Greetings, greetings, and welcome. Welcome to Finish Strong Friday here on The Sweet Spot. All week long on The Sweet Spot, we've been dealing with a series called The Ceiling You Don't See. The Ceiling You Don't See. And we find ourselves in Finish Strong Friday, episode 5 of 7, where we talk about finishing strong, how fatigue reveals the ceiling. The ceiling you don't see. And that limits don't show up early, they show up late. Good morning, good afternoon, and good evening, friends, beautiful souls. I'm Dr. Derek Sweet. As you know, I'm a board-certified psychiatrist. I work with athletes, executives, first responders, people who don't get exposed at the start, but at the finish line. And I want to give you the line we're going to sit with today right up front. Fatigue doesn't create limits. It reveals the ones you've been living under all along. I'll say that again. Fatigue doesn't create limits. It reveals the ones you've been living under all along. That sentence alone explains more late game mistakes, more late week decisions, and late career regrets than almost anything else I have seen in my work. And let's place today in the week that we've been sharing with each other on the ceilings we don't see. On Making Moves Monday, we said pressure reveals beliefs. On Take Action Tuesday, we saw that effort inside a limiting belief is exhausting. On Wednesday, Win It All Wednesday, we learned that performance doesn't rise to confidence, performance drops to what you believe. Yesterday, Trust Yourself Thursday, we connected belief to trust, and saw how trust actually narrows when outcomes stop feeling familiar. Today, today in Finish Strong Friday, we see where all of that shows up more and more clearly. And that's when you're tired. Early in the week or early in the game, early in whatever process we're in, most of us are thoughtful, we are able to adjust, we can explore options, and we can stay patient. But late, after the grind, after a while, when energy drops, something subtle changes. You rush decisions you'd normally take your time with. You force solutions you'd usually let develop over time. You settle for good enough faster than you should. Not because you stopped caring, not because you lost skills, but because a belief quietly takes over and tells you and says, I don't think I can adjust right now. I don't believe I can really adapt to what's happening right now. I don't think I got this. This is a pattern I see constantly. The same leader who listens well on Monday shuts conversations down on Friday. The same athlete who plays within the system early in the week forces a play later. The same caregiver who is so patient and so kind all week suddenly snaps when they're depleted. Same person, same values, same ability, just a different belief when they're fatigued, when they're tired, even if they've been doing well, doing good stuff. And the ancient wisdom names this without drama or shame. In the message Bible, we read in Galatians 6, verse 9, so don't get tired of doing what's good, don't give up. That's what it says, and in the KJV, the King James Version, it says it even more plainly. Let us not be wary in well doing if we think not. Notice what's at risk here in the ancient wisdom. Not effort, it's not effort that's at risk. It's the endurance of your belief. It's a belief that's at risk. When we get tired, when we get fatigued, whatever we believe or don't believe, that's what surfaces. And science, it tells us why this happens. When you're fatigued, the brain reduces flexibility, it just doesn't think as broadly as it should. It conserves energy, it defaults to what feels familiar and safe. Your brain is a survival mechanism, it's gonna cut down your creativity, it's gonna shorten your patience, it's gonna protect you, and you will not have access to your best thinking when you're tired. You will be in survival mode. You're gonna be in the I'm not trying to hear it mode. You're gonna be in the leave me alone mode. Yeah, you'll access your most practiced beliefs when you're fatigued, and that's why I say the ceiling that you don't see, which is the title of this entire series, the ceilings that you don't see, that's why ceilings they show up late, they're never early. Ceilings are never present at the beginning. You don't know your ceiling at the beginning of something, typically. It's only when something has been sustained and shattered with time and being tested and being hit again, rained upon, when the storms hit, that's when you know what you believe. So let me tell you directly: if you're tired today and everything feels tighter, smaller, more urgent, whatever you're feeling, don't assume that's the truth. If things aren't going your way today, don't assume that's the truth. If you're really feeling down today, don't assume that this is a permanent truth for you. Ask yourself one honest question. What belief is taking over right now? Because I'm somewhat depleted. How am I gonna finish strong based on what I believe? Do you believe you can still make a wise choice? Do you believe you can still adapt? Do you believe that you could fall down seven times but get up eight? Do you believe that nothing can stop you? Do you believe that this too will pass? Do you believe that God has got your back? Or do you believe it's time to keep rushing, keep forcing, keep worrying, keep being anxious? Because if that's what you believe, then that's your ceiling. It's your belief, it's not your fatigue that's the ceiling. Your belief is the ceiling, not the fatigue. So here's the reframe to carry with yourself into the weekend. Finishing strong doesn't mean pushing harder, my friend. It means protecting your thinking when your energy is low. It means going back to what you deeply believe. It means finding a core belief that's affirming, that's resilient, that speaks to your divine purpose, to your ability to overcome, to override, to surf if you can't stop the waves. A belief that something greater is in you than whatever is in the world, that the grief you're feeling, the shame you're feeling, the guilt you're feeling, the anger, all of it can be held by the one who loves you most. The one who created you. The deeper connection. What do you believe? This is the sweet spot, and you're in Finish Strong Friday. You're not backing down, you're not giving up, you're not going to go out like that. No, no, no, because you believe, you really believe. You don't have to be strong because you believe that greater is that which is in you than anything in the world. God is your strength today, and you're gonna finish based on that. Amen and amen. All right now, you're listening to the sweet spot. Tomorrow is self-care Saturday, and we're gonna talk about why recovery isn't indulgence, not at all, it's how belief range gets restored in the body and the nervous system. Yeah, we're gonna explore that tomorrow in some detail, so don't miss self-care Saturday. And if today felt like it named something you've been living, please subscribe. It's free. I've been saying that all week. Some people think you have to pay something, there's some hidden fee here. There's no fee. Just subscribe, it's totally free. And if someone you love is running on fumes, share this with them today. For now, my beautiful sweet winners, finish gently today. Don't make permanent decisions in a tired state. Fatigue tells the truth. Listen to what it's revealing, but understand that your deepest beliefs, especially the ones that are aligned with your divine purpose, are what's going to guide you through. Until tomorrow, this is Dr. Derek Sweet, and this is the sweet spot.