Why your protagonist's longing should lead to their fear
What your protagonist longs for is what they'd have if their deepest fear didn't run them, so chasing it should walk them into that fear, or the longing is decoration.
When your protagonist wins without changing
If your protagonist wins the goal without changing and the story treats it as a triumph, the story has adopted their false belief.
If your protagonist wins without changing and your story celebrates it, your story has bought their lie.
At the crisis, what your protagonist has been chasing is often right there, within reach. The conscious desire behind it is what StoryDNA calls The Want. What would actually make them whole is The Need.
From inside, choosing between The Want and The Need doesn't feel like good against evil. It feels like choosing between staying comfortable and being frightened and exposed.
Then the gap between The Want and The Need closes in one of three ways. Your protagonist rewrites The Want and chases the corrected version. Or they let The Want go, and letting go is the achievement. Or they get exactly what they wanted without changing.
That third way is hollow. And if your story celebrates it, your story has adopted The Lie, the false belief your protagonist has been living by.
In Little Miss Sunshine, there's no pageant win, and the family ends up laughing together. They lost what they wanted and got what they needed.
In The Social Network, Mark wins everything and ends alone, refreshing a friend request, never having told Eduardo he was wrong.
You can get exactly what you wanted without changing and end up with a win that's really a loss.
Look at your last scene. If your protagonist got what they wanted, name one thing that changed in them. If you can't, your story is cheering for their false belief.
The selfish version of the goal your protagonist gives up
Nearly every goal carries a selfish version, how your protagonist would get it if nobody else counted, and that version is what the turn asks them to give up.
How a character's need surfaces over the story
What your protagonist needs moves from something they'd deny, to flickers they push back down, to something undeniable once their false belief breaks, and that movement is the arc.