Most people don’t need better goals. They need better alignment.

In this episode of Unscriptd, Will Abel and Michael Grier lock in on how to plan 2026 with clarity instead of pressure. They unpack why most New Year resolutions fail before February, how faith-based decision making changes the way you plan, and why adding more goals often creates more friction, not progress.

This conversation reframes planning around seasons of life. Harvest, rest, stewardship, and preparation. Instead of forcing outcomes, the focus shifts to alignment, discipline, and obedience. The result is a healthier way to grow without burning out or running ahead of what the season can actually sustain.

If you feel stuck between ambition and exhaustion, this episode offers a slower, clearer, and more intentional way forward.

Key Topics Covered:

• Why most New Year resolutions fail

• Planning with faith instead of pressure

• Identifying seasons of harvest, rest, and stewardship

• Consistency over complexity in goal setting

• How small habits compound into real change

• Letting go of burnout driven ambition

• Building discipline without losing peace

Follow and share if this episode resonates - it helps more builders and faith-driven leaders discover grounded conversations like this.

Connect with the hosts:
Will Abel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willabel
Michael Grier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgrier

Some places leave marks on you. They don’t get to decide who you become.

What “bones” stay with you long after you leave a place?

In Episode 70, the first conversation of 2026, Will Abel and Michael Grier open the year with an honest reflection on identity, faith, and the internal battles that follow us into adulthood. The Bones of West Texas explores how environments shape us without giving them permission to define us.

This is not a glorification of hardship. It’s a conversation about clarity, stewardship, forgiveness, and the quiet decision to stop reliving old chapters. From oilfield life and fractured seasons to faith, fatherhood, and freedom, this episode invites listeners to face what lingers beneath the surface and choose how they move forward.

If you’re stepping into a new year ready to live free from what no longer serves you, this episode is for you.

Key Topics Covered:

• Facing internal battles with honesty

• How environments shape you without defining you

• Letting go of old identities and expectations

• Money as a mirror and the responsibility of stewardship

• Faith, forgiveness, and personal growth

• Childlike faith as strength, not immaturity

• Choosing intentional change instead of staying stuck

Follow and share if this episode resonates - it helps more listeners discover grounded, faith-driven conversations like this.

Connect with the hosts:
Will Abel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willabel
Michael Grier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgrier

What you worship will eventually shape what you create.

What happens when money becomes the focus instead of the mission?

In this episode of Unscriptd, Will Abel and Michael Grier unpack motivation, creativity, faith, and money and what really reignites your drive when life feels heavy. What starts as a hilarious debate about germs, earphones, and “brotherhood hygiene” turns into a deeply honest conversation about Christian entrepreneurship, creative discipline, and the quiet ways money can either motivate you or suffocate your ability to create.

Michael also shares part of his testimony, opening up about seasons of homelessness, sleeping on park benches, living out of a car, and going without food. He reflects on how those seasons leave lasting mental and emotional triggers that can resurface long after life looks “stable” on the outside.

This is a faith grounded conversation for builders who want to stay consistent, stay creative, and stay aligned without turning money into the thing they serve.

Key Topics Covered:

• Why money can motivate or destroy creativity

• Faith as the foundation beneath ambition

• Stewardship vs dopamine and chasing the next win

• How financial pressure affects decision making

• Creativity, discipline, and protecting your best hours

• Overcoming homelessness and lingering mental weight

• Building real skills instead of chasing anomalies

Follow and share if this episode resonates. It helps more builders and creators find honest, faith centered conversations like this.

Connect with the hosts:Will Abel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willabel
Michael Grier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgrier

We tried to build a polished nickel. We chased metrics, obsessed over reels, and tried to fit a corporate visionary mold. Somewhere along the way, we realized we’d drifted from the very thing that made this show worth doing - real, unscripted, end-of-the-day conversations.

In this episode, Will Abel and Michael Grier hit an inflection point in real time. It’s not about doing more. It’s about doing what matters. They unpack the tension between creativity and metrics, the pressure to perform online, and the quiet realization that authenticity can’t be optimized without losing its soul.

This is a conversation about pivoting back - back to purpose, back to presence, and back to why Unscriptd existed in the first place.

Key Topics Covered:

• Expectations vs reality in podcasting

• When metrics start to suffocate creativity

• Rebranding without losing identity

• The cost of chasing polish over purpose

• Rediscovering joy in the work

• Choosing meaningful connection over performance

• What the future of Unscriptd is really about

Follow and share if this episode resonates - it helps more founders and builders discover honest, faith-grounded conversations like this.

Connect with the hosts:
Will Abel: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willabel
Michael Grier: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelgrier

What kind of legacy are you really leaving? As men, husbands, fathers, and leaders, we often think legacy is about achievements, success, or what we leave behind. But in this conversation, Will and Michael explore a different truth. Legacy is shaped through small moments, symbolic gifts, the memories our kids carry, and the spiritual imprint we leave without even realizing it.

This episode of Unscriptd dives into Christian fatherhood, marriage, burnout, friendship, childhood imprinting, and how God uses memory, smell, and story to form who we become. From leather wallets and bison notebooks to Burger King cinnamonies, BMX crashes, and decompressing after long days, the guys get honest about what men hold inside and how a supportive spouse can transform a man’s calling.

If you're a husband, dad, future father, or man of faith navigating leadership, pressure, and purpose, this conversation offers clarity and encouragement. Legacy is not what you leave. Legacy is what you teach.

Key Themes Covered
• Legacy through moments, not milestones
• Christian fatherhood and faith based parenting
• Childhood memory, identity, and generational imprinting
• How men decompress and why solitude matters
• Marriage support, emotional health, and filling each other's cup

Listen and Subscribe
Unscriptd on Spotify
https://open.spotify.com/show/54ibbXHBBMbmtWIhqwfNWh

About Unscriptd
Unscriptd is a faith-grounded, founder-focused podcast where real people talk honestly about calling, leadership, family, capacity, failure, and the parts of the story most people never hear.

Real people. Real conversations. Real faith.

This episode was not planned. The studio was locked, we ended up at a park table, and nothing looked like the polished setup we had in mind. But the conversation that came out of it hit deeper than expected.

Will and Michael talk through the reality of building Unscriptd, why they started podcasting in the first place, the seasons that shaped them, and the moments that almost derailed everything. From burnout and calling to identity, confidence, and learning to speak your story out loud, this conversation pulls back the curtain on the creator and founder journey in a way we have never done before.

If you have ever pushed through exhaustion, tried to stay faithful to a calling, struggled with confidence, or wondered if anybody cared about what you are building, this episode will hit home.

KEY TOPICS COVERED

• Getting locked out and improvising the entire episode

• How calling, faith, and creative work actually collide

• Burnout, momentum, and the pressure to “just keep producing”

• Learning confidence through repetition and showing up

• How podcasting changed our public speaking and leadership

• Why founders second-guess their stories

• Seasons of life, fatherhood, and shifting capacity

• Consistency, conviction, and the grind behind the scenes

• Friendship, alignment, and partnership synergy

• The actual value behind a podcast and why it matters

CONNECT WITH UNSCRIPTD

YouTube: https://youtube.com/@Unscriptd_Podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/54ibbXHBBMbmtWIhqwfNWh
Instagram: https://instagram.com/unscriptdpodcast
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@unscriptdpodcast
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/unscriptdpodcast

In this episode of Unscriptd, Will and Michael talk about what it really means to know your entrepreneurial weight class and why trying to “lift” at someone else’s level in business almost always ends in burnout. Will shares honestly about comparing his own journey and capacity to business partners with more experience, more exits, and more momentum, and how that pressure led to exhaustion, frustration, and questioning his place in his own business.

They unpack why different skill sets and lanes are essential in any partnership, how misalignment between visionary and conservative partners can quietly erode a business, and why clear expectations and communication matter so much. The conversation also touches on rebranding, seasons of life, becoming fathers, shifting capacity, and the hard but necessary conversations that keep a partnership healthy.

If you have ever tried to match someone else’s pace, forced yourself to carry more than you can handle, or felt like you had to prove you belong in your own company, this episode will help you step back, reset, and see your role and capacity more clearly.

🔹 Key Topics Covered

• Knowing your entrepreneurial weight class and current capacity

• Comparing your journey to more experienced founders and partners

• Burnout from trying to match someone else’s pace and expectations

• Different roles, lanes, and skill sets inside a business partnership

• Visionary vs conservative founders and how they can align

• Rebrand tensions and redefining what the business or podcast really is

• How life changes, kids, and family responsibilities shift your capacity

• The importance of hard conversations and clear communication

• Letting go of ego and being okay with being the learner in the room

• Separating your personal worth from the performance of the business

  
  

🔹 Connect With UsYouTube: https://youtube.com/@Unscriptd_Podcast
Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/54ibbXHBBMbmtWIhqwfNWh
Instagram: https://instagram.com/unscriptdpodcast
TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@unscriptdpodcast
LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/unscriptdpodcast

So many people binge Alex Hormozi, motivation videos, entrepreneurship content, or faith-based messages and still wake up feeling directionless. In this episode of Unscriptd, Will and Michael unpack the three types of people who watch Hormozi and how each one responds to advice, purpose, calling, fear, and spiritual alignment.

This conversation dives deep into why men, founders, and entrepreneurs stay “busy” without ever moving forward, and why purpose feels confusing when you are not tuned into what God is actually calling you to do. Will and Michael discuss the tension between ambition and obedience, what it means to take a leap of faith, how to measure decisions against your purpose, and why so many people succeed outwardly but feel empty internally.

If you have ever wrestled with calling, identity, faith, business direction, or feeling like you should be further along in life, this episode will hit home. It is honest, practical, faith-grounded, and built for anyone trying to align their life with what God actually wants, not just what the internet tells them to chase.

KEY TOPICS COVERED

• The 3 types of people who watch Alex Hormozi

• Why “busyness” is often a distraction from purpose

• How faith impacts calling, decisions, and direction

• Fear, obedience, and taking real leaps of faith

• Purpose and clarity for entrepreneurs and men of faith

• Why success feels empty without a spiritual foundation

• How to think in decades instead of quick wins

• Building your life on character, identity, and alignment

• Being tuned into God's voice instead of noise

• Purpose vs. shiny-object ambition in business and life

  
  

  CONNECT WITH UNSCRIPTD

  YouTube: https://youtube.com/@Unscriptd_Podcast
  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/54ibbXHBBMbmtWIhqwfNWh
  Instagram: https://instagram.com/unscriptdpodcast
  TikTok: https://tiktok.com/@unscriptdpodcast
  LinkedIn: https://linkedin.com/company/unscriptdpodcast