StoryMaster Media

11/27/2025

DAY 27 — THANKSGIVING
TITLE: The Power of Gratitude to Rewire Your Life

Today is Thanksgiving — a day built around gratitude.
But I want to take it one step deeper.

Years ago, Harvard researcher Shawn Achor showed something astounding:
Your brain cannot be simultaneously grateful and anxious.

Gratitude — actual, spoken gratitude —
changes your brain chemistry in real time.

It quiets the fear centers.

It increases dopamine and serotonin — the feel-good pathways.
And it makes you measurably more resilient, more optimistic, and more connected to the people around you.

But here’s the part that hit me hardest:

Gratitude isn't just a feeling.
It's a practice.
A choice.
A muscle.

And like any muscle, it grows when you use it.

Today, I’m thinking about the people who have shaped me —
the mentors, friends, and family who stood with me when I was still figuring myself out.

And I’m grateful for the people I get to serve and create with today… including you.

So here’s the invitation:

Before the day is over,
tell one person exactly why you’re grateful for them.
Not a general “thank you.”
A specific acknowledgment.

Because when you tell someone
“I value you,”
you don’t just lift them…

…you rewire yourself.

Today is Thanksgiving —
a day to give thanks outwardly
and grow stronger inwardly.

Happy Thanksgiving.
And thank you for being part of this journey with me.

Tomorrow is Black Friday — the biggest shopping day of the year. But I want to talk about a different kind of value…
the kind you can’t buy.

I’ll show you how a Locked Sequence —
a commitment you stop renegotiating with yourself —
can deepen your relationships and strengthen the people you care about.

Because the most valuable thing you can invest in…
is each other.

Today’s message is about the surprising power of gratitude — not as a holiday sentiment, but as a neuroscience-backed performance tool that changes the way y...

11/25/2025

You can have the best intentions in the world… but without follow-through, intentions are just polite lies we tell ourselves.
Follow-through is where character finally gets a vote.
It’s the bridge between what we say we’ll do and what we’ll actually stand behind.

Most people don’t fail because they’re incapable.

They fail because they leak.
Tiny leaks.
Energy leaks.
Commitment leaks.
Attention leaks.

The promise sounded good last night…

But the morning comes, the mood changes, and suddenly the promise evaporates.

Follow-through is what you do after the mood you made the promise in has left the room.

YEARs AGO I was the director of sales and Training for Houston Home Builder – that later grew to be a national home builder… and we started every training day with a motivational audio tape. BOB RICHARDS the Pole Vaulting Pastor had been an Olympic track and field star turned Motivational Speaker and he told a story about the Sweedish gold medalist Emil Satopec.

The Sweeds – long before the NCAA and NFL practiced THE WAVE would cheer on Satopec as he rounded the track. That section – louder than the others would chant ZA TO PEC etc. They drove the guy (Faster) to multiple gold medals.

Now in that era the coaches were not allowed on to the field and Bob – who was over junking the javelin and not particularly well… was being challenged by his coach in the stands to “FOLLOW THROUGH BOB”… He could not be haard by Bob but he was heard by the sweeds in the stands. Suddenly THOUSANDS of Sweeds who had no idea what they were chanting began… Follow Throoo Pob. Etc. On the field, Bob got the message, threw the javelin with follow through and it qualified him.

Follow through is part of the effort. Not just the action… but in business… following through the next day or week or YEAR to do what we came to do and said were were going to do. It is practice – in action – again and again.

Follow-through is a muscle.

Every time you respect your own word, it grows.

Every time you disrespect your own word, it shrinks.

And here’s the kicker:

Other people can sense the size of your follow-through muscle
long before you open your mouth.

They can feel whether you finish or flake.

Today’s invitation is simple:

Pick one unfinished thing.

One loose thread.

One promise you owe yourself.

Finish it.

Your future self will trust you a little more.
And trust—especially self-trust—is the most valuable currency you have.

Tomorrow, we’re talking about locked sequences — the discipline of choosing your next step once and sticking to it like a train on rails.

No wobbling.

No renegotiation.

Just quiet, powerful momentum.

“Tomorrow I’m going to share the power of a Locked Sequence — that moment when you stop renegotiating with yourself and start trusting the path you already chose.
I
t’s how you build unstoppable momentum… one locked-in step at a time.”

Beginning is critical. Follow Through is the step that LANDS your message.

11/24/2025

Day 24 - NOVEMBER 24 — “Initiative: The Moment You Move Before You’re Asked”

Monday of Thanksgiving week. Day 24 – Nov 24th. If you are watching this out in my future… I mark these for the first 30 days as part of a Write/Produce Video for 30 consecutive days challenge – and one I have come to delight in. I currently plan to do this daily until New Years DAY. Then I will decide based on the fun I am having and your responses. For now I am doing this on my own Initiative. Oooooh. Good word.

Initiative.
It’s not ambition.
It’s not busyness.
It’s the willingness to act before the world requires it of you.

What do I mean – oh… let’s see if I have a story. IF I HAVE STORY!?

Once upon a time, in a little hardware store, a teenage employee noticed a woman staring helplessly at a wall of plumbing parts. No one told him to help. No one supervised him.

He just walked over and said, “What are we fixing today?” She turned and looked at him and Losing the confused and perplexed expression she smiled – regained her PRESENCE OF MIND – and walked through the problem.

The question HE had asked FOCUSED her and shifted her from the ADHD distraction of the array of “what the hell does that do” stuff on the wall back to THE PROBLEM at HAND. What are we fixing- TODAY.

Just articulating it clearly helped both she AND he define what was needed. The kicker is -

Years later, that woman hired him to run her company.
Because initiative is evidence of character, and many of the characteristics we’ve talked about over the last 23 days.
Initiative is leadership’s ignition switch.

It’s what separates people who wait for opportunity from people who create opportunity.

When you take initiative, you communicate three things:
1. I see what’s needed.
2. I’m not afraid to participate.
3. You can count on me even when no one’s watching.

“Tomorrow… the quiet force that turns initiative into momentum: follow-through.”

11/23/2025

AWARENESS - is tricky. It doesn’t arrive politely. It snaps into plac— usually in the exact moment you realize you’ve been coasting on assumptions.

Today I talk about the shift from “I’m fine… I’ve got this” to that internal jolt of “Oh… I don’t got this at all.”

For me, it was my father’s quiet warning:
“A day will come when you will wish you had.”
That line became a kind of ring of truth, the moment Awareness turned a light on I couldn’t ignore.

Awareness isn’t judgment.
It’s illumination.
It’s the moment you finally see the thing that’s been shaping your outcomes all along.

Today we talk about how that shift happens — and how to use it.

Awareness opens your eyes.
Presence puts your feet on the ground.
Tomorrow we explore what it means to show up for the moment you’ve just awakened to.

Awareness is tricky. It doesn’t arrive politely. It snaps into place — usually in the exact moment you realize you’ve been coasting on assumptions.Today I ta...

11/22/2025

Okay, here we are, day 22, November 22nd, the day we lost President Kennedy. Now most of you are much too young to have first-hand memories of where you were, but most of us who were around remember that day and the details around how we heard about it as fresh as this morning. Today, we're going to talk about the business of that idea, thinking clearly in real time and possibly making a memory for lifetime. Things like...

I wish I had the presence of mind to put the coffee mug under the Keurig before I push the button. Because watching hot coffee pour triumphantly onto the counter is not the motivational moment I was hoping for.

Or I wish I'd had the presence of mind to check whether the zoom camera was actually off before muttering my private thoughts because nothing bonds a team like hearing their leader whisper, "Here we go again."

I wish I had the presence of mind to say the one calm sentence I thought of later in the car replaying that argument instead of delivering it perfectly to the windshield like that's where the conversation was.

Presence of mind. It's the ability to stay awake inside your own life, to think clearly while things are happening, not after the fact when it's too late to adjust. Here's another story.

Once upon a time, I watched a firefighter calmly walk into a smoking kitchen to rescue a woman trapped behind a fallen beam. The rest of us were in a swirl, shouting, pointing, panicking, but he moved like he was stepping through a grocery store aisle. No rush, no flinch, no theatrics, just presence. And his presence actually steadied everybody else. Presence of mind is not about being emotionless, it's about creating enough internal space that your emotions don't drive the car.

Remember, we don't want fear making our decisions.

Leaders with presence think while others react, and because they think, people follow. Because they stay calm, people stabilize. Because they remain present, solutions appear, rather than shouts and reactions.

Presence of mind says, I am here. I'm thinking. I'm functioning. I'm not owned by this moment.

Tomorrow, we're going to move from the notion of presence to awareness, the rare ability to see what most people miss. My wish for you today is that you will have presence of mind, particularly when you need it.

Steve on story. See you tomorrow.

YouTube Description (Clean + Final)Most people think “presence of mind” is something you either have or you don’t.Truth is… it’s a skill. A discipline. A mus...

11/22/2025

DAY 21 — Clarity: The Leader’s Superpower
Here we go 3 weeks – 21 days of story in a row. I’m glad some of you stayed the course. Today we are talking about…

Clarity.

Of all the leadership gifts, this one may be the most underestimated… and the most visible when it’s missing.
Because people don’t work at their best when they’re confused.
Confusion costs time, money, trust, and morale.

But clarity?

Clarity creates momentum.

I learned this the hard way years ago while producing a corporate film for a Fortune 500 division.

We were on location, 40 crew members standing by, cameras ready, and the VP walks in with the script… which he had “lightly edited” the night before.

Except “lightly” meant rewriting the entire thing.
And we lost almost half a day sorting out what he meant, what he intended, and what we were actually supposed to produce.

He wasn’t a bad leader — he just wasn’t clear.

People will struggle FOR you… if they understand WHERE you’re trying to go and WHY it matters.

Clarity is not about being perfect.

Clarity is about being understandable.

“Throw a catchable ball” is a Steve Story from Chase’s little league era. When I said, “Throw a catchable ball” ... the blank stares told me I was not being clear. So I had them all line up and handed the ball to kid one and had him toss it to me underhand… I caught it and tossed it to kid 2. He caught it and tossed it back… Hit me in the chest and fell.

I said… "did he throw me a catchable ball?"" A chorus of “yes”es. "Ok. So it wasn’t HIS fault I didn’t catch it… he did everything he could to put it where my glove should have been."

“Yes'es" again. I tossed it to kid 3. My son. I said, “Chase… throw the ball over my head." He tossed it back WAAAAAAY over my head.

"Before retrieving It I said, “Did he do what I asked?” Yesss…. "Was that ball catchable?" Noooooo.

One kid, “Well if you were Kareme and on a ladder…”

“But I’m not…”

“Oh. Then no. It was not catchable.

“Why” –

One kid… My daughter Chelsea – three years younger than these boys,

“He threw it out of your reach… by a long shot.”

“Shut up Chelsea…” (Chase)…

“You shut up, CHASE.”

That went around for a bit… then…

So, I said, "ANYBODY not related to me… tell me what a catch-able ball is.”

I got several good answers and one, “What if I don’t throw so good?”

“Do your best… and get better at it.”

“Oh…” Blank face.

They did do a little better and the putdown for wild throws became, “Dude. Throw a catchable ball!”

Fortunately my adoring children do NOT follow my stories here… But…

I digressed right after, "Clarity is about being understandable."

You’d be amazed how often that comes down to three simple questions:
1. What do we want to happen?
2. Who is responsible?
3. By when?

Clarity removes friction.

People for the greatest part WANT to get things RIGHT.

When what you are pitching isn’t getting caught… Are you pitching a catchable concept?

Clarity lowers the emotional temperature.

Clarity can reduce panic and rumor and “oh. Well…I thought you meant…”

Clarity lets people breathe.

And when people can breathe… they can lean in, think, and trust you.

“Tomorrow we step into Presence — not productivity, not performance, but the rare ability to actually show up in your own life.

To be where your feet are.

To give your full attention to the moment and the people in it.
Presence is the doorway to every other leadership strength — and tomorrow, we’re going to walk through it together.”

Day 21 — Clarity: Throw a Catchable BallClarity is kindness.In leadership, communication, and relationships, people rarely fail because they don’t care — the...

11/21/2025

Hey everybody, welcome back to Day 20, the 20th of November, and Stories with Steve. And today's the topic of consistency. Because if integrity is who you are when no one sees, consistency is what you do again and again until everyone sees. Integrity is the backbone. Consistency, though, is the footprint. Integrity is the design, and consistency is the as-built.
We live in a world that celebrates flashes of brilliance and viral moments and big wins and overnight successes. But the truth is, isn't built by moments, it's built by patterns over time. It's so easy to be wooed by verbalized intentions, but it is the effect of the choices and actions that actually play out in our lives. And you won't be surprised to learn that ...
That reminded me of a story. Once upon a time there was a man who walked the same path to work every day. Not because it was exciting, but because it consistently would get him where he needed to go. Well, over the years that steady walk carved a visible trail through the grass. A trail that neighbors eventually began to follow. Not because he told him to, but because he walked it every single day and it was clearly the way to get to that place.
Consistency is carving a trail through repetition. It's leadership expressed over time. And consistency is how you build reliability. And that becomes the thing that becomes reputation. Integrity makes you trustworthy. Consistency makes you trusted. Now tomorrow, we're going to talk about the next step, the powerful condition which consistency creates inside of you. .. Responsibility, not as blame, not as burden, but as the privilege of carrying what matters.
See you tomorrow. Steve on story. Glad to have you with me today. Thanks.

In this episode, we dive deep into the importance of consistency in achieving success, whether in personal development, career growth, or creative endeavors....

11/19/2025

Integrity.
It’s not a performance — it’s a compass.

In today’s episode (watch it below), I explore why integrity is the quiet backbone of trust. Competence makes people believe you can do the job… but integrity makes people believe in you.

You’ll hear a simple story of someone with modest talent but unshakeable honor — and how his consistency shaped his entire reputation in a world full of shortcuts.

Integrity doesn’t shout. It doesn’t brag.
You only notice it when it’s missing.

How the strength of your integrity becomes the strength of your impact… and why real influence has nothing to do with followers, likes, or reach — and everything to do with who you are when nobody else is watching.

Integrity.It’s not a performance — it’s a compass.In today’s episode, I explore why integrity is the quiet backbone of trust. Competence makes people believe...

11/19/2025

Steve on story. We're on day 18, November 18th. Today we're talking about competence. It's not glamorous. It's not clickbait. Nobody makes tick tocks about showing up, paying attention and doing the work well. But competence is what makes the world function.

Now here's the strange thing. Skill levels aren't really equal and they never have been. I had a best friend growing up who I had a starting skill level that was so high it was almost unfair. The guy just picked things up instantly. What took me 10 hours he got in 10 minutes. And yet I eventually became a competent purveyor of the skill we're talking about here. Predictable, dependable, across the line. Even if my ceiling wasn't what it was, I hit the level where people could count on me.

But today, well, a lot of people don't aim for competence. They aim for minimally functional. Punch the clock, phone it in, expect their $12.50 an hour for being physically present and fogging a mirror. Competence requires attention. It requires caring. It's an act of honor.

You know, once upon a time there was a handyman in a small Texas town. You'll hear a lot of my stories coming from Texas.
He wasn't special, not high-skilled, just a guy who fixed things. And then one day an elderly widow called him to repair a sagging fence gate. It was an easy job. Anybody could have slapped a board across it and called it good, and it would have been. But he noticed something. The walkway leaned a little bit. The soil shifted in last season's rains. And the hinge line wasn't the problem. The foundation was... So he rebuilt the footing, leveled the stones, re-packed the soil, the only one hinge, and realigned the gate so gently that a 10-year-old could close it with two fingers. When she tried it, she smiled and said, you have fixed more than I asked for. And he simply replied and said, no, ma'am, I fixed what was needed. A man of modest skill, but exceptional honor.

And that honor produced competence. Competence isn't about being the best. It's about doing the work with enough care, focus, and integrity that people breathe easier because you handled it. Competence is reliability made visible. Tomorrow we're going to talk about the thing that creates that competence and keeps it alive even when nobody's watching. Integrity.

Competence is how you perform. Integrity is who you are when nobody's grading the test. Tomorrow we're going to talk about the invisible backbone of character, the thing that makes trust possible and keeps your life from wobbling in the storms. Steve on story, be back at you tomorrow. Join me, I think you're going to like it.

https://youtu.be/zTZr1sMHHLc

11/17/2025

✅ DAY 17 — CONFIDENCE: PROOF YOU CAN

Yesterday we talked about momentum — that once you start moving, the universe seems to meet you halfway.
Today I want to talk about what momentum quietly creates: confidence.

Not the Instagram version.

Not swagger.

Not “fake it till you make it.”

I’m talking about real confidence — the kind that lets you breathe easier, walk straighter, and face the same fears that used to freeze you.

And here’s the secret:

Confidence comes from proof.

Proof that you tried.

Proof that you didn’t quit.

Proof that the world didn’t collapse when you took a step forward.

Confidence is evidence — and evidence is built, not imagined.
And sometimes the best confidence builders are ridiculously small.

Let me give you an example.

Years ago, I learned a practice from my great friend Rowena Tunnell. It’s called “The 27 Pickup.” And it’s designed for people who — like me — can get allergic to de-cluttering, organizing, tidying, anything that feels like drudgery.

You know that moment where you look at a mess and freeze?

Not because it’s heavy… but because starting feels impossible?

Rowena had the answer.

Every day, you put 27 things in their proper place.

Just 27.

You can make the bed and count that as one, then sort 26 paper clips and call it a day.

Doesn’t matter.

What matters is this:
You have righted the order of 27 things.

And then — here’s the magic — you get to say,
“I did it. My day is sorted for now.”

These tiny wins accumulate.

They become confidence in physical form.

By the end of one month, you have put 810 things in the right place.

By the end of a year, 9,855 things in your world have moved from chaos to order.

I don’t know about you… but even my cluttered life would be radically better with almost ten thousand things returned to order.

That’s confidence.

Not a pep-talk.

Not a mantra.

Evidence.

Because here’s the truth:

Confidence rarely starts with courage.

It usually starts with small wins.

One success.

One drawer.

One step.

One moment where you see yourself being just a little more capable than yesterday.

And once you have proof — even tiny proof — you can build on it.

Confidence is borrowed at first… then it’s built…
and eventually, it can be bestowed on others.

So here’s your challenge today:

Go create some proof.

Choose something small.

Something doable.

Something you can finish in under five minutes.

Because confidence is not a feeling you wait for.
It’s a message from your past self that says,
“You’ve done this before… and you can do it again.”

Tomorrow we talk about the next step in the chain — COMPETENCE — where confidence meets practice… and turns into mastery you can depend on.

See ya Tomorrow!

Today I talk about the difference between performing confidence and becoming confident.One is a mask.The other is a muscle.Most of us think confidence comes ...

11/16/2025

DAY 16 — MOMENTUM: The First Step Makes the Second Possible

Yesterday, we talked about courage — and how it’s not the absence of fear, but the refusal to let fear drive the bus.
And I said something at the end that I want to carry forward today:

Once you take that first courageous step, something shifts.

We’re going to say more in a minute but folks, There’s a physics to this stuff.

The hardest step is always the first. You have to overcome Momentum’s Cousin – INERTIA.

The toughest thing I do in everything I do – including getting out of my warm, soft bed, is START. Once I am going it seems the stuff I need to continue shows up turning the corner just ahead of me and I have to go AFTER IT to get TO it… and on it goes. A storyteller in motion has a shot at continuing the story…

Once you start, even imperfectly, even clumsily… the second step gets easier.

And the third?

Easier still. Though I will say… if you had tried to start with that third step you might still be in bed… it is the momentum that you built that makes the third step easier than you remember the first being…

That’s momentum.

It's courage with wheels on it.

I sort of believe that Momentum is the universe’s way of rewarding movement.

Because as long as you’re in motion, it seems like fear loses some of its grip.

Options appear.

Resources show up.

People seem to come out of nowhere to help you.

Some folks call that MANIFESTING and add a mystical, magical quality to it – but it is a characteristic of MOMENTUM
that until you stand in the place it takes you – you don’t always have the VIEW that being in that place affords you.

So… none of that can happen until you start moving. My friend and fellow speaker John Burnett likes to say… even GOD doesn’t try to drive a parked car.

MOVE

Let me give you a picture.

Imagine standing at the bottom of a hill, pushing a heavy old truck.

The first shove feels impossible.

You lean in, your legs strain, nothing budges.

Then… maybe… it moves an inch.

It rocks back but then you use that and it moves another inch.

Push a little more, use the rhythm of the rocking, and suddenly — it rolls.

Not fast.

Not gracefully.

But enough to tell you the truth:

You can move it.

And after that?

Gravity joins the team.

People often confuse momentum with motivation.
And I can see why but the truth here is Motivation is emotional — it comes and goes with your viewpoint.

Momentum is mechanical — you build it and it acts –

People here’s the physics thing… it is Newton’s FIRST law of MOTION.

Momentum doesn’t care if you’re tired or inspired.
It only cares that you keep going. And it will help
you by “tending to stay in motion” UNLESS – acted
upon by an outside FORCE.

And that force in almost every instance can be traced
back to… FEAR.

So here’s today’s invitation:

Wherever you are in life. Whether you think you know
the path or the journey or even the destination -

Take the next small step.

Not the whole mountain… just the next foothold.

Make the call.

Send the email.

Start the draft.

Walk five minutes.

Clean the one drawer, not the house.

Whatever builds on yesterday’s courage — do that.

Because momentum is a quiet promise…
that if you keep moving, your future will meet you

Maybe even more than halfway.

Tomorrow we talk about something momentum creates almost by accident: confidence.

Proof, experience, and small wins — the stuff that makes you believe you can.

DAY 16 — MOMENTUMMomentum is the reward for taking even one courageous step. Once you move — even a little — something shifts. The next step gets easier. The...