Everything comes from a place of love

This might be the hippity-dippitiest thing I say, but it was the first step in learning how to treat people in all walks of life with consistency, and without judgment.

I try to live out my days with these three understandings:

Everything comes from a place of love.
Successful people have difficult conversations.
Hard truths must be communicated.

#1 — Everything comes from a place of love.

When a stranger smiles at you on the sidewalk—it’s fair to assume they’ve had a good day.

At the foundation of feel-good, put simply: they felt love (either from themselves or from someone else) and through an unprovoked smile, they spread that to you.

When someone’s rude to you—it’s not because they’re a terrible human. It’s because something in their life has caused them not to feel love in that moment. Maybe it’s been like that for a while. So, they project what they’re experiencing onto their environment.

It’s something we all do.

This frame of thinking may not be the “right” way, but it’s the way that helps me view people for where they are without casting judgment on why they are the way they are.

Learning to love people for where they are at is the greatest skill we never talk about.

This understanding helped me learn how to love myself, how to give myself the same grace I give others, and how to take feedback without spiraling.

There have been times a leader’s tone felt sharp or cold. But by grounding myself in this idea, I’ve learned to receive the words, without absorbing the delivery.
(Note: This does not excuse disrespect—we’ll get to how to handle that.)

#1 has also helped me believe in myself, even when I’m not at my best. If something upsets me in the moment, this frame helps me reflect later and separate the message from the emotion.

#2 — Successful people have difficult conversations.

Success doesn’t happen without friction.

Being your own spokesperson is hard for anyone—but especially for athletes.

We were taught:

Stay quiet.
Coach knows best.
Speaking up = punishment.

This programming is brutal to unlearn.

But the truth is: there is a way to have difficult conversations that benefits everyone.

I outlined the full formula last week. If you know there’s a difficult conversation you’ve been avoiding, I highly recommend reading it.

It has saved countless relationships for me (and has gently ended a few that had run their course). It has gained me respect from people I look up to. And it’s allowed me to carry myself with more courage and clarity.

In every profession, networking is everything.
Be the person known for handling fragile things with care.

You won’t regret it.

#3 — Hard truths must be communicated.

It’s one thing to handle a difficult conversation when it’s brought to you.

It’s another thing entirely to initiate one.

To tell someone the truth when it scares you.
When you don’t want to hurt someone.
When you’d rather avoid the discomfort altogether.

But deep down… you know you would want the truth.

Be the one brave enough to give it.

This takes practice. Start small. Build up.

Tell the smiling stranger they’ve got something in their teeth.
Tell your team they’re doing great, and still have more to give.
Tell your partner the tiny thing they said that stung a little.

In all of these scenarios, the cost of silence is worse than the cost of honesty.

Hard truths save time.
Hard truths move us forward.

And forward is where we’re all going anyway.

We’re all just doing our best.
But your best cannot be done sitting idly by.

Say what you need to say.
Say it with love.
Set your boundaries.
And as always…

Keep shooting your shot.

And… there's some other big news brewing too (momentum is SNOWBALLING), but you know me—I only share things once they’re real. 😉

Stay tuned.

Wish me luck.

Shooters Shoot,
BriAnna