Choosing focus over fragmentation in 2026

Hello and Happy 2026!

As we step into a brand-new year, I want to begin with a genuine thank you. Whether you’ve been here for years or only recently joined this space, your attention, curiosity, and presence have mattered more than you know. 2025 has been full, rich, and stretching—for me, and I suspect for many of you too.

This newsletter is a little different. It’s a New Year message, yes, but it’s also a clear pivot announcement. Not a dramatic reinvention, not an apology, and certainly not a disappearance—just strategic clarity. This is about focus, not abandonment. Depth, not reduction. And choosing to build fewer things far more beautifully.

The honest truth: why this matters

Over the past year, I’ve been running multiple projects at once. The Choosing Happy podcast has passed 350 episodes. The Creative Writing Tips community grew to over 9,600 members. Alongside that, there have been newsletters, Start With AI, coaching offers, consulting, experiments, and ideas that kept bubbling up because… curiosity has always been one of my strengths.

Every one of these projects has been valuable. None of them were mistakes. And yet, if I’m being completely honest, spreading myself across so many directions diluted the depth of impact I know I’m here for.

After a lot of reflection, journalling, walking, and some very candid conversations with myself, I asked a simple but confronting question: What would I build if I could only build two things really well?

It struck me how often we ask ourselves what else we can add, rather than what we’re ready to honour by choosing more cleanly.

That question reshaped everything.

This is me choosing focus over fragmentation. Building depth, not breadth. And stepping into 2026 with two focused brands, two clear audiences, and far more integrity in how I use my time and energy.

The two-brand strategy

Here’s what that focus looks like in practice.

Brand one: Choosing Happy

For midlife women and personal transformation

Choosing Happy is being lovingly and deliberately repositioned.

From January, the podcast and platform will focus exclusively on midlife women (45+) navigating identity loss, shame, invisibility, and reinvention. This isn’t another “think positive” or surface-level happiness space. It’s grounded, honest, sometimes uncomfortable, and deeply compassionate work for women who feel lost—and know there’s more to them than the roles they’ve outgrown.

This work draws on my NLP training in the Sue Knight lineage, somatic awareness, and years of real conversations about identity, grief, desire, and self-trust. The heart of it is simple but powerful:
You haven’t lost yourself—you just buried her.

I’m also launching a new signature offer: Midlife Identity Reset, a 12-week 1:1 coaching journey, launching on 17 January. It’s for women ready to reclaim themselves, not optimise themselves.

The Choosing Happy podcast returns on 13 January with this clear focus.

You can find everything here: choosinghappy.space
Platforms: Instagram, Threads, and Facebook

If you are a midlife woman—or you love one—this space is for you.

Brand two: Start With AI

For coaches, trainers, and practitioners growing their business

Start With AI is sharpening, not expanding.

This brand now focuses exclusively on helping transformational coaches, trainers, and practitioners integrate AI into their businesses in ways that genuinely serve humans. Not generic prompts. Not tech-for-tech’s-sake. But practical frameworks for creating content, building funnels, designing offers, and growing online—AI without losing your soul.

I’ll be documenting my own journey of building the Midlife Identity Reset programme using AI as a live case study, showing what’s possible when strategy, discernment, and humanity lead.

Current and upcoming offerings include AI consulting, a free 5-day email course, a LinkedIn newsletter three times a week, and future AI-supported writing and strategy services.

If you’re curious about using AI strategically, without erasing what makes your work human, this is your home.

Find it here: startwithai.online
Platforms: LinkedIn and X (Twitter)

What’s changing (and what isn’t)

In the spirit of transparency, here’s what I’m consciously sunsetting:

• The Creative Writing Tips community, which is being transitioned
• Broad, scattered content across multiple niches
• Trying to be everything to everyone

And here’s what’s staying firmly rooted:

• My commitment to real transformation and practical systems
• My NLP background and depth-led approach
• My belief that AI is a tool for depth, not replacement
• The core of who I am as a coach, strategist, and human

This isn’t a reinvention. It’s a refinement.

The invitation

Here’s how to move forward, depending on who you are:

If you’re a midlife woman (or know one):

• Listen to the Choosing Happy podcast from 13 January
• Visit choosinghappy.space
• Apply for the Midlife Identity Reset founding cohort if it resonates
• Follow along on Instagram when it launches

If you’re a coach or trainer:

• Subscribe to the Start With AI newsletter on LinkedIn
• Take the free 5-day course at startwithai.online
• Watch for AI consulting offers and live case studies
• Follow on LinkedIn or X

If neither path is for you:
Thank you. Truly. I’m grateful you were part of this chapter, and I wish you clarity, focus, and support for whatever you’re building next. Sometimes paths diverge—and that’s healthy.

The deeper why

This decision came from that one question: What would I build if I could only build two things really well?

2026 is about depth over breadth, focus over fragmentation, and quality over quantity. I’m excited to serve two clear audiences with two strong, aligned brands—and to build something remarkable with far more presence and intention.

And for those of you who’ve been following The Depth Advantage: that newsletter will resume on 11 January 2026, carrying this same clarity and focus forward.

Thank you for being here. Thank you for understanding. And thank you for supporting focused work in a world that often rewards noise.

Here’s to building something remarkable in 2026—together.

With warmth and clarity,

Heather

Heather V Masters

Coach, writer, and strategist helping humans reclaim identity, time, and impact

Choosing Happy: choosinghappy.space
Start With AI: startwithai.online

P.S. If you’re unsure where you belong, pause, breathe, and notice what feels steady rather than urgent. That quiet yes is usually the right guide.