Episode 36 - A Single Choice To Make Things Right Transformed Years Of Workplace Tension

What if a single uncomfortable choice could melt years of workplace friction? We open with the warmth of Shabbat—good food, songs, learning, and real connection—then follow a friend who stands up after kiddush to tell the truth: he had stretched his company’s perks past what felt right. On a drive, he hears a teaching on emunah and bitachon about not taking from an employer. It lands hard. He decides to act, to return what he can, to face the awkward calls and clean up the grey zone. Within days, the two colleagues who had been thorns in his side for years reach out to collaborate. Doors open where walls stood.

That story becomes a gateway into a bigger idea: trials are tools. Illness, bureaucracy, tense co-workers, even our own mistakes—these are sticks, not sources. We don’t plead with the stick; we address the hand that allows it and ask what growth is possible now. We explore three catalysts of hardship—nature, other people, and ourselves—and show how the higher-frame response remains consistent while practical steps differ. For illness, we seek care and pray. For people, we set boundaries and speak honestly without losing sight of the larger purpose. For self-caused trouble, we own it, repair it, and choose different habits. Across all three, integrity unlocks momentum.

We also draw a firm line between fleeting inspiration and lasting change. Ideas fade unless grounded in action: returning perks, making calls, repairing damage, telling the truth. Sometimes results arrive fast, especially when we’re building a relationship with trust; sometimes they come slower, shaping patience and character. Either way, the real reward is immediate—a clearer conscience and a steadier heart that can carry Shabbat’s calm into Monday’s meetings.

If this moved you, save the episode, share it with a friend who needs a nudge toward integrity, and subscribe for more conversations that challenge, empower, and uplift. Leave a review and tell us: where are you choosing trust over the grey area this week?

Transcript

Shabbat Joy And Community

SPEAKER_00 0:11

Welcome to the Trust Factor Podcast, the only podcast that guarantees your success when you implement its divine age old teachings. Good morning, everybody. Shavuatov, wishing you an amazing week. I hope you had a powerful Shabbat. Mine was beautiful as usual. How could it not be? I mean, how aside from some God forbid tragedy happening, which can happen any day of the week, how could disconnecting from the craziness, the mayhem that is this world trying to tear at you, disconnecting from it and just focusing on your own personal spiritual growth, your family, your spouse, your children, your parents, your community, good food, songs, learning, prayer. Are you kidding me? I mean, you know, when we bench, when we say what's known as grace after the meal, or benching, birkatamazon, we say that God should give us a world where every day is Shabbat. Who could argue with that? The only people who could argue with that are people who don't know what Shabbat is. Let me tell you what happened this Shabbat, which was amazing, unexpected, but amazing. A good friend of mine in Shul got up after we finished having our kiddish lunch, sitting together, good friends, community members, laughing and telling stories and enjoying amazing food provided by our wonderful Shul. And everything was just amazing. There's drink and there's it's just vibes. The kids are doing their thing, the wives are doing their thing, the guys are doing their things. It's a time to just get together with your community and grow and connect. So a good friend of mine gets up and wants to give over a story about what happened to him this week. Something very impactful. I wasn't expecting it, though he did hint to something earlier on in the day. But what he said was the following. He works in a company that allows him certain perks. And those perks, sometimes there's a gray area of whether or not you're taking advantage of those perks. Now, this individual, I should tell you, is somebody who's been working on his emuna and his bitachon for a long time. He's an avid listener of the podcast. And so this is a real life story of how this podcast is helping people. And this also gives me a lot of strength. So here's what he says: he's getting these perks from his company, and he finds himself taking maybe a little bit too much and giving it away to friends and family. And he's questioning himself and he's thinking to himself, maybe I didn't do right, maybe I took a little bit too much, or maybe I took advantage of this perk that is really something that I'm allowed to utilize, but maybe I've gone a little too far with it. And it's probably a gray area. But this is somebody who's working on himself. And so this week, while he's contemplating that very thing because he senses that maybe he overdid it, he gets into his car, he turns on his podcast, and he hears my voice telling him what the book says about somebody who doesn't have a Muna. And one of those, you'll remember last week, was somebody who takes advantage of his employer, steals time or other resources from an employer, and that hits home immediately. There's no coincidences in this world, my friends. You all know this, we've said this many times, that on the day that he's thinking about it and on the week that he's utilizing these perks, he hears from me on that very day, from the book, that potentially what he's doing is holding him back, and he makes a commitment on that day to say, I'm undoing it. I'm going to go to the friends and the family who I have given these perks to, and I'm going to collect them back as hard as that may be, as difficult as it may be, to be that guy who is asking for what he gave you back because he doesn't feel it was right, he does it anyways. And he collects back, or he's in the process of collecting back those perks from those individuals to return it to his company. Now, here's the coincidence in air quotes. For many, many years in his company, where he's worked for a long time, there are two individuals who have always been a thorn in his side. Two individuals who've always made coming to work difficult. They're always combating, they're always coming up against him and making his day difficult. And he's always tried to find ways to mend those relationships to no avail. On the very same week last week, where he makes efforts to collect back the perks that he took from his company, which again could have been very legitimate, just maybe overdone in his mind, he makes that effort, and during that week, those very same individuals call him with concerns that they have problems, that they want to bounce off of him and get his input on. And as a result of that, they establish a working relationship and they become friendly. This hasn't happened in years. These are people who have always been at odds with him. And suddenly the same time that he makes a commitment to undo what he thinks is wrong at work, those very same co-workers reach out to him to establish a positive relationship. Now you want to walk around thinking that's coincidence? Have at it. But all that will do is cause you to remain in your slumber longer. It's going to hold you back from the potential that you have. This individual is doing it, is taking the lessons that he's learning on a daily basis and he's crystallizing it. He's making it real. Inspiration is nothing without action. We all get inspired every day by all kinds of different things that we see or hear. And we think to ourselves, what a wonderful idea, what a great concept. Wouldn't life be wonderful if everything was like that? And then they do nothing about it. They switch it off or they direct their attention elsewhere, and suddenly within a matter of minutes, hours, days, everything falls apart. It goes right back to the way that it was before. What happened? You were inspired, but you didn't do anything to follow up on that inspiration. This friend of mine is a wonderful example of how an individual follows through on his inspiration, and as a result of that, reaps almost immediate reward. Now it doesn't always work that way, cause and effect. Remember, he doesn't want robots. He wants to give you free choice. But oftentimes it does happen that way, especially when you're in a relationship with him already, because he wants to bolster that relationship. In the beginning, when you're trying to establish a relationship, yes, you're tested often. But once you're already in it, those tests just are there to bolster the relationship. So this individual saw the outcome of his decision almost immediately. And it is not only gratifying, but it's uplifting and it's inspiring and it's encouraging, not only for him, but when he shared this message with everybody else in the synagogue, including and especially myself, it gives us all strength to move forward and continue to build on what we've already built. So let's do that, my friends. We talked about this concept of the test of Amuna. Where is it coming from? Where are the difficulties coming from? And everybody knows when you see somebody pick up whatever it is, a stick, and hit another individual with it, God forbid, nobody blames the stick. Nobody thinks if I just get that stick out of his hand, I'm going to stop the trouble from happening. That individual who's hitting the other person is going to go and find something else or just use their fists. It doesn't end when you take away the tool. And that's what all of these tribulations are. All they are are tools. Every situation at work, at home, with your coworkers, with your students, with your employees, with your teachers, with your bosses. Every time there's conflict, that conflict is just an opportunity. It's a tool being used by your loving creator to say, here's another opportunity to come closer to me. Here's another opportunity to build yourself and your character to become a better version of you. Take the opportunity or shun it. Fight it. Blame the opportunity and say, look at how bad that is. And not only do you stay where you are, but you regress. Any of the building that you have done, you tear apart at when you blame the opportunity, when you blame the stick. We have to understand that absolutely every situation in this world is God wielding that test as an opportunity for growth. Now he says there's three types of catalysts that trigger these tribulations, these tests. What are these catalysts? Number one is natural causes. So somebody gets sick, that's a natural cause. Another person could cause a tribulation. Somebody comes at you, you don't understand why, and so you blame the individual. And the third is you. You, the individual yourself, by way of your mistakes and your poor decision-making processes, they bring upon you tribulations. Those are the three, and he's about to discuss them. Let's start it off. He says, when suffering comes from natural causes like an illness, a sickness, somebody finds himself in a doctor's office getting a terrible diagnosis, God forbid. A person can cope easily. Why? Because he understands that this is coming from a place that he thinks is out of his control or comes from a higher power. And he must turn to the creator to help him. And even if he puts his trust in medicine and doctors, when the doctors fail when they say sorry, then he turns to the creator. Okay, understood. It never occurs to him to plead to the bacteria or to try to reason with the virus. It's like trying to reason with the stick. Guys hitting you with a stick and you're trying to plead with a stick, anybody would say that you belong in an asylum. It doesn't make any sense. You just don't understand it. You don't know who's wielding that stick. It's the same thing over here. Nobody's going to plead to the virus or the bacteria or the illness. They're going to plead to the doctors, and when the doctors fail them, they're going to plead to their creator. That's how it works. That's a natural type of tribulation. On the other hand, when a person causes him anguish, talking about a third party over here coming at you, your boss, your employees, the tax man, whoever it is coming at you, the banker, making your life miserable, he makes the mistake of thinking that factors other than the creator are in control. Somehow this is different than the illness. Somehow this is different than bacteria or viruses. It's exactly the same thing. The same way a virus or a bacteria can cause you harm, so too another individual can, but we don't understand it that way. Since the person who's harming him has free choice. That's why the victim doesn't consider turning to his creator in prayer. His intellect tells him, look, a person with free choice is tormenting you. Go deal with him, talk to him, reach an agreement, sever relations, or fight back, do something because this is in your hands. Why? The bacteria wasn't in your hands? The viruses weren't in your hand? Of course they were. It's the exact same thing. The solution is the same. The 30,000-foot solution is always the same. It doesn't matter where your tribulation is coming from, whether it's a virus, a bacteria, or another human being, they are all tools, they are all opportunities for each and every one of us to grab onto, to build our character. And just as quickly as he brought them, just as suddenly as they came on, so too they can be taken away. May it be that way with all of our tribulations, that just as quickly as we feel them, just as quickly as they as they come on to make our lives difficult, so too we should deal with them in a way that they're gone before you know it. Have an amazing week, a week filled with tribulations that are gone because you recognize where they come from. Have an amazing week. Thank you for spending time with us on the Trust Factor Podcast. If you've heard something today that moved you, save this episode and share it with someone who might need to hear it. Be sure to subscribe so you don't miss upcoming conversations that challenge, empower, and uplift. And if you're on social media, connect with us. Leave your thoughts, drop a quote that resonated with you. Hashtag the TrustFactor Podcast. Until next time, keep growing in your trust and keep living with purpose. I'm Jesse Revivo, and this has been the Trust Factor Podcast. Thanks for listening.