How I Overcame My Own Addictions

How do you not fall to bad habits, addictions, or just things that aren't good for me? Welcome to the Dean Graziosi show. All success starts right here. I gotta tell a story. Now, any of you that actually are in or going through or have been through a deep addiction that compromised your health, your life, your future, I'm sorry. But I'm so glad to have you here. So please know I'm not trying to insult anything with the word addiction. So let's take that out. I had to disclaim that so I can just talk freely. So I want to share something with you. When I was a kid, 10, 11, 12, 12 years old, I'm not going to get into my whole past. We all, we all have our stuff, but there was a lot of crazy things that happened in my childhood and we all have that right, so leave it there. But some that were so stressful and I worried so much on a deep level. I worried for people's lives, I worried about my future, I missed my mom, all this stuff. When I was 12, I went through a little phase where I literally had a bleeding ulcer, came home from school, yacked up blood. I was keeping a lot of stuff down. And I'll tell you, and I still worked hard. I still had a desire, a drive. That stress, that craziness actually drove me to say, I want to be in control of my life. I want to cut checks, live on my own. I moved out when I was 17. I wanted to live on my own. I wanted to take care of my own future, be my own man. So that drove me. But I want to be a little transparent here in my 20s, a lot of the crap that happened to me, and maybe that's for another podcast or another inner circle training or on stage. If we're ever in person, at the edge or any other event, we do, maybe I'll share a little more. But some stuff really got to me. And instead of my emotional intelligence wasn't high. And I promise this is going to get back to you. I know I'm talking about me right now, but my emotional intelligence wasn't high. My consciousness wasn't at an all time high, my chakras weren't aligned, I didn't like some shit and how it went down. I worked really hard to just get away from it. I was running away from pain. That was cool because I ran into some really good success. Did I fail? Yeah, but I'd get up, man. You could knock me down, punch me, hit me with a bat. I'm Getting back up because I didn't like where I came from. Okay, I have to tell you, in my 20s, and I've used this term in my 20s, is I did a few things to quiet the noise. And the reason I'm bringing this up because we get so many questions of people saying, how do you not fall to bad habits? Addictions are just things that aren't good for me. Some of you get mad at yourself because you're not productive and maybe you eat. Some of you are stressed because your life's not moving in the direction you want as fast as you want. You drink. Some of you got that. What I used to say is, I want to quiet the noise. Some of you have a cocktail, Drugs. Like, we all have these outlets. And people keep asking me, how do you stay motivated? And when things fail, how do you keep focused? So I'm trying to wrap this all together and tell you this story. So in my 20s, all the crap I dealt with, I just pushed it down. I did not deal with it. You know how I dealt with it is I went out a lot. I worked hard. I got upset. Six o' clock every morning. Showed up at work, worked my ass off till late. But sometimes I'd work till 9. I'd shower and I'd go out, get some cocktails, meet girls, go to the bars with the loud music. But I did it kind of obsessively. Like six, seven nights a week, literally. I was out. I used to tell people, like, how are you not tired? I'm like, I'll sleep when I die. The truth was, is I didn't like being alone. I wasn't good with quietness and my inner voice because I never dealt with all this stuff as a childh. As a child. And I ran to that. So that was not an addiction. I didn't drink during the day, but it was obsessive. It wasn't a good habit. The drinking quieted the noise, and I got up a little bit. Hungover a lot of days, but, man, I went to work. Piled through. No one would know it. Why am I telling you that? Because I had a glimpse of how easy it could be when life's not going well, just say, hell with it. I'm just going to eat more. Life's not going well. I'm just gonna binge on Netflix. I'm gonna watch this next series, then this next series. This will be the last series, but then I'll watch the next series. Or, you know, just three drinks a night. That's all I do Just to quiet that. That I'm not as far as. Not as far ahead as I'd like, or the relationship's not working, or maybe in a little drugs, or there's a million things you could be doing right. So this isn't about helping you with addiction. That's not my qualifications. That's not my expertise. But here's what I wanna tell you. And maybe you're gonna think this isn't healthy. There was something that shifted in me and I realized that all of those obsessions, not addictions, but I'm going to call it that, like, obsession, addicted, all those habits didn't serve me. They weren't taking me to where I wanted to go. And what I found is I have an addictive personality. I could have been an alcoholic, hands down. I never got into drugs because I'm afraid I would have kept going. I don't gamble because I could just. I'll just keep going. So I shifted. And I want you to think about this. Yes, this is going to help you get your goals. I started becoming addicted to success and accomplishment. And then I started to get addicted to proving people wrong. And I started getting addicted to my own growth. I started getting addicted to more money coming in and I could solve more problems. I got addicted that I retired my mom. I got addicted. I want to retire my dad. I got addicted that I helped my friends and family. I got addicted. When everybody said, oh, that industry's. You're doing good, this industry, but you were in special reading. Don't try writing a book. I only read two books before I wrote my first New York Times bestseller. Everybody told me, even my first editor. You guys know this. If you know any of my education, my first editor said, this isn't a book. If there's 20 rules on how to write a book, you broke 21 of them. It's not a book. It's a conversation. You don't need to edit, you need to rewrite. Like, I got addicted with saying, screw that, screw that opinion. I'm still addicted to that today. I love when someone says, you can't. So why am I telling you this? What if you can find a way to reduce some of the shit, for lack of a better word in your life, that doesn't serve you, doesn't serve your bigger future, doesn't serve God. We need more time. That's how we become successful. We need more energy. We need more focus. We need the ability to plow through fricking brick walls. You can't do it if you're drinking too much or you're binge watching on Netflix. I get all that. It quiets the noise. I went through my whole twenties partying, dating, too much, too many nightclubs. It numbed me, but it didn't bring me to where I want to go. And here's the cool part. You can get addicted to different things. Now, someone would say, ah, you shouldn't be addicted to anything. Or I'm using that word. Like I said, please say it could be obsessed, right? But the hell with that. Like, I got obsessed with it. And you know, they say, I may have used this analogy and maybe I heard it from Tony or somebody is, you know, they say 90% of the energy to put a rocket into space is like the first hundred feet, right? It's hard getting off the ground, but once you do, boom. So if being addicted to your next level, being addicted to helping your family, if that. Be addicted to proving all the naysayers wrong, if that gets your ship off the ground, then okay. Because here's the thing. Yes. I have to tell you, in my 20s and 30s, I was addicted to just being self sufficient. I didn't want anybody in control of my life. I was addicted to proving people wrong. I was. I was addicted to say, look at me, I got this. Not in a braggadocious way, but like in a humble way. But I wanted people to know. Like you told me I couldn't. I got this. But then it's evolved. It's evolved. And I had different addictions. I wanted to make more of an impact. I want to write books. I'm in a place right now where I truly am addicted to impacting people's lives. I wish I found a Dean Graziosi when I was in my 20s, when I was drinking five nights a week, right? I wish I found that somebody. I wasn't smart enough. Then I found Tony, thank God, right? So right now I'm addicted. And I feel obligated. Not even addicted and obsessed. I feel obligated to deliver value to you, to be here in front of you live, or if you're watching the recording right now, to create the Knowledge Business blueprint, the greatest course ever created, to create high performance masterminds, to create the best real estate education, if that. Like I am addicted and obsessed to impact because that's what I was put on this earth for. I didn't know it. I didn't know it in my 20s, even though I was doing this already in my late 20s. Didn't know it in my 30s when I was Full in, didn't kind of knew it in my 40s. Now there's I, what gets me out of bed. I mean, think about it. I used to say once I was financially free then, but I've been financially free for a long time. I could quit today. Not saying that to brag. Could quit today. I have a fiance that I'm marrying in two months. Happiest ever been. My kids are three thriving. I have the greatest team on the planet. They're my family. I'd rather be around them than most anybody on the planet. Like I'm in good shape, I'm healthy, like I'm really blessed right now. Stuff could go sideways tomorrow. I get that. So what? People ask me all the time, what drives you, what gets you up out of bed. You got a lot of money in the bank, own hundreds of houses, got your dream house, dream family, dream life. What gets you out of bed? You guys get me out of bed. I'm here to serve. I'm here to make more impact. I'm here to write even better books. I'm here to do better courses. I'm here to do better masterminds and keep the momentum. Make self education a new norm. That's not just the slogan we came up with. That's part of who I am right now. There is at least one thing in your life that doesn't serve your growth. It doesn't serve your future. It promotes procrastination. It promotes putting things off. It dings your security, it dings your confidence. It dings your ability to take action. If we don't go upstream and anchor these foundation in, it's all temporary. If you liked this podcast, make sure you rate it and also make sure to click subscribe so you never miss out. You can always follow us on Instagram. And if you don't already have millionaire success habits, you can grab it for free@deansfreebook.com Remember, all success starts here.