December 8, 2025 • 8 mins
This episode teaches leaders how to stop replaying their history and start redesigning their future. It shows how to rewrite the ending of your leadership story with intention and purpose.
Host: Paul Falavolito
Connect with me on your favorite platform: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Substack, BlueSky, Threads, LinkTree, YouTube
View my website for free leadership resources and exclusive merchandise: www.paulfalavolito.com
Books by Paul Falavolito
Host: Paul Falavolito
Connect with me on your favorite platform: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, TikTok, LinkedIn, Substack, BlueSky, Threads, LinkTree, YouTube
View my website for free leadership resources and exclusive merchandise: www.paulfalavolito.com
Books by Paul Falavolito
- The 7 Minute Leadership Handbook: bit.ly/48J8zFG
- The Leadership Academy: https://bit.ly/4lnT1Pf
- The 7 Minute Leadership Survival Guide: https://bit.ly/4ij0g8y
- The Leader's Book of Secrets: http://bit.ly/4oeGzCI
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
performance through strong human relations, team building and Goala GV.
This is the Seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Paul Fellavaledo.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
It's episode five forty seven. Today's episode centers on a
single line that has saved more careers than any training
course ever. Could you cannot go back and change the beginning,
but you can start where you are and change the ending.
(00:43):
Leaders hear this and think it's a motivational poster. It's not.
It's the blueprint for the moment in your life when
the story turns and you finally take the wheel. I
want to take you into a story. Picture a leader
who has been in the same job for years. They
know the place so well they can walk it blindfolded.
(01:07):
They also know their own mistakes, the times they snapped
at someone, the times they ran a meeting badly, the
hires they regret, the ideas they abandoned too early, the
opportunities they let sit on a shelf. This leader carries
all of it like a weight strapped to their back.
(01:29):
The problem is they think the only way to move
forward is to erase that history. And one day, this
leader goes through a routine morning coffee, checking their emails,
checking the schedule. Then something happens. Someone they lead walks
in and says a simple sentence, you seem tired lately,
(01:53):
And that lands harder than expected, because it's true. The
leader is not tired from the hours. They're tired from
dragging the first chapter of their story with them everywhere.
That moment forces a question many leaders avoid. If the
next chapter of your story started today, would you let
(02:15):
it begin the same way yesterday ended. Leaders often believe
redemption or growth needs a clean slate. It doesn't. It
just needs a decision, one moment where you stop replaying
the past and start rewriting the future. You don't need
(02:36):
to rebuild the first steps. You need to commit to
the next steps, because there will never be a perfect
day to begin again. No leader wakes up to fireworks
in a marching band announcing a new start. What actually
happens is quiet. It happens in a hallway, a patrol
(02:59):
car office at the station, in a meeting room. You
draw a line in your mind and say, this part
of my story is going to read differently, And when
leaders do this, the shift is immediate. They speak differently,
they coach differently. They review their team's work with clarity
(03:24):
instead of with frustration. They correct mistakes without taking someone's
confidence with it. They stop defending their old decisions and
start making new ones. It's not dramatic, it's intentional. And
when you look back, you will know exactly when the
story changed. You will be able to point to the page.
(03:49):
If you're listening right now and thinking about the things
you would redo if you could, here's your action step.
You are not allowed to redo anything that is not leadership. Instead,
your new job is to redesign the ending, and here's
(04:11):
how to do it. Starting today, Pick one thing that
has been weighing on you, one pattern that you want
to break, one mistake you want to stop repeating. Name it,
bring it out into the light, then decide that it
will not survive into the next chapter. Leaders do not
(04:35):
wait until Monday. They start at the next interaction, the
next meeting, the next conversation, and it creates a ripple.
Your team starts to notice that you handle things differently.
You give clearer direction, you listen longer, you communicate with purpose,
(04:57):
You treat people like future partners, and not problems to solve.
None of this erases the past, but it rewrites the
future of your relationship with them. That is how endings change,
positional gravity shifts. People start leaning in again. When you
(05:20):
change the ending of your story, you also change the
stories of the people you lead. That is the ripple
effect of your leadership. Your shift becomes their shift. The
room starts to feel different, work becomes steadier. Trust comes
(05:41):
back not because you restarted the story, but because you
changed your part of it. This line that inspired today's
episode is not about forgiveness. It is about control. You
control what the next page looks like. You control whether
(06:02):
the ending is strong or forgettable. You control how people
talk about your leadership when they tell your story years
from now. You cannot go back and change the beginning,
but you can start where you are and change the ending.
(06:22):
That is the moment you become the author again and
not a character dragged along by decisions that you made
long ago. And if you need a final push here
it is every great comeback, every transformation, every final chapter
(06:45):
worth reading, begins in the exact same place, a leader
standing where you are right now, who made a decision
that the next part of their story would look nothing
like the page before it. If you've been waiting for
(07:07):
permission to begin again, this is it. Your leadership story
is far from finished. Pick up the pen and start
shaping and ending that people will remember and talk about
for decades to come. And if you want more leadership content,
(07:28):
head over to my YouTube channel. The link is in
the description of the show and on my website Paulfalavalito
dot com. I'm constantly uploading leadership short videos. Select full
length videos of this podcast and future video interviews will
be there as well, along with some behind the scenes content.
(07:50):
And while you're there, please make sure you like and
subscribe to my channel. This has been the seven minute
Leadership podcast and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
For more fell of Alito podcasts, visit Paulfalovalito dot com.
Helping leaders motivate their people to a higher level of
performance through strong human relations, team building and Goala GV.
This is the Seven Minute Leadership Podcast with your host
Paul Fellavaledo.
Speaker 2 (00:21):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Seven Minute Leadership Podcast.
It's episode five forty seven. Today's episode centers on a
single line that has saved more careers than any training
course ever. Could you cannot go back and change the beginning,
but you can start where you are and change the ending.
(00:43):
Leaders hear this and think it's a motivational poster. It's not.
It's the blueprint for the moment in your life when
the story turns and you finally take the wheel. I
want to take you into a story. Picture a leader
who has been in the same job for years. They
know the place so well they can walk it blindfolded.
(01:07):
They also know their own mistakes, the times they snapped
at someone, the times they ran a meeting badly, the
hires they regret, the ideas they abandoned too early, the
opportunities they let sit on a shelf. This leader carries
all of it like a weight strapped to their back.
(01:29):
The problem is they think the only way to move
forward is to erase that history. And one day, this
leader goes through a routine morning coffee, checking their emails,
checking the schedule. Then something happens. Someone they lead walks
in and says a simple sentence, you seem tired lately,
(01:53):
And that lands harder than expected, because it's true. The
leader is not tired from the hours. They're tired from
dragging the first chapter of their story with them everywhere.
That moment forces a question many leaders avoid. If the
next chapter of your story started today, would you let
(02:15):
it begin the same way yesterday ended. Leaders often believe
redemption or growth needs a clean slate. It doesn't. It
just needs a decision, one moment where you stop replaying
the past and start rewriting the future. You don't need
(02:36):
to rebuild the first steps. You need to commit to
the next steps, because there will never be a perfect
day to begin again. No leader wakes up to fireworks
in a marching band announcing a new start. What actually
happens is quiet. It happens in a hallway, a patrol
(02:59):
car office at the station, in a meeting room. You
draw a line in your mind and say, this part
of my story is going to read differently, And when
leaders do this, the shift is immediate. They speak differently,
they coach differently. They review their team's work with clarity
(03:24):
instead of with frustration. They correct mistakes without taking someone's
confidence with it. They stop defending their old decisions and
start making new ones. It's not dramatic, it's intentional. And
when you look back, you will know exactly when the
story changed. You will be able to point to the page.
(03:49):
If you're listening right now and thinking about the things
you would redo if you could, here's your action step.
You are not allowed to redo anything that is not leadership. Instead,
your new job is to redesign the ending, and here's
(04:11):
how to do it. Starting today, Pick one thing that
has been weighing on you, one pattern that you want
to break, one mistake you want to stop repeating. Name it,
bring it out into the light, then decide that it
will not survive into the next chapter. Leaders do not
(04:35):
wait until Monday. They start at the next interaction, the
next meeting, the next conversation, and it creates a ripple.
Your team starts to notice that you handle things differently.
You give clearer direction, you listen longer, you communicate with purpose,
(04:57):
You treat people like future partners, and not problems to solve.
None of this erases the past, but it rewrites the
future of your relationship with them. That is how endings change,
positional gravity shifts. People start leaning in again. When you
(05:20):
change the ending of your story, you also change the
stories of the people you lead. That is the ripple
effect of your leadership. Your shift becomes their shift. The
room starts to feel different, work becomes steadier. Trust comes
(05:41):
back not because you restarted the story, but because you
changed your part of it. This line that inspired today's
episode is not about forgiveness. It is about control. You
control what the next page looks like. You control whether
(06:02):
the ending is strong or forgettable. You control how people
talk about your leadership when they tell your story years
from now. You cannot go back and change the beginning,
but you can start where you are and change the ending.
(06:22):
That is the moment you become the author again and
not a character dragged along by decisions that you made
long ago. And if you need a final push here
it is every great comeback, every transformation, every final chapter
(06:45):
worth reading, begins in the exact same place, a leader
standing where you are right now, who made a decision
that the next part of their story would look nothing
like the page before it. If you've been waiting for
(07:07):
permission to begin again, this is it. Your leadership story
is far from finished. Pick up the pen and start
shaping and ending that people will remember and talk about
for decades to come. And if you want more leadership content,
(07:28):
head over to my YouTube channel. The link is in
the description of the show and on my website Paulfalavalito
dot com. I'm constantly uploading leadership short videos. Select full
length videos of this podcast and future video interviews will
be there as well, along with some behind the scenes content.
(07:50):
And while you're there, please make sure you like and
subscribe to my channel. This has been the seven minute
Leadership podcast and I thank you for listening.
Speaker 1 (07:59):
For more fell of Alito podcasts, visit Paulfalovalito dot com.
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