business & capitalism. I get that. But I want to help you build a better business so you can do better for your team & clients …that’s a real, authentic thing.

2. Including ads when I diss the idea that we’ve tried to monetize every experience that Gen Z/Alpha has ever had. This might be critical, but ads & selling things are the way that I make money that I can use to make other people’s lives a little better. And, TBH, I mentioned that I have 5 kids…and I want to give them everything they need in order to succeed…including money if they need it.

3. Talking about this shit in a marketing newsletter… I think in a different year, I might have kept these observations to myself, but the distrust, dysregulation, desperation and disappointment in the collection of people I interacted with over the holidays was real, palpable & worthy of attention, IMHO.

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