Happy New Year from our home offices to yours.

While everyone else is setting resolutions they’ll quietly forget by February, we’re doing something more useful. This issue is about real strategies. The kind that help you grow your remote career, protect your energy, and build a life that actually feels good to live.

No hustle-for-hustle’s-sake. No performative goals.
Just smart moves for flexible, focused, intentional humans.

2026 is yours. Let’s make it count.

— Ric & Shellie

P.S. Know someone ready to do remote work better this year? Share the newsletter with them. 🙌🏼

THRIVING IN 2026

Flexible Work Survived. Now It's Time to Prove You Can Too

By Ric Pratte, CEO/Founder, Thrive Remotely

Are you skating by invisible, camera-off, hoping nobody notices? 

Here's the uncomfortable truth: U.S. businesses ramped up freelance hiring by 260% in two years, and companies embracing flexibility are adopting AI 40% faster than their competitors. But 2026 won't reward you just for working from home. 

I challenged my own remote work bias and discovered exactly which professionals will thrive this year and which will get squeezed out.

See if you'll thrive or get squeezed →

QUICK TAKES

Moving Into the New Year

✅ The Future of Freelancing in 2026: 8 Trends Solopreneurs Can’t Ignore

✅ Employee Wellness Trends 2026: What Employers Need to Know

✅ 25 Remote Work Statistics, Trends, and Predictions for 2026

LAST WEEK’S POLL RESULTS

What's your top priority for thriving in 2026?

THE CULTURE EDIT

Remote by Design: Thrive in 2026

The Culture Edit: Your invitation to shape the remote life that works for you.

This year, treat yourself like the most important project on the table. Design your year by being specific about where you’re headed, and honest about what might get in the way.

As you step into 2026, before you rework your schedule or set new goals, get clear on what you’re no longer available for, and what you’re ready to protect. Let your systems reflect your values, and your habits match your pace.

Observe: What energized you last year, and what exhausted you?

Reflect: What principle will guide your decisions when things get unclear?

Reimagine: What’s one shift that would move you closer to the life you’re designing in 2026?

Thriving this year might mean choosing with more intention, not simply doing more.

by Maria Scarzella Thorpe| Workplace Culture Strategist & Founder of Nomad Pass – Culture Strategy & Experiences for Distributed Teams

MEME OF THE WEEK

THE VIBE

News to Use

🔆 What Leaders Still Need to Understand About the Future of Remote Work. Companies resisting flexible work risk losing talent, productivity and long-term market relevance.

🔆 Some companies use RTO mandates hoping employees will quit, but Dayforce CPO Amy Capellanti-Wolf warns this strategy raises a critical question – are the right people leaving?

🔆 How Work Changed in 2025, According to HBR Readers. 2025 was a year of big change—in general, and in the workplace.

POLL – NEXT WEEKS TOPIC

Next week: Expand friendships in 2026 by treating connection as a core “project,” rather than hoping relationships will happen on their own.

COMMUNITY CALENDAR

Your People Are Gathering

Vision boards in Asheville. Slope sessions in Mars Hill. Co-working everywhere from Raleigh to El Paso. 

Your remote crew is meeting up in real life this week, and honestly? These beat sitting in Slack channels. Ten chances to swap war stories, make actual friends, and remember why we chose this life. 

Pick your city. Show up.

Find your people (finally) →

RESOURCES

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