#113: How to Build a Brand Story, Mindset Rewiring Workbook, Tolkien's Long Lost Poem

Hi All!

We are pleased to welcome you to this week's edition of Undiscovered, a newsletter with exclusive resources and insights expanding from the material found on our main site - becketu.com.

This week, we will take a look at how to build a brand story, a blueprint for rewiring your mind going into 2026, the secret ingredient for worldbuilding success, and more.

Let's dive in:

How to Build a Brand Story

'Storytelling' has long been considered one of the most, if not the most, important skills of all time. This has been reinforced by people like Steve Jobs claiming "the most powerful person in the world is the storyteller. The storyteller sets the vision, values, and agenda of an entire generation that is to come..."

Recently, an article written by Katie Deighton titled, "Companies Are Desperately Seeking 'Storytellers'" started to go viral on Twitter. The idea is companies are rapidly hiring creatives to craft clear, emotionally engaging narratives across social channels. Brands now increasingly act like publishers and seek tighter control over how they are perceived in a noisy media environment.

@signulll made an astute observation:

storytelling is the only way to impose meaning on abundance, coherence on noise, & legitimacy on power.

strategy, ops, & capital are all downstream. without narrative control, none it will ever stick.

this has been the core premise of my account. in a world of infinite output, story is the scarce primitive. whoever can compress chaos into something ppl can feel, remember, forgive, & rally around actually runs the system. this skill is worth more than the entire c suite combined.

A few days after the article and tweet circled around, I saw another post by 'the internet's creative director, Oren John. He made a template for how a brand can start to build out their story:

how to build a brand story, step by step

product: concrete vision of the customer insights being solved, and the rough schedule of product rollouts to solve them over next 18m (software)-3yrs (consumer goods)
schedule: overlaid calendar of industry, brand and cultural events to configure critical storytelling points and launch dates
characters: map of communication voices from internal voices, influencers, creators and mediums they can communicate on
insights: all of the various creative ideas and resonant customer insights that can anchor stories, FAQ, full list of all interesting things a brand has (expertise, methods, things to document with interest or value to customer)
plot: combining these into communicating which ideas, at what moments, on what mediums
workback: tasking all this with decision dates, briefs, gaps etc

i have done this exercise in-person with 10+ brands in last few years, its value is incredible and you can do it pretty well in an offsite

Mindset Rewiring Workbook & New Year's Blueprint

I've been loving many posts from @TheBeautyofSaas on Twitter recently, starting with their 100 lessons for your 20's. It's rare you find someone who shares a lot of the truths you believe in, so it made me curious to explore more of their writing. The one item that kept popping up in my feed from Saas was their Mindset Rewiring Workbook, which contains a New Year Goal Setting Blueprint.

Take the time to look through a few of the posts on their Substack. And if you feel up for it, reflect and write on questions posed in the New Year Goal Setting Blueprint.

Here are some of my favorite questions:

What was one key lesson you picked up this year?
What was the major blow you experienced this year?
What was your biggest win?
What was your biggest failure?
What is one thing you want to know more about?
Who was the most inspiring person of the year for you?
What was the most important lifestyle change you made?
What was the best book you have read?
What was one thing you didn't do but wanted to?
What would 10x the year you had?
What area of your life has increasingly gotten better?
What area of your life has increasingly gotten worse?
Have you traveled anywhere this year?
Who was the most interesting person you have met this year?
What is the one thing you want to do more of?
What new skill did you want to learn but didn't end up learning?
What was your best purchase this year?
What was your worst purchase this year?
What activity made you feel alive?
What is one thing you put too many hours into, but should not have?
What is one thing you have ignored, but should not have?
One thing that had a massive effect on your focus?
Looking back at your year and knowing what you will go through. What is the one thing you would tell yourself?

When you reflect on everything you wrote down. All the answers and insights. Compare to the same time last year.

Do you feel you have improved your life?

The Secret Ingredient in Worldbuilding Success

@QuetzalPhoenix remarked how an underestimated element that contributes to the success of a franchise is how 'cozy' it is. They remark, "All the Potter spinoff stuff is proof that Harry himself really didn't matter as much as people wanting to hang out in the Gryffindor common room." I thought this was an excellent insight, and it made me think of other examples.

The first that came to mind was Lord of the Rings. When it comes to LoTR, fans may feel the same way about the Shire as Harry Potter fans feel about Hogwarts. There's a fundamental escape happening by the reader. It's a safe place where the difficult realities of life cease to exist, but we recognize something true in their stories and environments.

This reminded me of some older posts from @shagbark_hick and @evilvillain1231that essentially say the same thing. The 'coziness' of a place depends on how inhospitable the outside environment is. This combined with the insight from QuetzalPhoenix makes me think about the contrasting factors of LoTR and HP.

At the risk of stating the obvious, the Shire directly contrasts to Mordor. Hogwarts is a refuge from the Muggle world where Harry is mistreated. Contrast is a necessary component to the appeal of a fantasy world.

When 40 million units of a game are sold worldwide, it is usually a sign to pay attention to the real secret behind it's winning formula: coziness.

Protein Bar Rankings by 'Cleanest' Ingredients

Going into the New Year, and I wanted to do more research on what the cleanest protein bars are that I can start ordering. I used Oasis Health App (not perfect by any means, and no affiliation) and found the following brands as the top 10:

1. Jacob
2. Once Upon a Farm
3. Perfect Bar
4. Legion Natural High-Protein
5. Blueprint
6. PROMIX Protein Puff Bar
7. Manou
8. GoMacro Organic Macrobar
9. RXBAR
10. Bob's Red Mill

If you don't see your favorite brand, you may be able to find it on the full post here.

As a Barebell's lover this somewhat breaks my heart, but next time you shop and see any of these items, it might be worth giving one a try!

A Long-Lost Christmas Poem by Tolkien

In the spirit of the holidays, I wanted to share a beautiful poem that recently graced my timeline. It was written in 1936 by J.R.R. Tolkien, and the story behind it is almost as incredible as the piece itself.

For nearly 80 years, this poem was unknown to the world. In 2013, Tolkien scholars Wayne Hammond and Christina Scull were researching old school journals containing Tolkien's work. They came across two pieces, The Shadow Bride and Noel.

The content of the poem juxtaposes the harsh environment outside with the promise of light coming into the world. It reminds me of our previous entry discussing the elements of what makes something 'cozy'.

For those interested in reading the long-lost poem:

Grim was the world and grey last night:
The moon and stars were fled,
The hall was dark without song or light,
The fires were fallen dead.
The wind in the trees was like to the sea,
And over the mountains’ teeth
It whistled bitter-cold and free,
As a sword leapt from its sheath.

The lord of snows upreared his head;
His mantle long and pale
Upon the bitter blast was spread
And hung o’er hill and dale.
The world was blind,
the boughs were bent,
All ways and paths were wild:
Then the veil of cloud apart was rent,
And here was born a Child.

The ancient dome of heaven sheer
Was pricked with distant light;
A star came shining white and clear
Alone above the night.
In the dale of dark in that hour of birth
One voice on a sudden sang:
Then all the bells in Heaven and Earth
Together at midnight rang.

Mary sang in this world below:
They heard her song arise
O’er mist and over mountain snow
To the walls of Paradise,
And the tongue of many bells was stirred
in Heaven’s towers to ring
When the voice of mortal maid was heard,
That was mother of Heaven’s King.

Glad is the world and fair this night
With stars about its head,
And the hall is filled with laughter and light,
And fires are burning red.
The bells of Paradise now ring
With bells of Christendom,
And Gloria, Gloria we will sing
That God on earth is come.

Wishing you and your loved ones a beautiful holiday season!

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Undiscovered #113: How to Build a Brand Story, Mindset Rewiring Workbook, Tolkien's Long Lost Poem

#113: How to Build a Brand Story, Mindset Rewiring Workbook, Tolkien's Long Lost Poem

How to Build a Brand Story

Mindset Rewiring Workbook & New Year's Blueprint

The Secret Ingredient in Worldbuilding Success

Protein Bar Rankings by 'Cleanest' Ingredients

A Long-Lost Christmas Poem by Tolkien

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