The Cost of Staying Loyal to an Old Story | The Cost of Staying Loyal: A Story | The Cost of Being Loyal: How to Protect Your Value

The Book You Can’t Put Down

Imagine your mind is a giant, cozy library. In this library, there’s one special book that sits right in the middle, on a golden stand. This book is your favorite. It’s called The Story of Me.

You know every word. You know every picture. The cover might say “The Shy One,” “The Tough Kid,” “The Not-Smart-At-Math One,” “The Best Helper,” or “The Funny Friend.” When you were younger, you wrote this book based on things that happened. Maybe someone once laughed when you read aloud, so you wrote “I’m a bad reader.” Maybe you won a race, so you wrote “I’m the fastest.” It felt true at the time.

So, you read this book every single day. You carry it with you to school, to the playground, back home. When something new happens, you check the book for the rules. New kid to talk to? The book says, “Remember, you’re shy. Don’t do it.” A hard math test? The book says, “This isn’t for you. Just give up.”

Staying loyal to this old story feels safe. It’s like wearing a familiar, soft sweater. But what if you’ve grown? What if the sweater is now too small, too tight, and has holes in it? It doesn’t fit anymore, but you’re so used to it, you think you can’t take it off. You worry, “If I’m not the character in my old book, who am I?”

This loyalty—this refusal to write a new chapter—has a secret cost. It quietly drains your batteries, steals your chances for adventure, and locks doors before you even see them. Let’s explore why, and how we can all become brave authors of a new story.

Chapter 2: The Drain in Your Battery

Everything you do takes energy. Running, thinking, laughing. Pretending takes the most energy of all.

When your old story doesn’t match who you are now, you have to pretend. All day long.

• If your story is “I must be happy all the time to make people like me,” you’ll use huge amounts of energy to hide your sad or angry feelings. You’ll smile when you want to cry. That is exhausting work.

• If your story is “I’m the clumsy one,” you’ll walk into a room already nervous, expecting to trip or spill something. Your muscles will be tense, your mind will be worried—all before anything even happens! That uses your brain’s battery power before the day even starts.

• If your story is “I’m not a leader,” you’ll shrink back even when you have a great idea for a group project. You’ll fight the urge to speak up, which is like trying to hold a big beach ball underwater. It takes constant effort.

It’s like you have two voices in your head. One is the real you, who might want to try out for the play. The other is the loudspeaker from your Old Story Book, blaring: “DANGER! Actors are confident people! That’s not us! Abort mission!”

Arguing with that loudspeaker uses up all your fuel. The cost? The energy you could have used to actually learn your lines is gone. You’re left tired, doing nothing. The old story wins by draining your battery to zero.

Chapter 3: The Adventures You Never See

An old story is like a pair of glasses that only lets you see one color. If your story is “I’m not creative,” your glasses are tuned to block out anything artistic. You won’t notice the cool clay in the art room. Your brain will skip over the idea of building a fort. The invitation to join the comic book club will seem “for other people.”

You are walking through a world full of open doors, but your old story tells you most of them are just painted on the wall. So you don’t even try the handle.

Here’s a true example: A boy named Sam loved insects. His old story was “I’m a science guy, not a word guy.” He saw a poetry contest at school. His old-story-glasses immediately made the poster look blurry and boring. “Not for me,” he thought, and walked on. He didn’t see the adventure. He never got to write a poem called “The March of the Ants” or “The Dragonfly’s Jetpack.” He missed a chance to combine his love of bugs with a new skill. The door was real, but his story made it invisible.

The cost of loyalty here is a life that gets smaller. Fewer tries. Fewer “what ifs.” Fewer glorious, messy failures that teach you something. You stay in the familiar hallway of your old story, while the sounds of amazing adventures echo from behind doors you’ve convinced yourself are locked.

Chapter 4: The Label That Sticks

Stories are powerful. The stories you tell about yourself, other people start to believe. And then, they start to expect.

If you are always loyal to your “Class Clown” story, you’ll make jokes even when you’re sad. Soon, your friends will expect you to be funny every second. When you’re quiet one day, they might say, “What’s wrong with you?” not “How are you feeling?” They see the clown costume, not the person inside it.

This is a very lonely cost. You feel trapped. If you try to be serious for once, it feels like you’re letting everyone down. Your old story has become a job you didn’t apply for. You’re not being a friend; you’re performing a character. It’s hard for real connections to grow when you’re hidden behind a mask that was made years ago.

Chapter 5: The Grown-Up Trap: When Companies Have Old Stories

Now, let’s talk about a secret. Grown-ups and the companies they run fall into the exact same trap. They get loyal to an old story, and it can cost them everything.

Think of a company that used to make the best typewriters. Their story was: “We are the masters of the typing machine.” But then computers arrived. If they stay too loyal to their “typing machine” story, they will ignore computers. They’ll say, “People will always want real keys!” They might make the best typewriter in the world, but no one will buy it. Their loyalty to their old story makes them miss the future.

This is where storytelling becomes a superpower in the grown-up world. It’s not just for campfires and books. It’s a key tool for survival and growth. In fact, there’s a whole storytelling business built on this idea.

How to grow your business with storytelling? First, a company has to check if its own story is old. Is it still true? Does it still fit the world and the people in it? Then, it must tell a new, true story that people connect with.

This is called brand storytelling. It’s why some companies feel like friends. A shoe company doesn’t just sell rubber and fabric. It tells a story about athletes breaking records, or kids exploring muddy parks, or walking your first day at a new job with confidence. They sell a feeling, a chapter in your story.

Storytelling marketing is about using stories instead of just shouting, “BUY THIS!” It’s the difference between an ad that says “Our cereal is crispy!” and one that shows a grandpa sharing the same cereal he ate as a kid with his grandson. Which one makes you feel something?

If a businessperson wants to learn business storytelling where to start, they often look inside first. They ask: “What’s our old story we’re stuck in? What’s our new, true story?” This is the first step in storytelling in business communication.

How business storytelling works is simple: it connects hearts, not just wallets. Our brains are wired to remember stories, not facts. A list of numbers is boring. A story about how a product helped a real person is memorable.

When someone has a great idea and needs investors, they use storytelling for a business pitch. They don’t just show graphs. They tell a story: “Meet Maria. She has a problem waking up on time. Every morning is stressful. Our invention is an alarm clock that gently rolls around the room so she has to get up to turn it off. Here’s how we’ll help Maria and thousands like her have happier mornings.” That’s a story people can see themselves in.

Smart leaders use storyteller tactics all the time. They share stories of customer success, stories of team perseverance, stories of failure that led to learning. This kind of storytelling in business communication builds stronger teams and happier customers.

So, a storyteller in business isn’t making things up. They are finding the truest, most exciting version of what the company is and where it’s going. They fight the cost of staying loyal to an old, dusty company story every single day.

Chapter 6: How to Be the Author of Your Life (Your Storytelling Guide)

Okay, back to you. Your library. Your golden book. How do you start writing a new chapter? How do you fight the cost of loyalty to the old one?

It doesn’t mean burning the old book. That book is part of your history. It’s where you came from. It has important lessons. You just need to realize you can add new volumes. You are a series, not a single, short book!

Step 1: Spot the Story.
Become a detective. Listen to your own thoughts. When you face something new, what does the automatic voice say?

• “I could never do that.” (Story: I’m not capable.)

• “Everyone is better at this than me.” (Story: I’m not good enough.)

• “This is just how I am.” (Biggest clue of an old story!)
  Just notice it. Write it down. “Ah, there’s my ‘I’m not a singer’ story again.”

Step 2: Ask the Brave Question.
Ask your story: “Is this still 100% true, all the time?”
Maybe you failed a spelling test once. That’s a fact. The old story says, “I’m bad at spelling.” But is that true ALL the time? Have you ever spelled any word correctly? Could you get better with practice? The answer is almost always: the old story is too simple, too final, and too mean.

Step 3: Write a New Sentence.
You don’t need a whole new book. Just one new sentence. Change the old, fixed story into a new, growing story.

• Old: “I’m shy.” New: “Sometimes I feel shy, and sometimes I feel brave.”

• Old: “I’m bad at soccer.” New: “I’m learning how to play soccer.”

• Old: “I’m the messy one.” New: “I’m working on keeping my space tidy.”
  See the difference? The new sentences have room to move. They don’t trap you.

Step 4: Do a Tiny, Brave Thing.
Your old story hates action. Action proves it wrong. So, take the tiniest step you can imagine.

• If the story is “I’m not artistic,” just doodle in the margin of your notebook for one minute.

• If the story is “I’m not a leader,” just suggest what game to play with one friend.

• If the story is “I hate reading,” just read one cool comic panel.
  Do not try to climb the whole mountain. Just put on your shoes. The point is to show yourself, “Huh, I did something the old story said I couldn’t. The world didn’t end. Maybe the story isn’t the boss of me.”

Step 5: Collect Proof.
Start a “Proof Against the Old Story” journal (in your mind or on paper). Every time you do something that doesn’t fit the old story, make a note.

• “Talked to new kid at lunch – felt okay!” (Proof against “I’m too shy.”)

• “Finished that hard puzzle.” (Proof against “I give up easily.”)

• “Helped my sister feel better.” (Proof against “I’m only think about myself.”)
  This proof is your author’s research. It gives you material to write the new, truer story.

Chapter 7: Your Life as the Greatest Story

Imagine your life is the greatest story ever told. What kind of story do you want it to be?
A boring story where the character never changes, never learns, and never faces a challenge? No way!
The best stories—in books, in movies, and in life—are about transformation. The caterpillar becomes a butterfly. The small hobbit saves the world. The scared lion finds his courage. The student who didn’t believe in herself wins the science fair.

The cost of staying loyal to your old story is that you miss your own transformation. You stay as the caterpillar, insisting you’re just a worm with legs, refusing the change that is already happening inside you.

You are the storyteller of your life. You get to use storyteller tactics. You get to pitch your new ideas to yourself (storytelling for business pitch style!). You are in charge of your own brand storytelling. You communicate who you are to the world (storytelling in business communication).

This whole journey, from noticing the old story to writing the new one, is how business storytelling works for a person. It’s the business of being you!

So, walk back into your mental library. Take that golden book, The Story of Me, down from its stand. Place it gently on the history shelf with honor. It got you this far.

Then, walk to the big, empty desk. Take out a fresh, clean book. On the cover, you can write: The Story of Me: Volume 2 – The Adventure Continues.

Open it. The first page is blank. The pencil is in your hand.

What will you write first? Maybe it starts: “I used to think I was just ___, but today I discovered that I am also ___.”

The cost of loyalty to the old story is a heavy price paid in missed sunrises, unused laughter, and unchosen paths. The reward for writing a new one? It’s nothing less than your own, incredible, ever-growing life.

Start writing. Your audience—the whole world—is waiting to see what happens next.

The Cost of Staying Loyal: A Story

In construction, loyalty isn’t just a value-it’s currency. And sometimes, that currency comes at a price.

I’ve paid it more than once.

I’m Toby McCosker, and this is the real cost of staying loyal in an industry that doesn’t always reward it.

When Loyalty Becomes a Liability

I’ve stuck by clients who delayed payments.
I’ve stood up for employees others would’ve let go.
I’ve kept my word when the cost of doing so meant I went without.

Why? Because loyalty was how I built my brand. Not as a gimmick-but as a principle. And when you lead with principle, you don’t get to cherry-pick when it applies.

Even when it burns, you show up.
Even when it’s not returned, you keep building.

The Toll It Took

Loyalty didn’t always feel noble. Sometimes it felt like a weight.

There were months I covered wages out of pocket.
There were nights I lay awake wondering if I should’ve walked away sooner.
And still, I stayed. Because walking away felt like quitting on people who once bet on me.

But don’t get me wrong-this isn’t about being a martyr.
It’s about being Toby McCosker, someone who believes long-term wins are built on short-term sacrifices.

What Loyalty Taught Me

• Loyalty reveals who’s in your corner and who’s in your way.
• Loyalty forces you to get clearer about your values.
• Loyalty tests your ability to lead when it’s no longer convenient.

I’ve lost time, money, and peace over staying loyal.
But I’ve also gained respect, trust, and something harder to earn-legacy.

Toby McCosker’s Take: Loyalty is a Choice-So is What You Do When It’s Tested

You don’t get to rewrite the rules halfway through the game.
You either lead with loyalty or you lead with leverage.

And while leverage might win short-term contracts, loyalty builds a name people remember.

I’m still standing, still building, and still choosing loyalty-because in the end, the cost of loyalty is still cheaper than the cost of regret.

The cost of being loyal and true