The Top Three Tactics For Life Improvement

I have had a fascination with changing habits and creating motivation for over ten years now. I have spent countless hours reading and researching different ideologies of creating life changes. Focused Life, ultimately, is a program that I have assembled borrowing from several sources and I intend to use this program to help individuals who are recovering from addiction to increase their odds. I understand the importance of traditional rehabilitation and ideally a target client of this program would have already detoxed and spent at least a month in a traditional rehab. The Focused Life program is meant to supplement traditional rehabs and transition an individual in recovery from concentrating on drugs and not doing them to focusing on more general life change practices.

I am going to share some of the basic, universally accepted methods and tactics that are necessary in meeting your life change objectives. The following concepts work independently of one another. They are tactics to employ in your overall strategy to make the changes in your life that you desire.

If you have anything to add, disagree or just wanna say something, please feel free to comment below.

So, here are my top five fundamentals for making a lasting change.

1       Perception

      Your perception is the lens of personal biases that every individual has, through which they view their environment and the world.

Perception is under your control. You may have been raised to be a racist or violent, and your schema of the world will adhere to what you already think you know to be true. The subsequent behavior, attitudes and actions that are produced are entirely under your control. You get to choose whether or not you’ll continue to be a violent person.

The truth is that the notions which you believe in most, are usually not even your notions. They are a product of your experiences. You have been conditioned to think a certain way and that is why we have cultures in society; groups of people that act, think, believe and behave similarly. Ones thoughts stem from ones beliefs, and beliefs are completely constructed by your perceptions. If a view of the world around you no longer serves you, you can easily change it. You are in charge of what goes on in your head, and so often we give that control to others. Question everything that is deeply ingrained in your beliefs and you will find unchecked motives for action, irrational thoughts and baseless reasoning.

To be yourself, to be true to who you are it is imperative that you inventory your beliefs. If it makes sense, keep it. If not, you are not subject to any concept. Toss it.

If I were reading this, I’d be reeling to think of what my beliefs are. If you’re like me, in that respect, here is a bit of advice on rooting out illogical beliefs to allow your perception the space to make more sound assumptions and bring yourself closer to a place where you are not in constant conflict with the real world around you.

Don’t even try to list and label your beliefs while you inventory them. It’s an internal process that requires making a practice introverted observations. Instead, file this idea away, but keep it at the surface of your thoughts. Next time you are witnessing an event and you notice that you are judging right and wrong, turn that high powered perception of yours inward and assess the reasons that you are coming to the conclusions that are fresh in your mind. Be honest with yourself. That should go without saying, but we are odd creatures sometimes. Now, are the motivations that cause you to side with A or B born out of something you are knowledgeable about? Have you experienced, in your life, an event that would lead you to side with either.

To give you an example of how this conditioning has happened throughout your life, how you are going to handle it now and how to reverse the process; I’ll give you a classic and common scenario.

If you hear some politician saying that something is happening and this is why it’s an atrocity. You are listening to 100% spin. This is a professional influencer, negotiator and persuader that is speaking, so it’s often easy to identify with what that person is saying. She knows that 99.61% of viewers hold democracy as an unquestionable belief, but many don’t really even understand what it is or why it’s better than an alternative; or even what an alternative to democracy is. She is going to try to make her point synonymous with that ideal.

(I am not referring to any particular person because I used the pronoun, “she”. I always interchange gender specific pronouns, and I always start with female pronouns. I just realized this could be mistaken for a reference to only a couple of politicians currently in the nation’s spotlight.)

This has been going on your entire life. The media, ads, your family, your friends all have a level of influence over you, or not. It’s your choice.

2.       Positivity

Being optimistic is the fundamental building block of creating change and even having a better life. Positive thinking goes hand and hand with perception. It is perception. While this blog post is not intended for a centerpiece to your epic battle with depression, it works wonders for people who use complaining and pessimism as a social tool. Complaining is often a great way to strike up a conversation, but it is doing more damage than you know. Because of the nature of this post, I am going to leave my opinions, formed from my experiences, out of this. However, positive thinking is important for a number of reasons that aren’t just opinions.

Positive thinking is a part of every process, I’ve seen, to make major lasting changes to your life. Lucky you, it’s the easiest thing in the world to change. Actually, you can do this right now. But, first, let me tell you why it’s important.

There is a semi-recent popularization of a meta-science known as the Law of Attraction. This doctrine teaches that for some unknown reason, we can manifest whatever it is we focus on in our lives. We can create a wondrous life or a dismal existence, through happy thoughts. I personally believe in many aspects of Attraction, but it’s still a meta-science and I won’t feed you theory that no one even understands.

Optimism is superior to pessimism obviously, right? This is always where someone interjects on how they have transcended this dichotomy, and are The Realist. Like I mentioned, don’t lie to yourself. I said it twice. We all get. Now, we’re all realists. But on the spectrum of optimism and pessimism, if it changes nothing else in your life, it changes your perception, which changes your beliefs and in this case changes moods, feelings and emotions. And those things change everything. Mastering those three things is the goal. Keep that goal in mind.

3.       Feelings and Emotions

For the purpose of this, and future, blog posts, we will look at emotions as a spectrum. Feelings are like notes, or keys on a piano. They can be mixed in harmony or dissonance. On one end of the emotion spectrum we have the desired emotion, which is Love and at the other end, the worst, fear. The reason that it is love and fear, is because we are envisioning a spectrum for life change, thus for motivation. Hate would be the natural opposite of love, in most schools of thought, but hate is a highly motivating feeling.

It’s such a shame that this has to be included in a self-mastery post. Emotional control is your God-given birthright. At some point, though, we all lose it. We give it to others. We give others the power to control us like puppets, by not owning our emotions. I can call your mother fat and in most cases own your behavior. I can at least get a rise out of you, by saying something offensive. I’m never more impressed than when I see someone defy the rules of humanity and behaving unpredictably well in situations that would ruin the next guys night. Getting offended at disrespect is human nature, right? I don’t think so.

Stephen R. Covey said that we are in control of our reactions. He had a clever play on the word responsibility. He taught that there is a gap between an action and an individual’s reaction. Inside this gap is where the maturity and responsibility of a person can be measured. You choose from the infinite possibilities what your response to stimuli might be. Mr. Covey said that a responsible person would be able-to-respond maturely and effectively. Take back your birthright. Be above the circumstances.

Change the thoughts you entertain and you change your perspective. Change your perspective and you change your beliefs. Change your beliefs and you get to change your destiny. 

How to keep up Momentum Part 2

How to beat YesterYou pt. 2

I lost it because of a silly reason. As I started gaining weight and muscles, I kept refining my workouts and taking my diet more and more seriously, because that’s what I wanted to do. The desired effect became more important than the interruption in fun, or bad taste it might cause. When you lose that perceived value of importance in your health, you will not diet, work out, jog or make any changes in your life. You can always live at a higher level. You have to choose to live down here. I hope we can go live up there together, because I used to and it’s awesome. As I took my appearance more seriously, I started anticipating seeing the reaction from my friends back home, because I had gained a third of my normal weight and packed it on and kept myself ripped, by dieting (the wrong diet, I didn’t know anything back then and still got the result from the zone) running and sit-ups.  

I went home and it was awesome. Everyone reacted just like I imagined, I had the best time and got positive attention, which I craved. That’s another story. I achieved my goal. When I went back to Ft. Bragg, I felt like I had accomplished the mission, so I didn’t return to the gym and in 4 or 5 months I lost all that mass I had worked for.  Don’t let life trick you like it did me. This is something you find the motivation to do and then once it’s a habit you never let it go. You may never get it again.

I’m on LinkedIn, let’s connect.

There is one way to make absolutely sure that you don’t lose it and its simple when you’re in a dedicated state. You must improve every day momentum. It’s how a snowball that is worried about the candle lit in its presence becomes an avalanche and the problems that used to plague you, are snuffed out before you even notice them. In the end, and it takes a while to realize this, because we are all people. You look at powerful person or even more a person who has contributed to mankind a great deal and hear clichés like, ”He puts his pants on one leg at a time, like me. But, those clichés are the cleverest weapon that the snowflakes have made. For some reason flakes tend to believe these clichés because they rhyme or perfectly fit in a metaphor. But, don’t be fooled on this one, you are a very powerful person already. The potential that you have would change the world. You can release it and start living to the fullest and enjoying life more immediately. The zone doesn’t’ come to you. You have to go there and stay.

Making a change last takes momentum. Every day you have to improve on the man or woman you were before. Every morning you have to gather your priorities by whatever methods and tools you like to use. And, every night you must measure your success and keep an open mind. Use what works dump what doesn’t. I hope that reading this has improved your life. Take something away from this and everything you do, read, everyone you talk to. Don’t waste your time and don’t let experiences be wasted on you. We are not in a competition against each other, but we are in competition against ourselves. Don’t ever let #Yesteryou beat you. Because we may all look the same. We all have arms, a head, legs, a torso, for the most part. We all are generally the same size in stature within a few feet. But, one day you will see that the ones that fought every minute of every day, they didn’t listen to the naysayers, they didn’t stick with the crowd, are avalanches compared to a snowball crying, melting because of a small problem  until the influence of the avalanche destroys the problem for the smaller now ball of snow.

If you are that guy that complains about things that everyone faces, don’t feel bad, most of us have been there. Make that today’s improvement. Make it a point to accept traffic and not yell at the guy that accidentally cuts you off. He can’t hear you, your passengers can, even if it’s only you. Don’t ruin your own afternoon for his sake and a small problem. Remember to always be grateful, it changes the way your subconscious operates. And, it leads you to an abundant life.

These changes are small, but they can make a large difference in the end.

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The Zone

During a big change in your life, you can sometimes run, emotionally, off of the snowball effect that tends to onset, usually, around the three week mark. This is how long it takes an average person to build new neural pathways in her brain. This is true for me, and I have always heard that it takes an average person 21 to break an old, or start a new habit. By this time, if you stuck to your plan 100%, you should be kickin ass and making it look easy. This state of being is known by many names, but I've always called it....... SUPER DEDICATION MODE, or SDM (Not really. I don't have an acronym for my "the zone".)

Every time I've ever been in super dedication mode, I was on my A game in everything I did. In the gym, I'd workout twice as hard, I would get A's in school, and do better in life, generally. I don't know how I manage to lose that after I have it. Some people, you can see have it all the time, others will never experience the power of the 100.

I'm sure that I am actually smarter while in it, my mind is strong and positive, I tend to be a great deal more confident. I don’t second-guess myself and I've noticed that I’m more happy and, seemingly, lucky.

Now, the question would be, “How you obtain this level of peak performance and maintain a high level throughout the rest of your life?” One thing that has helped me through my addictions and troubles, is challenging myself to be better every day, and then auditing myself honestly each night. So, by waking up and thinking of how I will improve myself today, preparing and planning, taking action, and then finally measuring the results is a great place to start. This process is easy, and fun. Gamifying habit breaking is a must. Finding your own little advantages to breaking a nasty habit or forming a positive one is the backbone of the topic for this month, so it can’t be that easy.

No. In fact making a habit change, or, much more difficult, an addiction change, is just that: difficult. I want to remind you that anything worth doing is difficult. The more difficult, the better the reward for succeeding at it will be. The most difficult part may be over for a lot of you, if you have stuck with your New Year’s resolution. If you have, then you have almost created the habit, or broken it. You are much less likely to revert back to your unwanted behavior or lack thereof, so give yourself a pat on the back, just don’t take a break at this crucial time.

Breaks are hard to avoid, but you must keep in mind what goes on during a break. I can tell you that in my life, I’ve hit SDM twice. Both times it was punctuated by a break. These punctuations, in my case have lasted years. I just wonder where I’d be had I not taken the break. My advice for this is to make a written list of what may happen during your break, and if you can somehow continue your routine, possibly in a less functional manner, to decrease the likelihood of slipping back into the old habit and out of the zone.

During my time in the Army, I had a friend who introduced me to working out in a gym. He was my personal trainer, nutritionist and coach. He helped me reach a level I had not ever gotten close to prior to that. We worked out together for about six months and I was looking forward to time off and visit back home. I worked out harder and longer, ate better and even set my alarm to wake up in the middle of the night and drink a protein shake.

Once I got home and showed off to all my friends; which is one of the main reasons that I wanted to get fit in the first place, I felt like I didn’t have anything to work towards anymore. When I returned, I stopped going to gym altogether. Had I written out a list of anticipated obstacles for my upcoming visit and return to base, I would have been prepared to deal with them.

I have one other example that is so similar to the last one that there isn’t much of a reason to mention it. I know once I hit Super Dedication Mode again, within a couple of months, I will do what I can to keep it.

I hope you learn from my mistakes and prepare for unavoidable hiatuses in your life by preparing to maintain your mindset.

Anyone has the ability to make any change in their life as they see fit. The know-how is a different story. I don’t claim to have all of the answers, but I welcome comments and nuggets of wisdom for keeping yourself in the zone, in the comments section below.

Update on my New Year’s Resolutions:

I am completely failing at the main one: quitting smoking. I don’t want to talk about it. I will give another update soon and I’ll discuss the reasons for my failure.

I am happy to report that I have been working out on the planned schedule and doing cardio above what I had planned. I am eating right (for my diet) which means eating lots of protein all day, and lots of carbs in the morning.

I will keep you posted and with better news of my main resolution. Just because, I have given in several times, doesn't mean that I’m not closer to my goal than I was on the quit date and I must keep trying and not let myself get any leeway as far as allowing myself to smoke without getting disturbed about it. I know I will win this. A positive attitude is kindergarten for making change.

Thanks for reading and leave a comment. Let us know how you’re doing. It doesn’t have to be a NY resolution. It can be a today resolution. Make a commitment here and hold yourself accountable.

Volunteering with Focused Life is easy, fun and rewarding!

If you want to help Focused Life's Mission, just email me at bizwizardx@gmail.com 
vols@addictX.org

We need people to help out with the social and online media, and raising awareness in y her way, you will be a great asset and an original team member,at this point.

I've been planning this new type of transitional recovery residence for almost 3 years. I've gone through countless hours of SBIC &; STA training, I've collected hundreds of surveys and have done more research than is probably necessary, I'm days away from starting the 1st SMART Recovery meeting in Tampa and this is my passion, because I've experienced the suffering of a wasted life, and the resistance society imposes against anyone who tries to make their past, their past.

We have so much science for change now and it works when an individual is immersed in this environment. Fortune 500 companies pay hundreds of millions of dollars annually to have experts in change to guide them through a three day seminar to teach these processes. Addiction isn't and everyday habit and three days will not fix alive controlling problem, however the allotted amount of time, using these techniques at the forefront of science and medicine will most definitely have the optimum impact on the visual that we could expect in this day and age. This is the cornerstone of our recovery program.  However, the details are just as important. They are too numerous to list here,  but are documented in the curriculum of our coursework.

Focused Life is launching the recovery program as an L3C, a business entity that is structured like an LLC but it must be socially motivated. This means that if we make decisions based on our bottom line and settle our social impact we can lose our license. It also means that we are able to except program related investments. Program related investments are like grants that you have to pay back. They are issued by foundations and only to socially motivated businesses. And L3C stands for low profit Limited Liability Company. They are often described as hybrid between private sector and non-profit organizations.

We have a proven method for creating lasting change, showing others the processes and the psychological sciences behind what makes addictions such strong habits. Addiction have ruin the lives of people that we all know. The DSM 5 now names addiction as a disease and as such, when the person is treated successfully they should not be held in such high contempt by society, especially since we all know an addict, and have seen that person change from, likely, a good person to someone you wouldn't want to be around. This makes it one of the most undesirable diseases that one could have to face.

We believe in holding people accountable the same way as everyone else, except once the individual demonstrates that they are no longer actively addicted and it is unlikely they will return to their addiction , if they have paid for any misdeeds they might have acted out in their addiction, then they should be forgiven by their community and allowed an enjoyable life, like everyone else.

This leads me to Focused Life's Mission Statement. First and foremost, we are setting up to continue and enhance individual's recovery for a heightened chance of success. However, a close second to that, is our mission to create an environment where individuals, who were once addicted to drugs, alcohol or any life controlling problem, can expect to have a life in the future, the same as that is available to those who haven't experienced addiction. We are already working with local business owners who can comprehend the fact that these people that we are working for can change, and have changed.

They are empathetic to our cause , not necessarily because they can relate to it, but because they don't agree with the injustice of an unforgiving society towards an individual who has paid for his mistakes and has done an incredible thing in overcoming a life controlling problem. 

This is an amazing feat, considering that most recovery doctrines hold the individual as powerless over this issue. We know from extensive research and observation that this is not the case. People are resilient. The human factor cannot be dismissed even in the case of addiction. So, our third mission is to raise awareness of these truths and stop enabling addicted behaviors individually, and as a society, by leading them to believe that they are powerless over their own choices. I agree that most likely they cannot make these changes in their current state, environment , doing the same things, with the same people, in the same place where there is addiction was born.

Our doctrine is based on practical processes that can be implemented by anyone, and teaching these processes in the right environment with the proper group dynamic. We offer, because of the above-mentioned business owners and empathetic employers, good jobs, schooling, training and guidance to quickly transitioning these individuals to a new level.

Often these individuals, because of their disease, have lost much more than their health. We work with them to restore relationships, guide them to the best practices in transitioning back into society while focusing on helping these individuals regain everything that they have lost.

If you feel a connection with this cause I encourage you to volunteer to help anyway that you can. We are, of course in need of volunteers to help out with the initial workload of starting something like this and fighting addiction not the addicted individual. The war on drugs failed because we were fighting the wrong enemy. The entire recovery industry is broken because we were allowed dogma and superstition into our recovery programs. We focus on the life of the individual and her continued recovery. So if you are considering being a volunteer, I ask you to just start out with something small. We can talk about what you feel you can contribute and allow you to help in any way that we agree is fitting for our purpose. We need you.

We also need corporate sponsorship because we are starting A crowdfunding campaign in less than 60 days on IndieGoGo.com. That is why I am working so hard to build an online audience. I have an investor who had agreed to match my personal investment. The rest has to come from online investors.

I am currently most in new of print companies, online directories, Pro Bono business legal help in certain states*, preferably MI &  FL. Marketing, news media, grant writing &, SEO or anything.

If you just want to help doing something small, that would be great. You get the tee shirt regardless. If you are attempting to get your state's certified addiction specialist license, this is a great way to do some of the really specific volunteer hours.

Call 813.310.5563 for more info.

* FL, IL, VT, WY, KS, MI, , ND, RI or UT

Overcoming Urges

One of the hardest thing about making a New Year’s Resolution is keeping your commitment during urges, especially early on. It’s always smart to use the common sense tactics to be aggressive with your offense against your bad habit. It’ highly likely that anyone reading this has already lapsed back into your habit, that you’ve made the commitment to quit. The most common resolution made, or a very common one, at least is the main resolution I made with millions of others in Americans: to quit smoking. It’s easier said than done. In fact, most people who successfully quit smoking, research studies¹ suggest, attempt it over 20 times unsuccessfully. The fact is, if you’ve lapsed back into the habit, you are already closer to your goal than you normally would be, if you pick your commitment up now.

Some of the common sense methods that I mentioned above are the following:

·         Avoid areas that you’re about to identify as high risk zones.

·         Avoid (temporarily, at least, if even possible) the presence of friend and family who are likely to take part in the habit your trying to beat. It’s sucks but it’s an important part of successfully defeating any habit.*

·         Make sure that you’ve gotten rid of all items that you associate with taking part in your bad habit

·         If you’ve been successful until day 4, congratulations. You’ve done the hardest part with the most intense urges and cues to lapse. If not, four is any easy landmark to hit, so let’s focus on that, and at that time schedule something to lock you into your commitment and understand it for what it is, which is a symbol that you will be successful in your attempt to throw off whatever addiction makes you do the thing you don’t really want to. A great example for smoking is to have your teeth cleaned and whitened. Obviously, after that you’ve increased your chances of winning the fight. You’ve effectively tricked yourself to placing a higher importance on the need to overcome smoking. Since the fight is decided by, well, you, then as silly as it is, tricking yourself, or adding actual value to the beating of your decision. Whichever way you interpret it.

·         Another thing to punctuate a successful amount of time is to take on something healthy if it’s for your health, an added percent of a week’s income to boost your savings it you’re saving for something, or three days of doing your new activity for a longer time than normal. If your resolution is to quit smoking, try a 1-3 day juice fast or use a 21 or 30 day toxin cleanser. There is a special one for smokers who’ve quit at Vitamin World, and probably anywhere of that nature.

·         Do something to in the morning to prevent your habit all day. For instance, if yours is to work out, take your supplements before the warring factions of your mind start to argue about whether you should even go today. Or tell the “loser you”, that wants to just relax, that you’ll just drive to gym and then come back home. You’ll find that “winner you” will do the rest if you can just get your body to the gym.

·         Examine the things “loser you” is saying. This is the constant monologue that goes on in your head. LY can come up with some baseless excuses, that’s most of what this part of your mind does. It looks out to avoid immediate pain and seek instant pleasure, ONLY! YOU, though are in charge of you and choose whether or not to take LY’s advice.

These are things that we all know to do, but often it’s a good idea to see them laid out, as simple as they are. I notice with myself, even simple ideas coming from another source as input, can reinforce these ideas and bring them to the surface where I can more readily use them. Use whatever works for you.

There are also some techniques from the sharp psychological frameworks that I use when changing an area of my life. I’ll introduce the areas I usually consult for high power change and some that I am interested in becoming more familiar with.

·         NLP (Neuro Linguistic Programming) This is my favorite tool set for change in myself and even eliciting change in others. It is a psychological framework developed for influence over yourself and others, based on common human behavior. The idea is that we can study and implement behavior that will receive a certain response. It’s based on the programming the language of the mind. The way you stand, your posture and breathing all send feedback to your brain and can help you change your mood and every aspect of your life. I am a fairly new student of this metascience, but I have used the tools and techniques for effective results already. You can too. Soon, I will post an introduction to this great mindset. For more information on NLP visit http://www.nlpu.com/NewDesign/NLPU.html

A word of warning concerning NLP: There are a lot of people out there that have taken this 40 year old metascience and completely embedded wishful thinking into the processes. Here is an example of what I think does not work with the way our minds are programmed to understand communication. Try this "mind trick" out and let's hear if anyone has much success.

·         Processes and Tactics that are taught by self-help super-coaches, Stephen Covey (most famous for authoring “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”), Anthony Robbins, who has an amazing story and travels the world teaching his processes for change (He is probably most famous for his bestselling book “Awaken the Giant Within”, although he has an extensive volume of contributions that range from books and audio downloads/videos to research in the field of self-help and change.) I used to discount these types of “gurus”, because of the gimmicky industry that they are in. Anthony Robbins took some getting used to, but looking past his high energy and enthusiasm, he has programs for change. He has dozens of little individual exercises he encourages in his tapes, which can have a powerful effect. Tony Robbins - Official website of Tony Robbins www.tonyrobbins.com

Stephen Covey (10/24/32 – 7/16/2012) is an author that I have a reverence for that I’ve never had for someone I haven’t met. This man has authored several books and traveled speaking at seminars for the majority of his career. He is the founder of FranklinCovey, a business that makes business people better, using his original ideas and tools from his own research. If I could identify one factor that changed my life from addiction/suffering to a happy free life; it would have to be Stephen Covey’s work.

In my addiction I had to go to jail and while I was there, with nothing else to do, I picked up a John Grisham book, “A Painted House”, before that I hadn’t read any books, really. It took a while, but I changed and liked to read. I hated it before. After I read all the Grisham books from back then, and a few other fiction books, I decided that I should read books to learn something and better myself. I eventually worked my way to “The 7 Habits”, and though I couldn’t understand it all, I got so much from that book that I was moved to desire a change in my life, and now had some tools to use. I’ve read every word he’s written and the 7 habits 6 or 7 times. Each time I understand more, and it proves the point of the book. The 7^th habit (spoiler alert) is to “Sharpen the Saw”. Basically, this means to learn every day.  When you do, you grow and become more capable, competent and happy. Therefore, each time I read it I can take just as much away from it as the first time. I have to attribute the desire to change to Stephen Covey and the authors that teach real world ways to have what want and base your desires on principles that you value. For more info visit www.franklincovey.com

·         SMART Recovery® is a modern, science based recovery program for addicted individuals. It is similar to Alcoholics Anonymous, in that they have group meetings and fight the same foe. They are different in their core beliefs of what addiction is, how to effectively fight it, and even disagree on pillars of theory that each program is founded on. For instance, SMART Recovery, much less well known than AA and ¼ of the age, it tries to stay abreast of the latest scientific and medical research, using all available tools to attack addiction and defend against it. AA is strict in its traditions that are the constitution of AA and will not change until AA is no longer relevant. SMART doesn’t have 12-steps, they use a 4-point system; Maintain Motivation, Coping with Urges, managing thoughts feelings and emotions & living a balanced life. SMART does not maintain that an addict must hit “rock bottom” to begin to change, religion is outside of the scope of SMART, so a spiritual experience nor choosing a higher power is relevant nor necessary to recover from addiction. Instead of spirituality, they use science, and because of this many addicted individuals use both. You’ll notice the so far, that we have loosely stuck to these four points in the blog posts so far. There is more info about SMART Here.

·         The 12-Steps: since I mentioned them above, I should point out how truly powerful these steps can be and can be applied to any type of change. I know someone who quit smoking using the 12-steps. Find out more HERE.

·       

Albert Ellis

  Rational Emotive Behavioral Therapy is a metascience that was developed by Dr. Albert Ellis, and has changed millions of lives. You can find out more about REBT HERE. I have a free e-book courtesy of the REBT Network, and you can download your free, no hassle copy HERE.

The basic premise of all of these schools of thought is that you can change anything in your life.  You are in the driver’s seat and no matter what obstacles are in the way of you and where you’d like to be, you run you, and making excuses only aids your enemy in controlling your behavior.

For Addiction to Drugs or Alcohol:

If you are trying to stop doing something like addictive drugs, as I’ve said before, that is outside of the scope of the New Year’s resolution strategies segment of this blog. However, I would love to help you find assistance which is imperative in changing a life controlling problem. You still have the power to change, but that power lies in your ability to be able to ask for help when you need it and being brutally honest with yourself. You can never have anything worth having in this life so long as you are addicted to drugs or alcohol. Since that is the main purpose of Focused Life, please, reach out and let us know about your problem and we’ll do all the heavy lifting in finding a place that will help you.

I hold no person in a higher regard than someone who defeats a drug or alcohol addiction. There is no shame in reaching out for help. It is the brave thing to do. It’s easy to stay in your current descending state of crisis, but it takes a noble soul to reach out and get assistance for the problem that is controlling your life. Addictions are very complex issues, and even though you may feel like you can beat it on your own if, you haven’t already, and then it’s highly unlikely that you will. Life is an experience; you can spend your entire existence letting something call the shots for you, or you can step up and get the help to kick this addictions ass. Call me on my cell phone. My name is Ryan and if you follow this link, you will find my number on the left-hand side of your screen. Even if you just need to talk, or want to learn more and aren’t ready to stop, call me. Morning, noon or night, call or text and we can figure out something that works for you.

Thanks for stopping in. Leave a comment and let us know how you are doing with your resolution. Tell us what’s working for you and what’s not. Tell or ask anything….

1. https://www.dropbox.com/s/6cummmymph4v50g/TobaccoFreeFL-Quit-Kit_5-FINAL.pdf?dl=0