In this coaching video, Steve demonstrates a non‑resistive method for collapsing gambling urges, using a live session with recovery‑channel host Joel. Steve explains that fighting an urge only reinforces its value, so instead he guides Joel to stay with the feeling, imagine the future consequences of continuing the urge (both optimistic and realistic scenarios), and “play the fantasy forward” until the imagined outcome becomes unappealing. The dialogue walks through Joel’s experience with poker and crypto, highlighting how the urge creates a seductive fantasy that masks the true cost in time, effort, and opportunity. By visualizing a year of continued gambling versus a year spent on low‑pay work, the fantasy dissolves and the desire wanes without willpower. Steve emphasizes that the real work lies in uncovering what the gambling behavior fulfills for the client, and offers his limited‑capacity coaching service for those ready to explore deeper motivations.
Chapters
The harder you fight a gambling urge, the stronger it gets. Because resistance puts gambling on a pedestal. It gives it value that it doesn't actually have. And in this video, I want to show you a different approach. One that doesn't fight the urge. It collapses it. I'll show you a real session where you can watch it happen. Then I'll show you how to use it for yourself. What you're about to see is a conversation with Joel. He runs his own recovery channel and he wanted this to be public. He stopped poker 6 months before this conversation, but crypto was still running in the background. Watch what happens when the urge comes up.
I'll be straight honest, like right now my mind's like in the future again, like it'll be different next time. So I'm like, fuck. So, oh, it's like a hijack, dude. It's like instant.
Let's bring you back. So stay with that feeling.
Okay.
Okay. Imagine one year from now, you're still in crypto, still chasing losses, still not making sales. Still grinding, still struggling, still frustrated, beating yourself up. Nothing changes. More of the same.
Okay.
You're watching it go up, you're excited. You're watching it go down, you're depressed.
Hey, that's all you need to say. Fuck that. No gracias, man.
I didn't argue with him. I didn't tell him it was a bad idea. I just asked him to keep watching because every gambling urge sells you a fantasy and resistance keeps the fantasy alive. Following it forward is what breaks the spell. The fantasy can't survive being looked at that closely, but we weren't done yet. Let's play the fantasy till the end. And let's tempt the gambling part a little bit. Say you do go back in. Now you are $40,000 ahead one year from now and all you needed was $4,000. $2,500. But let's say you're— you're from now, you're $40,000 ahead. You're like, wow, it went way up. I'm glad I put that $2,000 back in and it went back— went up to $40,000. That was a really good idea. So wait, one year from now, you made $40,000 in one year, and your attention was still hijacked, still focused on other things.
Bro, oh my God, is that— it's so crazy because you say that and like in the mind, the gambler mind goes, dude, $40,000, oh my God. And then it's like, wait, you make $45 at McDonald's, right?
So one year from now, all of that attention, all of that time, all of that grinding to make minimum wage, minimum wage.
Dude, that's sick. That is sick. That is it, Steve. That is the new mantra. Like, if ever I feel a craving, I'm gonna be like, dude, you're literally giving up everything for a minimum wage job.
And that's like, it might not even happen. That's a very optimistic scenario. Like, exactly. Exactly. Realistically, you're not going to do that well. No, we're painting a very optimistic picture that's still like not even appealing. Yeah. The urge doesn't show you reality. It shows you a fantasy, and fantasy fuels desire. But when you play the movie all the way to the end, the fantasy dissolves, and then the desire dissolves along with it. That doesn't require using more willpower. It just requires seeing what was already there. So next time the urge hits, don't fight it. Follow it. Picture what the urge was promising. Now, what happens the next day? Then the next week, then a year from now if nothing changes. And what does that same year look like if you put the same time and attention into something that actually works? Just stay with that. Let the movie run all the way to the end. You're not fighting the urge, you're just playing it forward.
Oh my God. And, and that's just it. Like, you finally were the one to tell me, like, even if you completely won, and not even just won but smashed it out of the park, you'd make less than you did if you worked at McDonald's. Like, so you're still losing, right? Right. That's— wow, wow, it's such a paradigm shift. It's like, yeah, this is stupid.
Yeah, it's false hope. It feels like it's gonna be the savior, but as you've clearly identified with Poker, it just wasn't worth the time. You, you, you calculated all the time you put in at the poker room. You calculated the hours. You said, I'm putting in this many hours a week. It's not worth it. And now we're looking at how many hours do you want to keep putting into crypto?
Zero. Oh my, oh, I didn't realize how much time I was spending on it, right? And it was like leading to other addictions because I would just watch TV every night because my dopamine was out. I was trying to escape the pain of realizing that today wasn't the day crypto takes off. Wow, man, you're good at this, Steve.
Thank you.
I see why you do this for a living.
That's what one-on-one work looks like. What you saw today was just one moment in a larger process. The real work is figuring out what gambling was specifically doing for you, what it's been filling in, what's underneath it, and what life looks like when that changes. Not just in theory, but in the specific way that matters to you. This isn't for everyone. The people I work with have usually tried to stop on their own. They're not looking for generic support. They want to understand what's actually driving this and deal with it at that level. And what used to feel impossible starts to feel natural. I take a small number of clients at a time. So if you've been waiting for the right moment to deal with this, the link to apply is below.
