After a personal conversation with @CryptoElPres a couple days ago, I decided to share my story for those interested in reading it in the hopes that it can help someone Not that long ago I was a lost heroin addict with no hope This is for anyone struggling with addiction, depression, lack of confidence, lack of drive, financial difficulties, anyone who wants to increase their productivity or anything else along those lines - especially you younger people This may be long, so I'll be surprised if many make it through I struggled with all of these things at once at one time, I was at the bottom of the barrel I want you to know not only can you overcome these things, but you can destroy them Anything is possible when you have the right mindset and execute consistently I'm now 41 and happily married with 3 kids, my addictions are all healthy, I'm in the best shape of my life, depression is non existent, confidence is gravy, productivity and efficiency is on another level, and I don't need to worry about money I'm at a stage in my life where helping people, or at least trying to, is way more important than money But it wasn't always that way I'll start with my story, then give you some tips on improvement Here's my story: Like many kids I started dabbling in drinking and smoking early on in my teens By my late teens I was introduced to oxycontin That got me on the opiate path, but even as that was going on I was able to succeed in digital marketing At the age of 20 I was able to make a few hundred grand through different aspects of the online marketing game After "controlling" my opiate addiction for a couple years, it caught up to me One night I had no pills to take and a girl I was with that night offered me heroin I said "fuck it, just this once" The problem is once you do it once, you've done it Now it's not as big of a deal the second time you do it... Addiction makes lying very easy, especially to yourself By the next night I had done it the second time Within a week I was using every day And let me tell you the mix of lots of cash and a drug like heroin (and other drugs) is not good I use to drive to Philly and buy multiple logs, mostly for myself but also to sell in the later stages, as money ran lower A log is 10 bundles of heroin (each bundle containing 13 bags) I'd usually get like 3 logs at a time (around $2,000) and go through it very quickly Before opiate addiction I was always in great shape and a fairly good athlete Even during my early opiate use I continued working out for the most part, but less and less the deeper I got into my addiction By the time I started doing heroin all working out stopped Eating healthy was non existent I managed to go from being extremely confident, lots of friends, in great shape, happy and doing fairly well financially to having none of that very quickly By my mid 20s I had 1 friend left, but he also did heroin still I was fat and out of shape, I was now broke, I had no confidence and I was extremely depressed I went from having it all to having nothing Being a heroin addict was really fun at first It's fun until you realize that you can't stop I eventually got on a drug called methadone to quit heroin, but the problem is that methadone is harder to get off than heroin But I didn't really have much of a choice, nothing else I tried was successful to stop heroin Methadone serves more as a replacement that doesn't get you high but you won't get sick as long as you take it, so it can somewhat get you use to a life without being high After a while on methadone, and still messing with heroin here and there, I realized I was never going to fully quit if I was still hanging with someone doing heroin So I got rid of the last friend I had left Talk about emptiness I had family but I was now an adult and they had their own lives I was pretty much on my own A tough thing for someone who is out of shape, has no confidence, no money, and was depressed The house I bought while I had money almost got sold bc I was now out of money and couldn't afford the payments For a while I just felt bad for myself Fast forward a little later and I found out I had my first child on the way (he's now 13) This is when everything changed for me My first decision was to get off the methadone But getting off methadone is hell, so I came up with a plan I would come down 1mg a week for 105 weeks (I was on 105mg) Just to give you an idea how bad that shit is...even coming down that slowly I barely slept for the next month after my last dose...maybe an hour or so a night And to this day I think I still suffer from restless leg and sleep issues bc of it; I've been off it for like 12 years now Coming off methadone was probably one of the hardest things I've done At the same time I found out about my child on the way, I started working on digital marketing again I'd be damned if my kid is going to come in the world to a loser father Besides, I had nothing better to do - I had no friends I would work 4am - noon at a casino then come home and work 8+ hours on the computer Not too long after this, my best friend I use to do heroin with called me up bc he heard I was clean (this friend got clean before me) He had started a crossfit gym and said I should come in and try it out I'll never forget my first workout, it had 80 pullups in it and I had to use a heavy band to assist me Someone who could do over 30 strict pullups in my teens...I was so weak I couldn't do 1 any more I was so sore after that day I couldn't bend my arms for 3 days Probably looked like a fucking nut job walking around with my arms half bent for 3 days I remember it being pretty embarrassing going in there Many of the guys I knew from high school And in high school not many people were in better shape than I was I was now extremely weak compared to each of them But I kept showing up...not like I could sleep more than a couple hours a night anyways This is where my rebuilding began I turned my addiction into positive outlets Business and health Within a year I made over a million dollars in digital marketing In that same year I started totally transforming my body And more importantly my mind I started meeting positive people at the gym and making new friends My confidence started slowly creeping back and my depression started slowly fading away Within the 1-2 year mark I was unrecognizable to the person I was before I look back and can't even believe I once lived like that And you know how I got out of it? I dug really fucking deep There's was many days "I didn't want to" But I had another life depending on me now and I wouldn't allow myself to fail A shift in mindset is a powerful thing That's where any change you desire starts You need to shift your mindset and stay committed to your goal Many people give up on their goals bc shit gets hard and they forget why they started Instant gratification gets in the way You could get really good at trading in a 2-3 year period and possibly set yourself up for the rest of your life It's not about the money, you'll learn that as you make more, it's about living life the way you want to live it And instant gratification is the #1 mass murderer of goals Let me repeat that again...instant gratification is murdering your goals Sleeping later in that warm bed is so much better Watching that TV show on the couch is so much more enjoyable Those fries and that soda taste so much better (but will also leave you with brain fog and less motivation) Can't miss out on weekends out with the friends... Scrolling shorts sure is more fun than working, and it also drains your dopamine you'll need to get your work done I said no to almost all instant gratification for a year or two straight and that's what turned my life around I almost always made the harder decision and said no to the more attractive easy decision As time went on it became more of a habit Now I enjoy making harder decisions or doing the harder thing, bc I've learned what they get me, my mind is trained to like hard As time goes on you can also afford to treat yourself to more of those instant gratification things, you just have to be careful they aren't effecting your current goals So when someone tries to give me an excuse on why they can't do something, I don't usually have much sympathy I built what I have from nothing, by myself, bc I sacrificed all the free time I had for a couple of years If you want something bad enough, you'll get it If a withdrawing heroin\methadone addict can get it done while depressed and feeling like shit, you can do it Technology is a blessing where it's much less discriminate who can succeed now All you need is a connection to the internet But it also creates a lot of distractions, so you need to be self aware when you're connected Bc a quick check on Instagram or Youtube or TikTok can lead to hours of your time wasted before you know it Let me give you some quick tips for success in all of these areas For addiction - this is pretty in depth - and if you have questions you can reach out - but obviously you have to want to quit #1 The best #2 step is to get away from everyone who is using This is extremely hard bc it's going to be the people closest to you in many cases, but it's almost always necessary For the other struggles, first set your goals Envision where you want to be, and never lose that vision Don't let the vision fade when instant gratification temptations make that easy to do so People come out hot when they first set goals bc the goal is fresh in their mind The end goal vision is fresh in their mind But that fades when the real work comes; don't let that happen Once your goals are set, optimize your life Set yourself up for success Get rid of social media, it's fucking horrible My kids are about the only kids with no social media at their school (my 12 and 13 year old) and they complain about it every day They'll thank me one day, you will thank yourself if you get rid of yours X is OK if you're using it for knowledge But the shit that shows all the "happy people" you compare yourself too is a disease, with shorts mixed in the timeline to get you entrenched even more in the machine Not only will it waste your time but it will hurt your drive It will drain your dopamine and lead to a decrease in confidence by you comparing yourself to fake lives of people who act like they're always happy Start working out I don't care how you do it, just start working out It will build your confidence and give you natural energy It can be something as simple as setting a timer every hour while you're working Stop every hour and do 1 minute of max pushups, 1 minute of max situps and 1 minute of max air squats Just move for 3 minutes. 3 minutes every hour...not hard And that type of thing will also wake you up, bc we all know starting at a screen too long can be draining I choose intense workouts like CrossFit and jiujitsu, but I also play a lot of pickleball What matters is that you're moving Get your diet in check Try to cut out as much processed sugar as possible; it's hurting your efficiency Cut all the shit drinks and drink water with a product like LMNT in it Aim for a minimum of 1\2 gallon a day and try to hit a gallon Most people are walking around dehydrated and have no idea This leads to brain fog and lack of productivity "Man I don't feel like doing shit today" Yeah, that type of feeling Diet and exercise are severely underrated for financial goals People just correlate it with health goals, but fail to understand that when you feel good you work good You work efficiently Lastly, make a physical list each day Have it in front of you Mark things off as you get them done...this feels really good You actually get to see yourself making progress When I don't do this I find myself sitting there for a while sometimes just trying to remember everything I need to do Taking 5-10 mins to start a list each day is a game changer Own your mistakes Yeah, I was a heroin addict Yeah, I had low confidence Yeah, I was what people would consider a "loser" But in owning it, I learn from it Stop caring what other people think Focus on being a good person and the rest will fall in place I see so many people on this app putting so much and effort time into proving to others how smart they are It's OK to celebrate your wins and progress but be careful how much time you are spending to impress strangers Focus more on helping rather than impressing and the rewards are much greater Keep an open mind and be willing to learn from those that are different than you with different views We learn the most from those we are different from This is getting pretty long, so I'll end this here I could give lots of tips, but I tried to condense some powerful ones here I just want to help let people know that anything is possible It just takes working hard and avoiding instant gratification as much as possible If I did it coming from where I was, you can do it too No excuses, bc in the end no one cares about your "reasons" you can't or haven't done it yet Hopefully this helps someone in some way, even if it's a minor form of improvement Back to work for me...1 thing for today has now been marked off my list.