Ep #315: My 7 Powerful Principles, the same ones from my College Success Habits book, are the foundation for my lifestyle, let alone my sobriety and recovery. Today, we bring them back and give them a two-episode spotlight.  Where are you developing your growth mindset in your life? Believing you are courageous starts with the courage to feel emotions. Being decisive and taking action doesn't mean just making the decision and acting upon it. It means staying steadfast in your determination to see the decision through and continuing to take action, even the smallest of steps, so that each ..read more

Ep #314: Neuro-Linguistic Programming. If you are a mentor, life or addiction recovery coach, and/or sponsor - this episode is the message you have been waiting for. You know how you talk to people and you feel like your message isn't getting across? The main problem is that we can not force someone to act. We can not make that horse drink. We know, deep inside, "You cannot shame someone into action, only inspire them into change" (Aubrie Pohl). Imagine your leadership, mentorship, sponsorship, and LIFE as guided by your own internal strength toward your life's mission! Is my NLP class the onl ..read more

Ep #313: Self-awareness is a beautiful thing, but you want to monitor how you experience it: first-person through your own eyes, second-person through another person's eyes, or third-person through that observer's eyes. When we go to make a change, we experience that part of ourselves through one of these points of view. That starting, stopping, and changing we seek in our lives will attach itself to a secondary gain that we may not even be aware of yet - and then we wonder why that thing we desire to release keeps sticking around. You gotta click play to hear how this is playing out in your l ..read more

Ep #312: Procrastination will eat alive from the insides. What is it that you are really procrastinating from doing? You might think it is starting the thing, doing the thing, changing the thing, or stopping the thing - but upon further review, there is a lot more at play when we postpone the starting, doing, changing, or stopping the thing that we have been thinking, feeling, and probably ruminating on for quite a bit of time. In this episode, we are going to dive into what makes me, you, us, procrastinate and how we can identify what is really at the root of the postponement so we can increa ..read more

Ep #311: This week, I celebrate the conclusion of my 8th year of sobriety and begin to trek into year 9! There are so many topics I want to bring to you over this first stretch of the year, and today's is dear to my heart.  When are you now willing to risk what is comfortable and known for the uncomfortable and unknown? The comfort zone that was less comfortable than habitual is what led us into this room together. Whether new to sobriety or an old-timer, you seek to make a change somewhere in your life, and greatness is always on the other side of risk. Don't defeat yourself before you s ..read more

Ep #310: Happy New Year. I'm not going to roll out the same "New Year, New You," trope I've done in the past and you've heard before. If you are on Day 1 or some days into your journey, you might be wondering how on earth you will figure out how to create your new life with so many or so few options (all subjective to your mindset and perspective).  Today, I will iron out the system I created to help me figure out what's important for me to focus on and how you can use this system to take one step every day toward the version of yourself you want sobriety to be the foundation for you to c ..read more

Ep #309: We have all lost something. Something that mattered so much to us we thought we could never go on, never be the same, never heal. The agony of defeat when we tried the first time to quit. The disappointment we feel in ourselves when we let people down - ourselves, most importantly.  Inside all of us are many, many voices that talk to us, tell us what to do, lie to us, support us, and are with us all the time because they are voices, often not our own, that we have picked up on our journey of life. What voice do you hear when a craving comes? What voice do you hear when your addic ..read more

Ep #308: It's the end of the year, and I'm in the mood to talk recovery. Whether you are seeking to make a massive change, like sobriety, or take another step in your recovery, like physical activity, honest communication, or putting your mind to advancing your career, there are steps you can take and a mindset to cultivate.  Anyone who has motivated themselves toward massive growth will attest to breaking down larger-than-life goals and dreams into manageable action steps and developing discipline through their daily actions to create the life they desire. I can not wave a magic wand and ..read more

Ep #307: You know how you look around and get a bit upset at yourself for the life you have created, the situation you are in, or how you behave? The problem you circle back to again and again and again and again is that you are not happy about certain aspects of your life, and you think that if you beat yourself up enough times, you will FINALLY get it right and start doing the right thing or something else that will change it all. Like you can move all the pieces around over and over and eventually you will get a better picture. We know what it is like when something pops inside of us, and n ..read more

Ep #281: Maintaining sobriety, whether in its fragile early stages or as a long-term commitment, requires vigilant self-awareness and dedication. Individuals navigating this path may encounter significant hurdles if their focus drifts from the critical pillars that underpin a sober lifestyle. The journey is fraught with potential distractions and setbacks, including the allure of old habits, the challenge of reshaping one's identity, and the complexity of altering deeply ingrained social and emotional patterns. A lapse in attention to these areas can subtly undermine progress, leading to feeli ..read more