Every leader has been there. An impossible deadline. An email shows up asking for results that would take double your team in half the time. An executive wants lower costs and better quality at the same time. Your heart speeds up. Your mind goes straight to the worst outcomes. The pressure to respond right away can feel overwhelming.
Daniel was a young leader in ancient Babylon, and he faced a request that seemed impossible. The king demanded his advisers explain a dream, but he refused to tell them what the dream was. Anyone who failed would be put to death. When Daniel heard this, he could have panicked. Instead, he stayed calm.
Step 1: Don’t panic. Get all the facts.
Daniel’s first move was to calmly ask questions: “Why did the king issue such a harsh order?” (Daniel 2:15 GNT). He didn’t panic; he sought to understand the situation fully.
The same idea works in business. Impossible requests usually come from fear, competitive threats, or board pressure. Understanding the “why” behind a request brings clarity and helps avoid costly mistakes. As Proverbs 23:23 says, “Get the facts at any price.”
So, before you respond, ask clarifying questions: “What’s the most critical outcome?” “What’s driving this timeline?” “What trade-offs are we willing to make?” Then, document what you learn.
Step 2: Ask for time instead of reacting fast.
After Daniel had the facts, he asked the king for more time before giving an answer (Daniel 2:16). In high-pressure moments, the biggest trap is reacting too fast. A quick yes may calm your nerves for a moment, but it rarely leads to good outcomes in the long run.
Asking for time isn’t weakness. It’s wisdom. A thoughtful answer tomorrow is better than a rushed promise today. “Haste makes mistakes” (Proverbs 19:2). Take time to pause and pray. Even a few minutes brings clarity.
Develop a go-to response like: “I want to give this the consideration it deserves. Let me review our current commitments and resources, and I’ll get back to you by [specific time] with a realistic assessment.” Then follow through.
Impossible requests are not out to crush you. They are chances to grow in both faith and leadership. When you stay calm, get the facts, and ask for time, you give yourself the space to respond with clarity instead of slipping into chaos.
Don’t let the pressure force you into a decision you’ll regret.
Let’s put that into practice:
- How does emotion cloud your judgment when you are under stress?
- Why is it so important to understand the motivations of those asking you to do something that seems impossible?
- Have you ever rushed into a decision you later regretted? What happened?
- How can you build into your weekly rhythm so you can slow down and seek God before making major decisions?
Navigating impossible requests is easier when you have support. Kingdom Factor Cohorts (KFC) bring Christian business leaders together to share insights, encourage one another, and tackle real-world challenges with biblical wisdom. If you’d like to learn more or join a cohort, contact me with “KFC”, and I’ll reach out to you.
This is Part 1 of a three-part series, inspired by Rick Warren’s insights from Daniel 2.
Thank you so much Mun-Wai for your curiosity and specific interactions and your brilliant articles. Keep doing what you do. 🙏
Thank you so much for the encouragement. It’s comments like this that keeps me writing. I’m glad the articles are helpful and grateful for readers like you who engage thoughtfully.
“When you’re hit with an impossible demand, do you tend to respond fast or respond wisely?”
Incredibly important question. I was hit with this situation in 2021 where there was wave after wave of demand to do work. The constant Eisenhower box decision making urgent/important ( Do), important / not urgent (decide), not important/urgent ( delegate) and not important/not urgent (delete) became the problem to be solved. The entropy led to thrashing because of multiple authorities working in rudderless fashion. There was a mixture of authority and entropy a toxic mix. I reacted with empathy, I reflected accurately and asked open questions in timely fashion, I summarised, I clarified, I waited in silence for responses and gathered evidence. I identified the strategic goals for alignment and impact. After a year and a half of inaction my body told me to exit as no amount of thought can overcome bodily sensations.
The order of work must be better, faster, cheaper. Work must be better first, faster second and then cheaper. For sustainable and profitable work, continuous learning, maintaining purpose and excitement then improvements must be in that order imo. If authority and entropy combine continuously to thwart this mission then acknowledge exit is necessary as health must come first and mission second imo.
This was the Fujitsu Post Office account in 2021/2 when I was tasked as a test consultant to work within and facilitate discovery and delivery in two separate yet colliding programmes to address current business application needs and vital infrastructural changes. The leadership went missing whilst they withheld to me key environmental, political, legal and cultural constraints. Profit was put before people. Self serving was put before selflesslessness. Private was put before public. I tried hard to ask clean language questions and find the truth yet it was to be three years before that was revealed. 🙏 I was right to exit from what I felt was bad before I knew it was a miscarriage of justice, harm to people and cover up of wrong doing. So yes sit with uncomfortable feelings to react, ask open questions, reflect, clarify, summarise, encourage and then wait. When all that is done make the decision. Thank God for our bodies, mind and brain, thank God for our powers of neuroception. When I pray to him he brings me calm and in those quiet moments my angels and guidance.
Thank you Mun-Wai 🙏
Thank you for sharing this powerful story, Trevor. What you experienced at Fujitsu during the Post Office scandal goes far beyond “impossible demands”; you were caught in a system where leadership failure, ethical compromise, and institutional dysfunction created an environment that no amount of clean questions or strategic frameworks could fix.
Your instinct to exit was wisdom, not weakness. You’re absolutely right: when authority and entropy combine to continuously thwart the mission, and when profit is consistently placed before people, health must come first. The body’s signals, what you call neuroception, are often wiser than our rationalisation. God gave us those warning systems for a reason.
I deeply respect how you applied all the right practices: empathy, open questions, reflection, clarification, waiting in silence, gathering evidence. You did everything Daniel did: you stayed calm, gathered facts, sought wisdom. But there’s a critical difference: Daniel had a king who, despite being volatile, ultimately wanted truth. You had leadership that withheld key constraints and chose self-serving decisions over public good.
Your order of better, faster, cheaper is exactly right. When that order is reversed, people pay the price. And your hierarchy of health first, mission second is biblical wisdom. We’re called to steward our bodies and minds as temples, not sacrifice them on the altar of broken systems.
The Post Office scandal has now been revealed as one of the worst miscarriages of justice in British history. Hundreds of innocent people’s lives were destroyed. You were right to feel something was deeply wrong. Discernment is not only mental. It is physical, emotional, and spiritual. Your exit was discernment.
Thank you for the reminder that sometimes the wisest response to an impossible demand is to recognise when a situation isn’t just difficult, but fundamentally broken. And thank you for reminding all of us that wisdom is not just about what we do in the moment. It is also about knowing when to step away for the sake of health, integrity, and purpose.