"When we experience maintaining our word, what binds to the receptor of our conscious minds is confidence. If we experience breaking our word, what binds to the receptor is doubt and justification. Over time, we end up riddled with doubt and justification. We feel weighed down, frustrated, and start believing confidence is something we just ‘don’t have.’ The deeper truth? Confidence hasn’t had a chance to bind because our consciousness has been occupied by mounting doubt."

“Here’s the beautiful part: the heart muscle itself isn’t nourished when it’s working. It’s nourished when it rests. If we never protect rest, we may keep pumping—but eventually we starve the very thing that powers the work.”

"Sometimes the very things we’ve put in place for our own security—the floodlights of our life—end up blinding us to the thrilling vision we are meant to pursue."

Feedback is never just about the steps—it’s about the posture.
You can ask permission, align to someone’s vision, be clear, subjective, and collaborative. But if you don’t truly will the best for your team—if you treat them as objects instead of people—they’ll sense it. They’ll resist you, not because of what you said, but because of how you showed up.

Love, curiosity, and collaboration are what transform feedback from compliance into growth.

“That’s one of the dangers of brute force: not only does it alienate people, it blinds us. We might force compliance for a moment, but we’ll miss the deeper truths that could be a gift to the person—or our team.”

“If the recipient walks away wondering what you meant, the feedback failed. A friend of mine often says: Clarity is kindness. If we truly want growth in our teams, we need to commit to feedback that is clear, specific, uses subjective language, and aligns with the recipient’s vision.”

"If we give feedback that has nothing to do with the other person’s values or goals, we reduce them to instruments for our own outcomes. We stop leading people—and start managing objects."

"When we stop doing what we say we’ll do, when we say we’ll do it, we begin to justify the break in integrity—and we sabotage the version of ourselves we’re committed to becoming."

We don’t pick up a novel hoping the hero stays the same.
We don’t watch the game hoping the other team makes it easy.
We want the challenge. The breakthrough. The transformation.
Absent growth, the story isn’t worth telling.

So what story are you living in—and is it one worth telling?

What is the thing that’s on your heart—the thing that scares you a little but pulls you forward with excitement? That’s the vision worth chasing. That’s where you’ll find the resolve of Daniel and his friends. That’s where you’ll step into who you were created to be. Whether you reach the summit or get thrown to the lions, it’s the only thing worth chasing.

When we adopt a new story we can not only find peace for the past, but a resource for who we need to be today, to prepare us for our thrilling adventure for tomorrow.