Conquering Isn’t Winning: Redefining Success as a Creative, Husband, and Believer
The Final Pillar: Conquer
When we started Dynamic Range, we built this conversation on three pillars: Create, Cultivate, and Conquer.
The first two feel inspiring and creative. But this last one, Conquer, carries a different weight. It sounds strong, victorious, unstoppable. Yet as Alfredo Briones and I unpacked in Episode 4, conquering isn’t always about climbing mountains. Sometimes it’s about sitting still when everything inside you wants to move.
Because the truth is, real conquering doesn’t always look like winning.
When It Falls Apart
Right before we recorded this episode, I lost one of my biggest clients.
If I’m honest, it hurt—financially and emotionally. After years of building a business and a reputation, I thought I had finally found rhythm and stability. And then, just like that, one door closed.
Alfredo reminded me during that conversation: “How do you conquer when there’s chaos?”
That question sat heavy. Because it’s in those chaotic moments—when memory cards fail, cables don’t connect, and income disappears that you find out what’s really holding your foundation together.
As creatives and entrepreneurs, we pride ourselves on pushing through. But sometimes God uses the unraveling to remind us that we’re not in control, and that’s exactly where He wants us.
Losing Control to Gain Perspective
Alfredo shared a story that changed him.
After years of grinding nonstop, he spent an entire year in Mexico, not on vacation, but in a forced pause. Cut off from the daily hustle, he ran his business remotely, away from the comfort and control of being on set.
“The moment my business started to grow was when I physically stepped away from it.”
“God needed me to let go so He could fertilize what I was overworking.”
It’s counterintuitive. We think more control equals more success. But for Alfredo, the absence of control became the soil where trust and growth could finally take root.
He learned that God’s grace is the only way to conquer, not effort alone
The Hard Work of Rest
In Mexico, Alfredo learned something many of us avoid: rest is work.
He said, “I didn’t realize how difficult it was for me to actually rest.”
That hit me.
As entrepreneurs, we glorify exhaustion and label it as passion. We grind until burnout feels normal, convincing ourselves that tired is holy and busyness means progress. But somewhere along the way, rest became the hardest thing to earn—and yet the one thing we were created for.
Conquering in the Quiet
My own journey looks different, but the lesson is the same.
With my wife walking through health challenges and four kids in different stages of life, my days are often stretched thin between meetings, shoots, and school drop-offs.
But lately, God’s been showing me that conquering isn’t checking every box, it’s being fully present in the moment I’m in.
Sometimes that means closing the laptop and playing volleyball with my daughter instead of squeezing in another edit.
Sometimes it means taking my wife to lunch instead of answering another email.
Sometimes conquering looks like saying no to what’s urgent so I can say yes to what’s eternal.
What Conquering Really Mean
We ended the episode on this thought:
“Providing for your family is more than just financial provision. It’s also being there, present, aware, and faithful.”
That’s the essence of true conquering.
It’s not about winning the client, the award, or the deal.
It’s about surrendering control, trusting God in uncertainty, and realizing that obedience is the highest form of victory.
Takeaway
If you’re in a season where things feel heavy, where success feels distant and rest feels impossible, remember this:
You can conquer without conquering everything.
Because the point was never the mountain; it’s the Maker who gave you the strength to climb.
So take a step back. Breathe.
Ask, “What does my family need? What is God teaching me here?”
And let that awareness be the beginning of your victory.
Listen to the Full Episode
Dynamic Range Podcast, Episode 4