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Awareness Blog Optimize Your Life

ADDICTIONS

What is an addiction? An addiction is a psychological or physical dependence on something or a substance. Most people assume that the word addiction follows the words alcohol or drugs but these are not the most common addictions. Addictions can come in many shapes and forms and they are all very bad for you if you are unaware of them or in denial of the fact that you may be powerless over them.

Some examples of addictions.

Some people are addicted to drugs and alcohol and some people are addicted to porn. But, most people these days have a habitual or psychological dependence on coffee and social media. These are two of the most popular addictions and they can be nearly impossible to break. I think it’s safe to say that all of us are on our phones way too much and we get into a habit of constantly reaching for our phone even if we do not have a new notification. (Last year I disabled push notifications on all my apps except for texts and calls and this has greatly reduced my screen time.)

“Be the master, not the slave.”

Why am I credible to talk about this?

Well, one of my life coaching clients that I’ve been working with for almost a year now came to me with a lot of life problems and challenges. After a few sessions, it was very clear that the reason his life situation looks the way it does is because of his dependence on alcohol. My client could not go more than 1 day without drinking wine or liquor. Without going into too much detail I continued to ask my client questions about his relationship with alcohol without insinuating he should quit.

Sidenote: While working with a client I make it very clear that they are in charge of creating the action plan. I am just here to ask deep open-ended questions that allow them to gain clarity on what the next step is from here. I did not push sobriety on my client and I definitely did not tell him that he was an alcoholic. This is very important as a life coach because we are not here to make anybody feel bad about themselves, we are here to help people get closer to their goals and dreams faster than they would without a coach. With this specific client, it was very evident that alcohol was getting in the way of him accomplishing those things so naturally, the conversations gravitated more towards his relationship with alcohol.

How did I prepare to serve my client?

First things first, it’s important that I mention my brief stint of alcohol and marijuana addiction myself after being on Big Brother when I became severely depressed. I was excited about this challenge with my client and I decided this would be a great opportunity for me to not only help and change my client’s life but also learn the science behind addiction. I picked up a few books about addiction and substance abuse and learned a lot about the effects it has on our brains and the triggers that can cause addiction. But the best lessons that I was taught were from attending alcoholics anonymous meetings. I decided to go to a few meetings every week to learn about the struggles and challenges that alcoholics face and the most successful steps in getting sober. This not only helped my understanding, but my client is making excellent strides toward living a much better life free from his dependence.

What are you addicted to?

So what is something that you are addicted to? Are you addicted to coffee or social media? Maybe you have a habitual or psychological addiction to porn or sweets. The first step you must take is to recognize yourself as powerless over this substance or habit. Try and understand the underlying issues that cause you to be dependent on either a substance or habit. Recognition that you are an addict is the first step in stepping away from it. You are not in control of your addiction but you must take proper steps in managing your addiction. Take 1 small step to breaking free from your addiction and believing wholeheartedly that progress is better than perfection. Depending on the severity of your addiction or habit, it may be worth reaching out for outside help.

How to fight your addiction?

Try and take a 3-day detox. Take 3 days away from your addiction, if you can, and see if you are the master or the slave. Feel free to email me or text me with your feedback on how this challenge went. If you are dependent on alcohol I highly recommend alcoholics anonymous, there are likely many meetings in your area, you can find more information at aa.org.

If you need some encouragement and help getting sober or beating an addiction you can schedule a free discovery call with me and we can discuss your situation. It’s always helpful to have an unbiased, non-judgemental outside source on your side for encouragement. Schedule a free discovery call below… It’s FREE:

With love,

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Blog Optimize Your Life Personal Finance

NAVIGATING A RECESSION, MENTALLY Part 2

During a recession, it’s really important to save your money and try to maintain your cash and assets close to what you currently have. Being able to get through rough economic and financial times with just a few nicks and bruises would be something to be proud of. Usually, during recessions, hundreds of thousands and potentially millions of people lose their job, have their retirement accounts swallowed up, and lose their most prized assets. Why does this occur? Each recession is different and this impending recession is characterized by the tail end of a global pandemic, massive inflation, questionable monetary policies, and massive stock, real estate, and cryptocurrency gains.

So why is this potential recession different and how does that affect you? This recession will likely happen because of massive inflation for the most common goods and services. When the most common products and services like gas, utilities, packaging, logistical operations, and food increase in price out of line with typical increases, the spending habits of people soon follow. Businesses start feeling the effects of massive inflation on their bottom line which results in them not making as much money which then results in having to let people go. Businesses go out of business at scale, massive amounts of people lose their job. Because massive amounts of people lose their jobs this results in fewer people spending which means lower profits for businesses, which means more layoffs. Typically when growth in an economy slows for two quarters you are officially in a recession. This is loosely followed by economists, there are other indicators as well that show a recession is happening but they all revolve around a slow down in certain sectors of the economy. It’s a revolving door, a never-ending cycle, and the only way that we are going to get through this and back into a time of economic growth and prosperity is if we hit the reset button which was just hit by the Fed when they rose interest rates yet again. And interest rates will likely continue to rise over the next year, which puts even more pressure on the spending habits of people. Rates increase to slow spending when it gets out of hand. But it’s a balancing act on the Fed’s part. Increase too much too fast and it’s like slamming on the economic brakes. Increase slowly, incrementally, and it allows the economy to absorb the effects.

I am not a financial advisor and this is not financial advice but because I’ve been getting so many questions about the coming recession I thought I’d write another post on this topic. However, this post is coming from a different angle, an angle I know well, mental health. So this blog post is not about personal finance this blog post is about how you can mentally navigate through this recession.

Step #1

Be hyper-realistic

Your first step is to be hyper-realistic. The next two years are going to be really tough. There might be months when you are barely paying your bills. There might even come a time when you lose your job, these are both possibilities. There will be times when you think to yourself that it couldn’t get worse, and then it does. Having the hyper-realistic mindset that it can get really ugly and expecting the worse is the mindset that you should currently be dropping into. This might sound a little apocalyptic but wouldn’t you rather be safe than sorry?

Step #2

Be grateful for what you have and appreciate the little things in life.

Covid showed us how depressed we can get. I myself experienced an awful few weeks of mental health during the beginning of covid when I was afraid to leave my house and saw the economic impact it was having on all the people around me. You can try to fight your hardest but battling through depression doesn’t always work. Living with severe and chronic depression and anxiety is not easy and it seems as if these feelings are exacerbated during financially hard times. If you experience constant or severe depression now you will definitely be feeling it worse when your finances begin to crumble. So where should you turn and what should you do? Your first step is to recognize your negative thought patterns and then actively change your thoughts to more appreciative and grateful ones. This is the most important part. Easier said than done, I know. But, I’m confident that you got this.

What should you be appreciating?

Appreciating all the things you currently have and proving it by taking care of the things you have. This includes the roof over your head, your car, your pets, friends, family, and relationships with the people that you care about most. This is a great time to invest your time, energy, and attention into the people around you. If you’re going to fight through a recession at least don’t do it alone.

What are you grateful for?

Gratitude is being grateful for the little things in life. Most of us go through our lives taking our legs and health for granted. If you are in perfect health or near-perfect health you are very lucky. Money isn’t everything and there are a lot of billionaires that would trade their exorbitant amount of wealth for a few years of good health. Put your health first. Be grateful that you have time and opportunities ahead of you. Prove to yourself you are grateful and take in each moment as if it’s your last.

With all that being said I hope that I’m wrong. I don’t like seeing my stock account and Bitcoin being this low and I can’t even imagine what it will look like if it goes lower. No one can predict the future but everyone can prepare for it.

Make use of these two simple steps so that you can thrive not only mentally but financially as well!

Good luck and stay disciplined folks!

Best,

Categories
Awareness Blog Optimize Your Life Personal Finance

HOW TO NOT GET CAUGHT UP IN THE HYPE

The Story Of Dogecoin.

This has been a really bad week for the stock market and cryptocurrencies. Since the Fed raised interest rates the stock market has crashed alongside Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies. Over the last two years, a lot of millennials and gen-z have been spending their Covid stimulus money and discretionary income on Bitcoin, Ethereum, Dogecoin, and the sorts. These investments in the short term looked solid but as we know nothing great in life is easy and it seemed just too easy.

Well if you haven’t been keeping up with stocks or cryptocurrency there has been a very sharp and steep decline and there is no telling when it is going to hit bottom. For example,  if you would have invested $1000 in Dogecoin just a year ago you would now have less than $100. This accounts for a majority of people that purchased Elon Musks’ so-called “side hustle” and it’s leaving a lot of investors broke. Unfortunately, I am writing this as one of those people that got caught up in the hype and didn’t want to have FOMO (fear of missing out) so I put some dollars in too.

I’ll tell you my story…

In late January, and early February 2021 a lot of my friends were telling me how much money they were making in cryptocurrency. At the time I was looking for additional speculative investments and my risk tolerance was high so it seemed like Bitcoin fit that description! After a few extensive conversations with  “Cryptocurrency experts”, I decided to give it a shot. It is now 18 months later and I have lost a majority of my investment. Why did this happen to me? I got caught up in the hype. It’s very easy to get caught up in the hype especially when it comes to business and money.

How not to get caught up in the hype…

In order to not get caught up in the hype, you have to be a long-term thinker. You must not chase short-term gratification and be more focused on the bigger picture. It’s the short-term thinkers that want it right here, right now that end up getting caught up in the web of new trends and ultimately get crushed.

I got caught up in the hype of cryptocurrency and put a decent amount of money into Bitcoin and Ethereum. My profile is currently down over 70%. For me, this is a lesson to be more of a cautious investor. How do I invest more cautiously? Buying slower and not going in all at once. This is a lesson to be learned for all of us. Now that 90% of people that bought cryptocurrencies have lost money you would think that most people are going to learn this same lesson however it might be too late for them, here’s why?

So many people have invested a substantial amount of their net worth into these cryptocurrencies and it has left them with absolutely nothing. One of my friends, for example, had over $2 million of cryptocurrency on paper but after the last few months, he now has zero. This is a true story, and a lot of other people that live paycheck to paycheck and invested in these cryptocurrencies are getting crushed.

So what do you do from here…

So the next trend that comes along you must tread lightly. If you think it’s a good opportunity and you have a decent amount of risk tolerance I encourage you to take action. But take action slowly. The next few years are going to expose a lot of people that don’t actually have skills. The people who are not spending the time, energy, and attention on personal growth will be left behind. I myself am preparing for this recession by sharpening my skills as a writer, speaker, and podcaster, and obviously with my physical health and mental health so I can make a bigger impact on my client’s and future clients’ lives.

If you want to know what I’m doing specifically to sharpen my skills and get ready for the next 10 years you can email me at zacharyrance@gmail.com, text me or call me at 561-779-3401.

Best,

Categories
Awareness Blog Personal Finance

START PREPARING FOR THE TOUGH YEARS AHEAD

With gas prices now at an all-time high, food costs increasing and housing costs also on the uptick it’s important that you start preparing for the tough years ahead. Some of the biggest companies in the world including Apple, Tesla, and Coinbase have all frozen new hiring and some other large corporations are beginning to lay off workers. The recession is coming, so how do you prepare?

This week I posted a video on Instagram talking about how, in challenging times, the gap widens between the strong and the weak.

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CeeiIUJpq62/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link

It’s crucial that you start to implement systems that help you save money and that put you in the best position for when times get rough. The next few years are going to expose a lot of people in numerous ways. 

There are simple fixes to your current lifestyle that will help you deal with the shock much better so you don’t get affected as bad.

YOUR FIRST STEP in preparing for the tough year ahead of us is to create a fixed monthly expense sheet. Getting your personal finances in order is vital and this is the first step. This is a tool that will give you a precise dollar amount of what it costs you to live each and every single month. Your expense sheet should include your car expenses, housing expenses, insurances, phone bills, and internet – it should even include haircuts, air filters, paper towels, and trash bags.

Below is a picture of what my fixed monthly expense sheet looks like. Feel free to copy mine or you can go on Etsy and purchase a digital spreadsheet that automatically generates all your numbers for you once you fill them in. I recommend @mywealthdiary which I follow on Instagram here is a link to her Etsy store.

Knowing exactly how much money it takes for you to survive is the first step in your personal finance journey

It is a great move that you can take today to put yourself in a better position for the future.

THE SECOND STEP I recommend is saving a minimum of 10% of your income. Every single month or biweekly when you get your paycheck, you should be instantly transferring 10% of your income into a savings account. Preserving your cash is vital if you want to make it through a recession/depression.

These are two actionable steps that you can take immediately that are going to make your life 1% better and allow you to step into the greatest version of yourself for the future. I have many other opinions and ideas on how you can best put yourself in a position to succeed through the 2022 great recession so continue to follow me on all socials and if you haven’t already downloaded my Mental Health app: www.Lifecoachzach.App 

Email, me after you join the app so I can add you to my private Facebook group. 

Best,

Categories
Awareness Blog Optimize Your Life

THOUGHTS FOR THE WEEK

What Two Days Watching Seinfeld Taught Me

This was a very interesting week for me. Around Monday afternoon I started feeling a soreness in my throat. As time progressed into Tuesday I realized I was getting sick. Now I don’t get sick often but when I do it’s hard for me to just relax. As someone who is constantly exercising and trying to do, do, do it’s tough mentally when your body physically doesn’t want to cooperate. 

I had massive goals for the month of April. One of them was to wake up at 4:00 AM every weekday – something I’ve done in the past and ultimately will burn me out, I was ready for this. For the last three weeks since I have gotten back from my weeklong meditation retreat I have been doubling down on waking up early and working as much as possible. For the last three weeks, I’ve made a ton of progress in multiple different projects and created a specific plan and vision for myself personally and for my business. It’s always great to re-clarify the focus and ultimate goal. These last three weeks have been nothing short of efficient, productive, and meaningful and I’m proud of my valiant efforts.

This ended up being two of the most productive days I’ve had all month!

But on Tuesday I just didn’t feel it. My body was saying no, and my mind was starting to listen. I decided to cancel phone calls and just sit on my couch and watch Seinfeld for two days straight. This ended up being two of the most productive days I’ve had all month, why is that? Well, every once in a while it’s important to put our car in park. We can’t constantly be driving or we are going to run out of gas. Now, just to be clear I already knew this. This is not something that I just figured out and I knew going into the month of April of waking up at 4:00 AM and working as hard as possible that I was going to burn out and that was the plan. I wanted to burn out. However, I thought the burnout was going to be mentally not physically. So here I am on the couch watching Seinfeld not looking at my phone taking multiple midday naps laughing my *** off, enjoying life, and recentering my emotions towards appreciation and gratitude.

It’s now Saturday morning and I’m feeling a lot better, I have a busy weekend ahead of me and an even busier week starting on Monday. Feeling very hopeful, excited, and anxious to watch all my projects come to fruition

Find your balance in work and find your balance in life

I think it’s clear what the lesson is here. The lesson is, to find your balance. Find your balance in work and find your balance in life. Always consume things in moderation and this includes food, exercise, mind-altering substances, and social media. Believe it or not, social media is a mind-altering substance. Being able to keep our vices in check and staying true to what we know is best for us is so crucial. Getting ultra-clear on your weaknesses and where you can be better is a huge step in personal growth and self-development. I want to encourage every person reading this to do a vice check and create more balance within their life.

So where do I go from here?

What’s my perspective on work? Great question, I think from here it’s important that I slow down, a lot of the things I’ve been working on take time and one thing I don’t want to speed up is time. I truly wish it would slow down it seems like life is going by in a blink of an eye. That’s my advice, slow down. Life is too short to worry about things that are out of your control or try to control anything at all. Do your best each and every day, live in the present moment, and everything you want in life you will achieve. Believe.