S1E10 The Story You’re Telling Yourself Is Lying to You

There’s an internal conversationrunning inside you 100% of the time. And most leaders have never stopped toquestion whether the story they’re telling themselves is actually true.In this episode of The TensionLab, Rudy Swigart goes deep into the narrative that runs beneath every hardmoment — the story you’re telling yourself about yourself. Drawing from Chapter9 of his forthcoming book Stewarding The Tension, Rudy unpacks how high-capacityleaders unknowingly tie their identity to performance, how that internal storydrives behavior without their permission, and what it looks like to finallyseparate who you are from what happened. You’ll also get the Story Audit —a six-question framework designed to interrupt the lie before it becomes abelief. Not to stay positive. To get accurate. What You’ll Learn•  Why your internal dialogue may be running a lie-based operating system•  How performance-identity fusion gets installed from childhood and accelerates in the marketplace•  The difference between a failure event and a failure identity•   How to use the Story Audit to surface and challenge the narrative underneath a difficult situation•   The three-step interrupt: Name it. Separate it. Reframe it.•   What “space for grace” actually means for leaders under pressure•  How the stories you’ve rehearsed in past seasons are still shaping your current responses Mentioned in This EpisodeStewarding The Tension byRudy Swigart — releasing October 2026The Story Audit (Chapter 9 tool)The Tension Lab with Rudy Swigart Most leaders are running on empty — but nobody's talking about it. The Tension Lab is the podcast for high-capacity leaders who are tired of performing fine while quietly burning out. Hosted by Rudy Swigart — burnout prevention coach, organizational consultant, and founder of the Relational Impact Institute — each episode goes beneath the surface to explore what it actually costs to lead at this level, and what it takes to sustain it. Rudy brings a rare combination of clinical insight, business acumen, and personal faith to conversations about identity, relational health, emotional resilience, and the pressure that high-capacity people too often carry alone. Whether you lead a corporation, a nonprofit, or a faith community, this show is your permission to stop white-knuckling it — and start stewarding the tension instead. Episodes feature honest conversations, practical frameworks, and the kind of truth-telling that most leadership content is too polished to offer. You don't have to be broken to get better. You just have to be willing. The Tension Lab — because the most important work happens under pressure.