Some time ago, I started challenging my project teams to quite simply, “do better.” It was meant to be a little satirical, even humorous, as we dealt with the constant challenges and complexities of our work. But over time, something interesting happened.

That phrase began to take on a life of its own. Consultants picked it up. Contractors repeated it, and before long, whenever an opportunity arose to improve coordination, communication, or execution, we found ourselves smiling and saying, “Okay, let’s do better.” What began as a challenge slowly became a shared mindset.

Without realizing it, we had created a positive affirmation that we were all saying. Those two words did not discourage or criticize. They became a reminder that improvement is always possible. They didn’t imply failure; they invited growth. They didn’t demand perfection; they encouraged progress. And that’s important, because both in construction and in life, we are constantly navigating complexity. There are distractions, setbacks, missed steps, and moments when progress slows. In those moments, a simple, repeated reminder like “do better” can recalibrate our focus and move us back onto the critical path.

-Neihlee Muir, Construction Projects Manager, I Will Prepare the Way Before You, BYU-I Devotional, Feb 3, 2026

 In the early 1930s, during the Great Depression, thousands of ironworkers erected the steel structure of the Empire State Building in just over a year. Many of them walked narrow steel beams hundreds of feet in the air with no modern safety harnesses, no guardrails, and minimal protective equipment. [9] Unfortunately, lives were lost during the construction. It was work that required courage, balance, and absolute trust in the steel structure beneath them.

Today, ironworkers continue to walk narrow steel beams high above the ground. With great exposure to the elements and the constant movement from wind, even an experienced ironworker faces the danger of a fall. For that reason, modern day ironworkers choose to walk those beams fully harnessed and securely tethered to the structure. However, a harness does not prevent a fall—it ensures that a fall is not the end.

When an ironworker falls while tied off, the fall is arrested. All forward progress stops temporarily. The worker may climb back onto the iron or they may hang suspended in the air while a rescue plan is activated. Because of their decision to wear a harness and tether themselves to the iron, they will eventually make it back on to the narrow steel path and be able to continue forward with their work.

In the ironworking world, falling while tied off is not considered failure; it’s considered a recoverable event. That principle teaches us something profound about discipleship. Staying tethered to Christ does not mean we won’t fall; it means again, that a fall will not be the end.

Elder Jeffrey R. Holland once taught:

“I testify of the renewing power of God’s love and the miracle of His grace. His concern is for the faith at which you finally arrive, not the hour of the day in which you got there.

So if you have made covenants, keep them. If you haven’t made them, make them. If you have made them and broken them, repent and repair them. It is never too late so long as the Master of the vineyard says there is time. Please listen to the prompting of the Holy Spirit telling you right now, this very moment, that you should accept the atoning gift of the Lord Jesus Christ and enjoy the fellowship of His labor. Don’t delay.” [10]

Our covenants can become our spiritual safety harness. As we have faith in Jesus Christ, repent, make and keep our baptismal and temple covenants, partake of the sacrament, pray, and endure to the end, we tether ourselves to Jesus Christ and to His power. Walking the covenant path does not mean we will never slip. It means that when we do, repentance makes rescue possible.

-Neihlee Muir, Construction Projects Manager, I Will Prepare the Way Before You, BYU-I Devotional, Feb 3, 2026

 the Lord didn’t simply give Nephi an end goal; he gave him a path.
-Neihlee Muir, Construction Projects Manager, I Will Prepare the Way Before You, BYU-I Devotional, Feb 3, 2026

One of the key aspects of reading — and why I think the decline of reading is so alarming — is that reading helps to create greater empathy toward people and society. When you read, you absorb occurrences you would not — in your everyday life — deal with.

Reading fiction is a key way we learn how to experiment with people, places, and perplexity that we might otherwise never experience. When you are reading about experiences you might, in fact, confront, you gain even more. I’m not referencing stories that are composed in order to teach a moral lesson, but tales that have — as all good stories have — real dilemmas.

As a young reader once wrote to me, a good story “has a beginning, a muddle, and an end.” It is that muddle that is so crucial: how does one deal with it? 

-Avi, "In Praise of Muddles," https://avi-writer.com/blog, Feb 3, 2026